The top tier programs for investment management are the obvious Wharton, Booth, Harvard, Columbia, and Stanford (in no particular order). But are there other business schools I should consider applying to, at least as a back up since business schools are so darn competitive these days? Especially for someone like me trying to break into the industry with zero experience. I’ve also looked around other forums like gmatclub, but I wanted to hear it straight from the horses mouth. What do you guys think?
I would add: Fuqua (Duke) Sloan (MIT) Stern (NYU)
I think that doing an investment management program at grad school is redundant if you have cleared all 3 levels of CFA.
kblade Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think that doing an investment management > program at grad school is redundant if you have > cleared all 3 levels of CFA. I would disagree with your statement for my case. Like I said, I don’t have any experience in finance and would like to break into the industry. I think business school is my best option for that. higgmond, I’ve also been looking into Stern. I know they have a strong finance program, but do you know if there are a lot of IM companies that recruit out of there? Or are they good just for banking?
kblade Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think that doing an investment management > program at grad school is redundant if you have > cleared all 3 levels of CFA. He’s not asking what programs have the best AM curriculum; he’s asking what programs are the beast for breaking into AM. ANd you’re crazy if you think a CSB or wharton MBA are redundant after a cfa. Try getting in at Fidelity or T. Rowe Price mid-career without an MBA. ANyway, I agree 100% with Higgmond. ALso add Darden, Dartmouth & CMU Tepper (underrated, especcially in IM). Here’s the best way to judge: Think of the firms you want to work for. Look at the firm career sections and go to MBA recruiting. Many top schools list the programs at which they actively recruit.
The tops schools for IM are Booth (where modern finance and portfolio theory were invented, literally) and Wharton. Booth and Wharton have the highest street credibility. Harvard is not that strong in IM. Harvard is not strong in finance, in general. Compare the finance faculty of Harvard with Booth and Wharton…not close. Stanford is also not good in IM. The advanced finance courses at Harvard and Stanford are probably like the intermediate levels at Booth and Wharton. Also, I should mention that equity research is highly highly multidisciplinary. You need to know strategy, marketing, and economics…
Markbot: I agree for the most part - it seems HBS & STanford aren’t as sought after in IM as are Booth or WHarton, or even (yes, this is surprising) Columbia or Dartmouth. However, HBS is incredible in PE, and I would lump that into finance. And Bob Merton teaches at Harvard. Not bad.
I’m not saying these are top schools, but these are schools with student run investment funds: UT-Austin Univ. Wisconsin (I’ve heard this is a pretty good student run fund)
ook Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > higgmond, I’ve also been looking into Stern. I > know they have a strong finance program, but do > you know if there are a lot of IM companies that > recruit out of there? Or are they good just for > banking? Unfortunately, I’m not tied into their program enough to say specifically who is or isn’t recruiting there. I would agree with markbot that Penn and Chicago are a cut above all the others, although all will open doors that might otherwise be shut. Be aware that regional bias comes into play too. While a Standford MBA might not be held in wide regard for IM nationwide, it will serve you better in Northern California than pretty much any school other than Penn or Chicago. Similarly, a McCombs grad is going to get the job in Dallas 8 out of 10 times.
Thanks for all the input so far guys. I will add these schools on my list to do more research on. I also like your idea on researching who recruits out of each school, joemontana. I know Kellogg isn’t too strong in finance or IM, but it’s a highly reputable school. So how do you guys feel about Kellogg for a future career in IM? I only ask because I currently live in the Chicago area, and wouldn’t mind going there if I was lucky enough to get in.
In my opinion Kellog is an excellent school. Visit both Booth and Kellog and then decide which one is better for you.
For IM, I would definitely not go to Kellogg above Chicago, Wharton, or Columbia. Kellogg simply doesn’t have the career support structure in IM like the other schools.
soxboys21 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’m not saying these are top schools, but these > are schools with student run investment funds: > > UT-Austin > Univ. Wisconsin (I’ve heard this is a pretty good > student run fund) Regarding UW: The student run fund is a special, self-contained MBA. The student fund is not run by the general UW MBAs. UW has this thing called the Applied Security Analysis Program. It is an MBA that specializes on IM - and goes far beyond the CFA in IM (but doesn’t give the breadth in finance) The program allows its students to run (on their own, with guidance) a portfolio of about $30M - only a fraction is in equities. If you’re in the midwest, you may want to take a look. BTW: It is mostly seperate from the general UW MBA. The ASAP kids have average GMATs around 700. Many are CFA charters, almost everyone is a candidate.
For IM, UCLA and Cornell should be on the list
VOBA Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > For IM, UCLA and Cornell should be on the list I thought UCLA was only strong with media/entertainment arena. If they have a strong network for IM, I would definitely consider that as one of my choices, as I wouldn’t mind spending some time out in the west coast. UW’s program is interesting, but I don’t know if I want to pigeon hole myself by doing a concentration just in IM. I think the benefits of these other programs are that you can pretty much do anything with the MBA. Especially since I haven’t worked in the industry before, I’d like to at least leave myself some options, just in case I end up hating it (hopefully not though).
UCLA is very strong in finance in general, albeit on the west coast. They have very good placement in the region at both large and smaller buy-side firms. Coming from one of the “obvious” powerhouses will give you a better shot at the larger and most prestigious names, however, since you have zero experience those will be off the table for you anyway. The networking aspect of buy-side recruiting, which is even more pronounced at smaller firms, favors UCLA for the region. Being a career changer, it will be very difficult to get to the buy-side directly, even from a top school. Good luck. Disclaimer: I will be attending one of the “obvious” schools you listed this fall, but very strongly considered UCLA as back-up.
I would imagine that UCLA is like UT - not a national powerhouse but very strong regionally.
VOBA Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > UCLA is very strong in finance in general, albeit > on the west coast. They have very good placement > in the region at both large and smaller buy-side > firms. Coming from one of the “obvious” > powerhouses will give you a better shot at the > larger and most prestigious names, however, since > you have zero experience those will be off the > table for you anyway. The networking aspect of > buy-side recruiting, which is even more pronounced > at smaller firms, favors UCLA for the region. > Being a career changer, it will be very difficult > to get to the buy-side directly, even from a top > school. Good luck. > > Disclaimer: I will be attending one of the > “obvious” schools you listed this fall, but very > strongly considered UCLA as back-up. That’s great to hear. Congratulations on your acceptance into one of these awesome schools. I’m just starting out with my application process and I have to say, it’s not an easy task to say the least. And I’m so glad I can add Anderson to this list. I always wanted to go there for undergrad too.
I would say CFA is more worth it if you want a start with IM. if you go to place like Booth you will see many people there with experience in IM, they go there just to get a degree to move up the ladder. I have met many Booth graduates in my old company and here is my conclusion They are smart and very good at stock picking TECHIQUE (not talent) I am not sure whether I learnt that from Biz school or their prior experience. However, one thing that I am sure, they have ZERO management skill after biz school.
swiss business school. www.sbs.edu