Please help me choose a college! WashU-Olin / Bowdoin / Middlebury [$4k] / Wesleyan [others full ride]

Compare College Acceptances
1

Hey everyone -

I’m so privileged to be offered admission to these schools – and especially on really good aid. All of them on full rides (except Midd: around 4K in loans). I’ve pretty much set my mind on Investment Banking, in NYC (def not Chicago/ATL). For more context, I’m from NYC (hence the only interest in NYC placement), but I’m also a first-gen student, so I can’t really nepo my way into a firm.

How are these schools compared to each other? I’ve already seen the peakframeworks numbers on these schools, so they’re all pretty much similar in placement. Any tips for choosing? Alum experiences? First-Gen support for students interested in finance? I would really appreciate everyone’s opinion – especially of those who are recent grads in this school.

Thank you everyone! (yes I’ve heard of the horrors of finance but I’m ready for the grind)

2

Congrats on your acceptances. What will you major in at the NESCAC schools?

If you want NYC, I would drop WashU. That’s an easy way to narrow things down. Obviously if you want a larger school/non-LAC or a biz major that would be an important consideration.

For IB, I would choose Bowdoin or Middlebury. I personally prefer the vibe at Bowdoin. IMO the students are ‘nicer’ and there’s less of an athlete/non-athlete divide.

I would also say keep you career goals open, it’s really competitive to get IB from all these schools.

Have you visited all these schools? Are you planning to? If you do close Midd, show them your Bowdoin and Wesleyan add packages, and ask they remove the loans. Good luck.

5 Likes
3

The first thing is - what do you want to study? If it’s business - there’s only one school on your list?

I wouldn’t solely go by a Peaks list - it doesn’t cover all firms (just main) and you don’t know how/why people got jobs but people get jobs from lots of schools.

If you want business, it’s Wash U. I’m a believer in major over school so I’d rather see you study finance vs. econ, if that’s what you want to do.

If you don’t want to study business, then I guess you have four choices - although you’d have to not to Olin at Wash U unless you did the econ/strategy major.

The issue with “lists” are they are all different - and they don’t include all firms. If you go by College Transitions,

Midd is 12

Bowdoin is 29

Wash U and Wesleyan aren’t listed (top 30)

If you go by Peak, they list Midd at 31, WashU at 37, and don’t list Bowdoin or Wesleyan at all.

If you go by Mergers & Acquisitions top schools for Wall Street, they list Wash U and Midd as semi targets and then note other LACs like them.

There is no assured answer - and you’ll find kids from wherever - Penn State, Virginia Tech, wherever in New York.

So it’s a tough road to hoe no matter where you go. You have four choices - I’m not a fan of loans but I suspect Midd has more focus there than Wes.

But you have four choices - pick the one that’s right for you from a size, environment, travel, weather, and more. If you want to go off of lists - well, they’ll tell you what you want or don’t want to hear - but they are not the ones getting jobs.

Best of luck and congrats on your success.

1 Like
4

IB analysts are not limited to these majors.

7 Likes
5

I agree you can probably just consider Bowdoin or Middlebury (assuming MIddlebury is affordable at the higher cost), unless you are considering some other factor you didn’t mention (like you didn’t mention wanting to do an undergrad business program).

My sense (without any specific numerical proof) is Middlebury likely has a somewhat larger network of alums specifically in NYC finance. The trick is larger isn’t always better, like more students also looking to work those networks might actually end up counterproductive.

So basically, I would just go to whichever felt most welcoming/friendly/vibe-appropriate to you. Or Bowdoin just because it is cheaper, and since I really don’t see a strong case either way otherwise.

2 Likes
6

OP, you might ask the career centers whether IB hiring managers do on campus recruiting each and every year at these schools. I am talking about people specifically hiring for IB internships and jobs, not a generalist from JP Morgan sitting on a panel, or hiring for credit analysts, etc.

I am certain several IB hiring managers do annual on-campus recruiting at Bowdoin. The alum in the industry are very supportive and seek out Bowdoin students for internships and jobs.

2 Likes
7

You can get an IB interview coming from any of these places. It’s how you do on your interview that matters, not the school. Pick the one you like most.

4 Likes
8

Understood - but it’s the presumption as they applied to Olin.

And few that are targeting these majors from the get go ever say - I want to study Linguistics and then get to IB. It may happen but it’s not usually what we hear.

1 Like
9

You have no visibility to what major IB analysts end up as though.

It’s important for OP to understand that. Especially if they are going to an LAC without biz majors and think they are going to major in Econ. Many students end up not liking Econ so a backup plan is necessary.

4 Likes
10

Honestly, if I was asked to give major advice to someone with IB ambitions, I would probably quip something like the major with the most math you can actually handle and still get top grades.

Among other things, it turns out this is a viable answer for finance more generally, business more generally, professional careers more generally . . . it rarely is not helpful to be among the professionals in a room most comfortable with math.

The other thing I keep hearing is how accelerated the recruiting timeline has become (including but not limited to IB). To the extent your major matters at all, in that environment it is sort of more a signal than a credential per se, and so it can make sense to signal, “I am very smart generally, and good with math specifically, and not afraid of such a challenge.”

