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Joined: 16 Feb 2010
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Schools: Yale - Class of 2014
Re: Berkeley Haas vs. Yale SOM for investment management
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13 Apr 2012, 06:15
I'd say both probably will afford you equal opportunities. I have similar career goals and will be matriculating to SOM this year, but for investment management, much of the internship/fulltime will be through off campus opportunities and your own ability to network. I did visit Haas, and met with the IM student club, and it seemed they had decent representation at large asset managers out west, i.e. Franklin Templeton etc. but as you can see from their employment report, finance is not as popular a career choice, which has its pros and cons given you have less competition
I think SOM might afford you a bit better oppty set..given that as i said, much of recruiting is off campus, and you will be closer to proximity to NYC and Boston. Also, SOM has a fairly strong representation with endowments (class taught by Yale endowment staff, CEO of Harvard and Princeton endowments are SOM alum). While the campus is near hedge fund capital Greenwich, CT, I don't think many students have been able to tap into that network as of yet. And all else equal, there are a ton of hedge funds in the Bay area to network with as well.
I would guess that Haas perhaps has a bit better brand name than SOM, not sure how much that matters, but it seems more importantly, you prefer the bay area. I can't blame you, and in hindshight wish I'd applied out there. So i think you should go where you think you'd have the most fun, and worry about IM jobs when you get there...what marginal edge you may have in IM recruiting at SOM at the end, you'll be networking on your own, you just need to choose the location you feel most comfortable at.