Best business schools for investment management

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ksc1940

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I’m applying to the following MBA programs this year. My goal is to go into equity research at an investment management firm afterwards.
wharton, booth, kellogg, columbia, sloan
The consensus seems to be that wharton and booth offer the most opportunities. I was surprised at how many buyside firms recruit on campus, such as wellington, fidelity, capital group, dodge and cox, state street, etc. And there are plenty of people without previous experience who managed to get jobs by taking the right classes, learning stock pitches, networking, and doing well in interviews.
Columbia has the value investing program, which is unique and quite interesting. Of course, it’s quite selective. But overall they seem to be slightly below wharton and booth with respect to IM recruiting.
Sloan is very well-connected with the boston IM shops as well as some hedge funds like tudor and convexity.
I’ve heard that kellogg is awful for IM, but they do have an asset management practicum, which provides some opportunities.
I would love to hear other people’s thoughts and experiences on this.
 
Which school you should go to depends largely on where you lie on the nerd/jock/musician spectrum. It is a 3d matrix. Rough example: nerd = sloan, booth = nerd/musician, wharton = nerd/jock, kellog = jock, columbia = musician.
 
Kellogg? Nobody goes to Kellogg for IM.
Word on the Street right now is that recruiting is difficult at even the best schools for good IM jobs, even for qualified people. I know for a fact that almost none of the 2nd years at Chicago and Stanford are getting good IM jobs, for example. I can’t imagine it’s going real hot at Columbia either given recent unfavorable news items about the student body.
 
I guess it means that now is a good time to go to business school, right? If you were to choose 2 years to sit out the job market, 2011- is looking pretty good.
 
ohai Wrote:
——————————————————-
> I guess it means that now is a good time to go to
> business school, right? If you were to choose 2
> years to sit out the job market, 2011- is looking
> pretty good.
Maybe. Your logic is correct but who knows where the economy will actually be in another two years. Personally, it hardly seems like a sure thing that good IM firms will be hiring en masse two years from now. It’s kind of a perfect (negative) storm from a hiring perspective – the economy still sucks but the U.S. stock market is overvalued (or at least close to fairly valued), so why would you want to add fixed costs by expanding your research department right now? It’s conceivable that with Ben “the bubble maker” Bernanke at it again that the situation could stay the same for some time to come.
 
Don’t balk at WI or TX. I know I couple firms that love hiring out of their MBA programs because the students actually manage money there.
 
brain_wash_your_face Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Which school you should go to depends largely on
> where you lie on the nerd/jock/musician spectrum.
> It is a 3d matrix. Rough example: nerd = sloan,
> booth = nerd/musician, wharton = nerd/jock, kellog
> = jock, columbia = musician.
Lol. Brutal but quite fair. I noticed that kellogg has the most attractive and outgoing students. After HBS, it’s probably the most fun top 10 program.
Sloan kids are definitely quirky but in a good way. Many of them come from pretty interesting backgrounds. Brutal first-year curriculum though, and they do NOT have grade nondisclosure, which stinks.
Wharton kids were pretty intense. Actually surprised at how many attractive girls i saw there when i visited. They have the highest female % out of any top school. Also the rugby team, wharton warthogs, are huge there.
Booth is dorky, but i loved it when i visited. And their flexible curriculum is awesome.
 
bromion Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Kellogg? Nobody goes to Kellogg for IM.
>
> Word on the Street right now is that recruiting is
> difficult at even the best schools for good IM
> jobs, even for qualified people. I know for a fact
> that almost none of the 2nd years at Chicago and
> Stanford are getting good IM jobs, for example. I
> can’t imagine it’s going real hot at Columbia
> either given recent unfavorable news items about
> the student body.
I know kellogg is weaker than the other schools, but a lot of top firms do on-campus recruiting there: AQR, PIMCO, SAC Capital, brandes, come to mind.
I don’t know who your sources are, but i talked to several 2nd years at booth, and they said the job market for IM and hedge funds is pretty hot. Not like 2005-2007 but definitely on the upswing. All the big firms are aggressively recruiting. For example, PIMCO is going to hire a lot more MBA grads this year than in previous years, and they target all the top 7 schools.
 