4 Likes
11

Middlebury and Bowdoin have a lot in common but also differences. Since you’re first gen, would you be able to go on a fly in (or did you already?) If not yet we haven’t heard about this, can you reach out and ask?
If you ended up liking Middlebury more, you could definitely show them the Bowdoin package since they’re considered peers.

1 Like
12

Middlebury and Bowdoin have a lot in common but also differences. Since you’re first gen, would you be able to go on a fly in (or did you already?) If not yet we haven’t heard about this, can you reach out and ask?

If you ended up liking Middlebury more, you could definitely show them the Bowdoin package since they’re considered peers.

1 Like
13

It’s too bad people here chased catcherinthetoast away, because CC was far stronger with his input on all things IB and banking.

I agree that it’s good to be strong quantitatively for any finance job. But, IB analysts are not doing what I would call advanced math, at all. Same with other banking roles. Same with corporate financial analysts closing the books. The quant shop analysts and some consulting roles are a different story.

8 Likes
14

Four great options.

Do you want to study business, economics, math, physics, other humanities, or ???

Olin has a high rate of job placement overall among the top 100 or so undergraduate business schools (currently ranked at #6); however, I am not referring just to IB placement. Great business school with lots of major concentrations as well as the MBA program on the same campus.

As an elite National University located in the Midwest, the campus culture is likely to be noticeably different than the campus culture at your other options.

Bowdoin College will be the smallest school so you need to consider whether that will be a plus or a minus among your preferences.

Middlebury College places the most students per capita in your desired industry of IB.

Wesleyan University is a great school if the fit is right–just like your other LAC options.

Was NYU-Stern an option for you ?

If you want to study business, then the choice is clear.

Cannot recommend one LAC over the other because personal fit is very important at a small school in a fairly rural area (Middlebury & Bowdoin).

WashUStL Olin offers meaningful internship/externship team based experiences for credit.

Without knowing whether or not you have a strong preference regarding major area of study, it is tough to recommend one school and always difficult to direct one to a small LAC if that individual has not visited the campus while school is in session when other larger options are equally as attractive.

In short, need more info. regarding your preferences as all 4 can result in getting an IB internship.

P.S. Not sure if things have changed within the last two years, but I know of several individuals who did not get IB directly after finishing college, went to work in the consulting industry (mostly Big 4 specialty divisions) for a couple of years, then moved on to IB. Please keep this in mind as there is more than one path if IB is your absolute preferred career goal.

15

Congrats on great choices, OP!

I haven’t visited most of these schools so I won’t comment on their vibes or opportunities (and I think all the OPs would be better served if people actually stuck to what they know rather than spouting off their armchair impressions).

But I have a kid at Bowdoin and I would never call it a rural area. The campus is literally a block off the town which has a few independent bookstores, cute shops and many restaurants, coffee shops and bakeries. It’s just 30 minutes into Portland - accessible by the Amtrak station that is 2 blocks from campus - tickets are just a few bucks.

Bowdoin’s career and development office is wonderful. I can’t speak to placement in finance directly, but they have great support for students and really work on building opportunities. Sophomores have a career bootcamp the week before winter term starts. You can read more about it here: Sophomore bootcamp

Good luck with your decision!

8 Likes
16

Another group offers this analysis:

IMG_4035
IMG_40351290×1593 283 KB

2 Likes
17

Although I prefer an undergraduate business major, I meet with 10+ NY PE firms each year (and 25+ this year).

  1. Midd
  2. Bowdoin

I do not see much of any Wash U or Wesleyan, but I am sure you can get there from those schools with extra efort.

2 Likes
18

Simply based on your career goals, either Middlebury or Bowdoin would make sense from your LAC options:

Olin might be considered as an alternative to these LACs, should you see yourself better suited to a formal undergraduate business program.

19

I agree with this. Unless things have changed a lot, its about PowerPoint and Excel, and not like hedgie-type models.

My final interview at the Thundering Herd was with the Global Head of Capital Markets. He told me everyone liked me and were excited to have me back, but were concerned that I was a Philosophy Major. Of course I shifted to defending Philosophy’s value in that environment. When I paused, he just looked at me, laughed, and said, “I was also a Philosophy Major.”

Pick the school you like most, OP.

6 Likes
20

Congratulations on your fantastic choices! I suppose one way to approach this would be to ask yourself where you would want to be if you changed your mind about your major and career goals? You seem very set on your plans right now, so of course you want to make sure you have ways to pursue that path and think about how you can use each college’s resources to connect to professional opportunities. But what if you head in another direction? In that case (not at all uncommon!), you will want to think about the school you like best. To me, it seems like WashU is the odd one out. Bowdoin, Middlebury, and Wes have more overlaps with each other, even though each has its own distinctive culture. Of those three, Bowdoin and Middlebury seem more similar to each other than either is to Wes, and they might have more active pipelines to the financial sector. But I suspect any of the three will provide a great experience and lots of options – so figure out where you’d be happiest whether you stick to your plan or not.

2 Likes