<p>I agree with dcfca that it has a lot to do with these companies simply wanting to pick up top talent wherever they can find it. The truth is, these companies are going to train you on whatever you need to know anyway. But you can’t really teach somebody raw intelligence or a work ethic, they either have it or they don’t. </p>
<p>I also agree with dfca that it is more common for consulting firms to recruit from a wider range of people than do banks. However, I would point out that super-quantitative skills are highly prized in the financial industry. For example, a significant number of people with Phd’s in physics, mathematics, or computer science end up in banking, usually in the research side, coming up with new financial models. A number of high-prestige hedge funds and private equity firms were founded by quant jocks. For example, D.E. Shaw was founded by David E. Shaw, who got his PhD in computer science at Stanford and taught at Columbia. Jim Simons, founder of Renaissance Technologies (a large hedge fund), holds a PhD in math from Berkeley and is former chair of the math department at SUNY-Stony Brook. </p>
<p>However, in addition to looking for hard-working superstars, banks and consulting firms are also shopping for big-name, prestigious schools. That’s because they are customer focused. Basically, what the banks and consulting firms are selling to clients are the skills of their people. It’s far easier to attract clients when you can say that your people come from the biggest-name schools. For example, it just makes the customer more assured when he hears that he is going to have a Harvard guy or an MIT guy working on his account, rather than a guy who came from a school nobody ever heard of. Whether that’s fair or not fair, that is part of the game.</p>