bromion Wrote:
——————————————————-
> I know for a fact that almost none of the 2nd years at Chicago and
> Stanford are getting good IM jobs, for example. I
> can’t imagine it’s going real hot at Columbia
> either given recent unfavorable news items about
> the student body.
Booth is actually one of the schools I am applying so I have some first hand knowledge. I think what you are saying is a bit extreme. Sure, times are tough and IM is a hard nut to crack, but some people still get offers as I far as I know. I guess it comes down to what you define as “good IM jobs”
 
ksc1940 Wrote:
——————————————————-
> bromion Wrote:
> ————————————————–
> —–
> > Kellogg? Nobody goes to Kellogg for IM.
> >
> > Word on the Street right now is that recruiting
> is
> > difficult at even the best schools for good IM
> > jobs, even for qualified people. I know for a
> fact
> > that almost none of the 2nd years at Chicago
> and
> > Stanford are getting good IM jobs, for example.
> I
> > can’t imagine it’s going real hot at Columbia
> > either given recent unfavorable news items
> about
> > the student body.
>
>
> I know kellogg is weaker than the other schools,
> but a lot of top firms do on-campus recruiting
> there: AQR, PIMCO, SAC Capital, brandes, come to
> mind.
>
> I don’t know who your sources are, but i talked to
> several 2nd years at booth, and they said the job
> market for IM and hedge funds is pretty hot. Not
> like 2005-2007 but definitely on the upswing. All
> the big firms are aggressively recruiting. For
> example, PIMCO is going to hire a lot more MBA
> grads this year than in previous years, and they
> target all the top 7 schools.
My source is two 2nd years at Booth right now. My Stanford source is me talking to the career center about recruiting a Stanford grad and them candidly telling me that few if any hedge funds are interested in hiring right now. Not that it’s ever easy, but it’s definitely worse now. Personally, I wouldn’t really consider Fidelity, PIMCO, etc. to be top opportunities but that’s just me and goals and objectives do vary.
 
bromion Wrote:
——————————————————-
> ksc1940 Wrote:
> ————————————————–
> —–
> > bromion Wrote:
> >
> ————————————————–
>
> > —–
> > > Kellogg? Nobody goes to Kellogg for IM.
> > >
> > > Word on the Street right now is that
> recruiting
> > is
> > > difficult at even the best schools for good
> IM
> > > jobs, even for qualified people. I know for a
> > fact
> > > that almost none of the 2nd years at Chicago
> > and
> > > Stanford are getting good IM jobs, for
> example.
> > I
> > > can’t imagine it’s going real hot at Columbia
> > > either given recent unfavorable news items
> > about
> > > the student body.
> >
> >
> > I know kellogg is weaker than the other
> schools,
> > but a lot of top firms do on-campus recruiting
> > there: AQR, PIMCO, SAC Capital, brandes, come
> to
> > mind.
> >
> > I don’t know who your sources are, but i talked
> to
> > several 2nd years at booth, and they said the
> job
> > market for IM and hedge funds is pretty hot.
> Not
> > like 2005-2007 but definitely on the upswing.
> All
> > the big firms are aggressively recruiting. For
> > example, PIMCO is going to hire a lot more MBA
> > grads this year than in previous years, and
> they
> > target all the top 7 schools.
>
> My source is two 2nd years at Booth right now. My
> Stanford source is me talking to the career center
> about recruiting a Stanford grad and them candidly
> telling me that few if any hedge funds are
> interested in hiring right now. Not that it’s ever
> easy, but it’s definitely worse now. Personally, I
> wouldn’t really consider Fidelity, PIMCO, etc. to
> be top opportunities but that’s just me and goals
> and objectives do vary.
Did these booth students say that IM firms are not hiring or that it hasn’t improved much in the last few years? No doubt that IM is much tougher to get than sell-side, but my sources there have painted a completely different picture.
How is PIMCO not a “top” opportunity? It’s one thing if you’re not interested in the work they do, but they’re easily one of the most selective firms during MBA recruiting, especially their portfolio management position. They’ll take like 2-3 MBA grads max.
 
