It is well known that top schools like Harvard and NYU are key suppliers of talent for investment banks on Wall Street. But beyond those famous names, there are over two dozen other elite universities that serve as top feeders into bulge bracket investment banks like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. According to data from over 2500 users on Wall Street Oasis (WSO), a website for finance professionals, the top 12 feeder schools alone provide over 25% of new hires at major investment banks. In addition to factors like MBA salaries and bonuses, applicants interested in investment banking careers should consider whether their target business schools are included on key industry lists of top feeders into the finance sector.
Harvard and NYU lead the list with most alumni at top 10 investment banks
The 2022 Investment Banking Industry Report from WSO analyzes employee data to determine the top target schools and recruiting pipelines for bulge bracket banks. Without a doubt, Harvard and NYU are the very best feeder schools, with 91 and 86 alumni respectively working at the top 10 investment banks. They are followed by Wharton (86), Columbia (70), and Cornell (70). Together, graduates from just these 5 universities account for over 15% of new hires.
The top 12 feeder schools supply over a quarter of bulge bank talent
In addition to the top 5 schools already mentioned, the next 7 leading feeders are University of Pennsylvania, NYU Stern, MIT, UMichigan, UC Berkeley, Yale, and Princeton. Collectively, the top dozen universities are alma maters for more than 25% of employees at major investment banks like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan according to the WSO data. Applicants who want careers in investment banking should target these core feeder schools.
Location and alumni networks influence finance recruiting
It’s clear that academic factors alone do not determine whether a university produces top investment banking talent. For example, Johns Hopkins and Washington University in St. Louis are ranked higher than many target schools, but do not feed into Wall Street jobs. Beyond raw academics, elements like geography, alumni connections, and access to finance recruiters differentiate the key feeder schools.
Applicants should evaluate target school status for investment banks
For MBA applicants and other graduate students interested in high paying investment banking roles, assessing whether their business or other professional schools are considered target recruitment pipelines is crucial. In addition to broader rankings by publications like U.S. News and The Economist which focus on overall program quality, aspiring bankers need to consult specialized industry reports detailing exactly where top financial institutions source entry-level and experienced candidates.
The latest investment banking industry data reveals the top universities supplying talent to bulge bracket banks are Harvard, NYU, Wharton, Columbia and Cornell. Together with the next 7 schools, these 12 elite institutions account for over a quarter of new hires. Applicants hoping to land jobs in investment banking should evaluate target school factors rather than relying solely on general rankings.