<p>Mmm…okay. Investment banks value diligence, intelligence, and professionalism in the students they recruit to work for them, which means that the obvious choices would be Ivy League institutions. The best students tend to be admitted to Ivy Leagues with higher selectivity, so Harvard, Yale, and Princeton would be obvious choices, with Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown, Penn, and Cornell following. However, the Wharton School at Penn offers a practical education in business where students are immersed in a professional setting and work with the necessary tools to develop the skillset that prepares them for work in the professional world, and many many Wharton students aspire to becoming investment bankers. Drawn by the promise of very smart students who already have the technical tools to find success in the field, BB banks and prestigious boutiques (like Lazard or Evercore) recruit actively on campus, in addition to hedge funds and PE firms. This is why Wharton qualifies as top tier. Harvard is famous for its student quality and it’s ridiculously low acceptance rates, which makes it a peer:</p>
<p>Tier I: Harvard, Penn (Wharton), somewhat Princeton and Yale (slightly lower than H and W but still Tier I)</p>
<p>This doesn’t mean that other schools are very far beneath these two - Princeton offers a finance certificate as well as the ORFE major, which are both suitable for placement in investment banks. Yale offers a math/econ major that combines the quantitative skills necessary for success in banking. Columbia offers financial economics as a major, and its convenient location in the City make it a target. Obviously, there are also schools like MIT, Stanford, CalTech, NYU, Chicago, etc. which are not in the Ivies that are on this level of performance.</p>
<p>Tier II: Columbia, Dartmouth, Penn (CAS), Cornell, Brown.</p>
<p>That covers all the Ivies. I have spoken to many industry professionals, read dozens of articles and books, and spoken to kids at a variety of different Ivy Leagues (no one at Dartmouth or Brown - not sure about their programs) and generally the consensus is that this list is accurate. However, it is important to note that this tier rating system doesn’t mean anything if you try hard enough and are qualified - at any Ivy League school you will have the academic credentials to show that you are intelligent enough for i-banking and recruiters will look more for signs of your professionalism and your career-qualifications (internships, crazy things on your resume) than what school you happened to come from. Even from non-target schools, although it’s harder to get your foot in the door, it is still very possible to get into i-banking if you are qualified and show enough interest. To put it shortly - if you are in an Ivy League this list is generally irrelevant. If you’re good enough and if you’ve done the right things you’ll get in.</p>
<p>Now if I’m wrong please tell me :)</p>