The best investment banking institutions are those that consistently place a large number of students to top investment banks, have high placement rates for undergrads and offer special student groups or programs to prepare you for finance careers. Cornell, MIT and Columbia all meet this criteria along with having prominent alumni in the industry and extracurricular activities like Booth’s finance society as well as Stern’s famous finance program, which offer the opportunity to learn about real-world challenges in investment banking.
These schools are also located near a financial hub, which is where smaller or regional investment banking centers are located. This makes them an ideal place to connect. They also have top-ranked accounting and finance programs.
When selecting a school, it is important to must consider your particular interests, the type of career that you want to pursue, and the positions you’re interested in working at an investment banking firm. The hiring process for investment banking is heavily influenced by the school’s reputation and the number of top-performing students that the school produces each year.
For undergrads, consider institutions like NYU and UMich, which have strong reputations in the business field and are known for their alumni networks and high placement rates. In Europe you should look into HEC Paris and Oxford’s Said Business School. In Asia, look at HKUST, CUHK and Chinese universities like Peking University, Tsinghua, and Fudan.
