The top investment banking institutions will be ones that send a significant number of students to top investment banks. They must also have a high placement rate for undergrads, and offer students groups or programs that are designed to prepare you for pursuing an employment in finance. Cornell, MIT and Columbia all meet this criteria and also have prominent alumni in the field and extracurricular activities like Booth’s finance society, and Stern’s famous finance program, which offer opportunities to gain exposure to the real-world problems of investment banking.
These schools also typically have a large alumni network within the field, which is helpful for networking, and are usually located close to a financial hub for smaller or regional investment banks. They also have top-ranked accounting and finance programs.
When choosing a college, you must also think about your personal interests, the kind of career you would like to pursue and the types of jobs you’re interested in working at an investment banking company. The hiring process for investment banking is heavily influenced by the school’s reputation and the amount of top-performing students that the school produces each year.
For undergrads, consider universities such as NYU and UMich, which have strong reputations in the business field and are renowned for their alumni networks and impressive success rates in securing students. In Europe you should look into HEC Paris and Oxford’s Said Business School. In Asia look into HKUST, CUHK and Chinese universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua, and Fudan.