I don’t care how many students they take. Would you rather work in a meaningful capacity at a world class hedge fund or be one of many at a large firm like PIMCO? The answer should be self evident on nearly every level.
IM isn’t hiring as much now vs. a few years ago. It could be a difference too in what people are defining as good opportunities. A lot of people that get into these programs already have very good experience, so it’s disappointing when your options on the way out are similar or worse than what you had going in. If I were going to spend somewhere in the neighborhood of three quarters of a million dollars for a piece of paper (including opportunity cost), I would be extremely disappointed if I weren’t able to leverage that into a stellar opportunity on the way out, and it sounds like some current students are having this experience right now.
 
bromion Wrote:
——————————————————-
> I don’t care how many students they take. Would
> you rather work in a meaningful capacity at a
> world class hedge fund or be one of many at a
> large firm like PIMCO? The answer should be self
> evident on nearly every level.
>
> IM isn’t hiring as much now vs. a few years ago.
> It could be a difference too in what people are
> defining as good opportunities. A lot of people
> that get into these programs already have very
> good experience, so it’s disappointing when your
> options on the way out are similar or worse than
> what you had going in. If I were going to spend
> somewhere in the neighborhood of three quarters of
> a million dollars for a piece of paper (including
> opportunity cost), I would be extremely
> disappointed if I weren’t able to leverage that
> into a stellar opportunity on the way out, and it
> sounds like some current students are having this
> experience right now.
Most “world-class” hedge funds are pretty big. Maybe not as many employees as PIMCO, but the money and type of work you do at PIMCO is pretty interesting, at least for me.
I think there’s a big difference in quality of pre-MBA work experience between booth and HBS or even wharton. The superstars at i-banks and hedge funds usually manage to get into HBS or wharton. Lot of people at booth who had no previous experience but worked hard and managed to land IM jobs.
For myself personally, I work on an equity stat arb desk at a small hedge fund and find the work incredibly boring. So I would love to get a job at a place like wellington, fidelity, capital group, right after an MBA.
Yes, it’s expensive, but a top MBA is worth it. Opens a lot of doors, tons of networking, and it’s unbelievably fun. Probably the best 2 years of your life.
 
I agree, in your situation it probably makes sense. Good luck in the app process if you decide to apply.
 
Wait, how can you say this with such certainty if you haven’t actually gone to business school?
 
^^^But probably not AQR…I know a guy there from UG at one of the schools you mentioned. Very small guy, builds space robots that play poker in his spare time (or something), falls predominantly in the nerd end of spectrum on the nerd/jock/musician scale.
 
ohai Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Wait, how can you say this with such certainty if
> you haven’t actually gone to business school?
I know a lot of people at the top programs and have a pretty good idea of what goes down. I live in a big city, Chicago, but have a lousy social life due to a number of reasons. So going to b-school will be insanely fun and a life changing experience. For me that’s worth taking out loans in the six-figure range.
 
I can’t believe what I’m reading on this thread. Many 2nd year top mba students not being able to lend good jobs in the field they want ??? Is it really THAT bad ?
 
You people are on drugs. MBAs are not a cure all for your career. Every year, lots of people try to switch careers and fall on their faces. Every year, lots of people, even with good experience, try to get a job at Goldman or SAC and fall on their faces. Going to a top business school is not going to give you a permanent one way ticket to the fictional land of puppy dogs and rainbows that will nourish your soul forever and ever. In a recession, it’s worse still.
 
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