Career Opportunities in IM

Question

I'm trying to decide which schools to apply for in 2009 (or 2010) and would like input into what the opportunities are like between schools. Specifically, I'm thinking about fundamental or value-oriented HF or MF. I put together my preliminary ranking (I know another one of those) of some of the top schools for how accessible the opportunities are for internships and full-time offers for this specialty. The order is probably going to be wrong, but I'd like input from people either at these schools or who work in IM as to what their opinions are for value HF for the schools on this list, and how to best view them.

1. HBS
2. Wharton
3. Stanford
4. Columbia
5. Chicago
6. MIT
7. Kellogg
8. ???
9. ???
10. ???

1. HBS
2. Wharton
3. Stanford
4. Columbia
5. Chicago
6. MIT
7. Kellogg
8. ???
9. ???
10. ???

forcefeed · Answer

I would throw Cornell into the discussion also. They place ~8% of the class into IM, which is higher than some UE schools. There immersion program helps expose you to IM early on https://www.johnson.cornell.edu/academic/mba/rst_im.html.

3underscore · Answer

Cornell probably place 8% because there isn't many of them. I would think Kellogg seems a little out of place on your list. Columbia's reputation seems to be drifting at the moment; I would probably consider Chicago above it.

ryguy904 · Answer

Here are my rankings. They are subjective, but somewhat based on my reviews of school employment reports and interactions with students. I focused on your comment of "how accessible" the opportunities are. Columbia wins by a mile in my opinion.

1. Columbia
2. HBS
3. Wharton
4. Stern
5. Stanford
6. Chicago
7. Yale
8. Kellogg
9. Anderson

1. Columbia
2. HBS
3. Wharton
4. Stern
5. Stanford
6. Chicago
7. Yale
8. Kellogg
9. Anderson

cougarblue · Answer

3underscore: why is Columbia's reputation "drifting"? Is this because of the overall ranking, or something specific to IM?

ryguy904: would your ranking change if you were thinking about only larger hedge funds, instead of the more general IM/AM industry?

riverripper · Answer

I think the general sense that Columbia is the bottom of the M7 is based on what its good at. Its a finance school but it trails HBS, Wharton, and Chicago in that areas. In other areas it trails other schools...it doesnt top any one area like all the other top schools seem to do. They do place well in banking but one thing you really need to remember is that a large number of their students are bankers on Wall St. who dont want to leave NYC...more so than at other top schools. So competition for those top jobs will be against a large number of people with experience in those fields.

ryguy904 · Answer

I don't think my opinion would change. I believe that any opportunity available to a Stanford/Harvard/Wharton/Chicago student (in particular in NY) is made available to a Columbia student. Again, I'm referring to "availability" - just because it is available, doesn't mean that the Columbia student will be the one to land the job. Moreover, not all positions made available to Columbia students (due to location, alumni, network, etc.) will not be available to H/S/W/Chi folks. It's just my opinion, so you can take it for what it's worth.

Cheers- RG

naturallight · Answer

Berkeley isn't really known as a financial powerhouse, but we're sending quite a few people to hedge funds and other IM jobs. Being so close to SF is key--several students did part-time internships (basically stock valuation and company analysis) for HF's in the city during the year. Lots of L/S shops in SF, plus some big ones like Farallon, Barclays, Standard Pacific, and Palo Alto Investors.

cougarblue · Answer

How many are "quite a few?" And out of how many who are really interested in HFs? Which SF shops are actively hiring MBAs out of Haas? For instance, I know that you will be hard-pressed to find any MBAs at Farallon, except for Stanford and HBS, and those were mostly folks who did top flight PE before HF which would lead them to the MBA, not that they hire directly out of MBA programs. Isn't BGI more of a quant shop with most of their AUM in indexing? I'm not trying to be antagonistic, just trying to get the most accurate information.

3underscore · Answer

Not sure that is true. A Columbia / NYU student has more location advantage to force a door open, but there a hell of a lot of firms who wouldn't want a Columbia alum and want one of their own. So... outside Tech and Waste Coast, you rarely see Stanford MBAs in Finance positions.

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