June 19 — Report is being updated to address justified criticism about which firms are rightly considered elite boutiques. Check back next week for an updated v2.
If you’re seeking a role in the highly competitive field of investment banking, business school represents an excellent opportunity to gain the skills (and networking contacts) required to land a top-tier position.
But how should you go about school selection—or how do you determine which MBA program will enhance your intended career in investment banking?
The employment reports published by MBA programs are a great place to start to learn about the total number of investment placements or to view lists of “top employers.” However, you’ll also want a breakdown of placement results by firm to understand the full story of each MBA program’s career placement achievements.
Enter Menlo Coaching’s detailed analysis of post-MBA investment banking placements. Menlo Coaching’s research team has analyzed 51,991 student profiles (and counting…) to give you information about each MBA program’s job placement history in investment banking, with data grouped by:
What we found in our analysis may surprise you…
First, location appears to be a big factor for successful investment banking outcomes, with NYC-based programs Stern and Columbia at the top of the listings—but one Chicago-area school outperforms even the storied Wharton MBA program.
Second, our analysis reveals some surprise winners in terms of which MBA program sends the highest percentage of its total investment banking graduates into Bulge Bracket firms. And if you are targeting Elite Boutiques, you might want to extend your target programs beyond the usual East Coast business schools.
For more details on how we compiled our data and how you can best use the information in your research into top MBA programs in the US and abroad, see the methodology section.
Unless otherwise stated, all data in the following sections refers to 2020 placements.
*for schools with 5 or more placements in Bulge Bracket roles
| MBA program | Total | % of overall banking placements | |
| #1 | Duke University – The Fuqua School of Business | 25 | 92.6% |
| #2 | University of Michigan – Stephen M. Ross School of Business | 18 | 81.8% |
| #3 | University of Southern California – Marshall School of Business | 7 | 77.8% |
| #4 | Yale School of Management | 17 | 77.3% |
| #5 | UCLA Anderson School of Management | 11 | 73.3% |
| MBA Program | Total | % of overall banking placements |
| Columbia University – Columbia Business School | 56 | 56.6% |
| NYU Stern School of Business | 51 | 66.2% |
| The University of Chicago Booth School of Business | 34 | 55.7% |
| The Wharton School | 28 | 47.5% |
| Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management | 27 | 60.0% |
| Duke University – The Fuqua School of Business | 25 | 92.6% |
| University of Virginia Darden School of Business | 21 | 67.7% |
| University of Michigan – Stephen M. Ross School of Business | 18 | 81.8% |
| Yale School of Management | 17 | 77.3% |
| MIT Sloan School of Management | 13 | 72.2% |
| The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth | 13 | 56.5% |
| UCLA Anderson School of Management | 11 | 73.3% |
| Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management | 11 | 37.9% |
| University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business | 10 | 71.4% |
| The University of Texas at Austin – Red McCombs School of Business | 10 | 47.6% |
| Harvard Business School | 8 | 57.1% |
| London Business School | 8 | 53.3% |
| University of Southern California – Marshall School of Business | 7 | 77.8% |
| UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School | 5 | 33.3% |
| INSEAD | 4 | 80.0% |
| Stanford University Graduate School of Business | 2 | 100.0% |
| MBA program | Total | % of overall banking placements | |
| #1 | The Wharton School | 26 | 44.1% |
| #2 | Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management | 12 | 41.4% |
| #3 | The University of Texas at Austin – Red McCombs School of Business | 8 | 38.1% |
| #4 | Columbia University – Columbia Business School | 35 | 35.4% |
| #5 | UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School | 5 | 33.3% |
(see appendix for complete listing of firms)
| MBA Program | Total | % of overall banking placements |
| Columbia University – Columbia Business School | 35 | 35.4% |
| The Wharton School | 26 | 44.1% |
| The University of Chicago Booth School of Business | 18 | 29.5% |
| NYU Stern School of Business | 17 | 22.1% |
| Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management | 12 | 41.4% |
| Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management | 12 | 26.7% |
| University of Virginia Darden School of Business | 9 | 29.0% |
| The University of Texas at Austin – Red McCombs School of Business | 8 | 38.1% |
| The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth | 6 | 26.1% |
| UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School | 5 | 33.3% |
| Harvard Business School | 4 | 28.6% |
| London Business School | 4 | 26.7% |
| Yale School of Management | 4 | 18.2% |
| UCLA Anderson School of Management | 3 | 20.0% |
| University of Southern California – Marshall School of Business | 2 | 22.2% |
| University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business | 2 | 14.3% |
| MIT Sloan School of Management | 2 | 11.1% |
| Duke University – The Fuqua School of Business | 2 | 7.4% |
| University of Michigan – Stephen M. Ross School of Business | 1 | 4.5% |
| Stanford University Graduate School of Business | 0 | 0.0% |
| INSEAD | 0 | 0.0% |
| MBA Program | Totals | % of class size | |
| #1 | NYU Stern School of Business | 77 | 20.6% |
| #2 | Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management | 45 | 16.1% |
| #3 | Columbia University – Columbia Business School | 99 | 13.1% |
| #4 | The University of Chicago Booth School of Business | 61 | 10.4% |
| #5 | University of Virginia Darden School of Business | 31 | 9.2% |
*for schools with 5 or more placements in Bulge Bracket & Elite Boutique roles
| MBA Program | Totals | % of class size | |
| #1 | Duke University – The Fuqua School of Business | 27 | 100.0% |
| #2 | University of Southern California – Marshall School of Business | 9 | 100.0% |
| #3 | University of Virginia Darden School of Business | 30 | 96.8% |
| #4 | Yale School of Management | 21 | 95.5% |
| #5 | UCLA Anderson School of Management | 14 | 93.3% |
| MBA Program | Total | % of class size | EB + BB as % of banking placements |
| Columbia University – Columbia Business School | 99 | 13.1% | 91.9% |
| NYU Stern School of Business | 77 | 20.6% | 88.3% |
| The University of Chicago Booth School of Business | 61 | 10.4% | 85.2% |
| The Wharton School | 59 | 6.5% | 91.5% |
| Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management | 45 | 16.1% | 86.7% |
| University of Virginia Darden School of Business | 31 | 9.2% | 96.8% |
| Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management | 29 | 6.0% | 79.3% |
| Duke University – The Fuqua School of Business | 27 | 6.6% | 100.0% |
| The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth | 23 | 8.0% | 82.6% |
| University of Michigan – Stephen M. Ross School of Business | 22 | 5.2% | 86.4% |
| Yale School of Management | 22 | 6.4% | 95.5% |
| The University of Texas at Austin – Red McCombs School of Business | 21 | 7.3% | 85.7% |
| MIT Sloan School of Management | 18 | 4.5% | 83.3% |
| London Business School | 15 | 3.2% | 80.0% |
| UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School | 15 | 4.4% | 66.7% |
| UCLA Anderson School of Management | 15 | 4.2% | 93.3% |
| Harvard Business School | 14 | 1.5% | 85.7% |
| University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business | 14 | 4.8% | 85.7% |
| University of Southern California – Marshall School of Business | 9 | 4.2% | 100.0% |
| INSEAD | 5 | 0.5% | 80.0% |
| Stanford University Graduate School of Business | 2 | 0.5% | 100.0% |
For details on our general data gathering methodology, click here.
We analyzed investment banking job placements for the graduating classes of 2018, 2019 and 2020 and calculated two primary metrics:
Specifically, placements into Elite Boutique and Bulge Bracket firms. Within this report, we offer detail on total placements into Elite Boutique and Bulge Bracket firms as well as EB + BB counts as a percentage of all banking placements for each program.
Depending on your career goals post-MBA, this extra level of detail can help you determine the best program for Elite Boutique or Bulge Bracket employment tracks.
For example, if you want to know whether a given MBA program is likely to have alumni within the investment banking tiers you want to join, the total number of students that MBA program places into each category is the best predictor.
Alternatively, by-firm placements as a % of overall banking positions is a way to estimate the quality of an MBA program’s investment banking outcomes, without penalizing schools that have more popular post-MBA industries, such as consulting.
This is the number of students whose first full-time post-MBA jobs are in investment banking, and it measures the strength of an MBA program’s network in the industry.
Note on class sizes: where possible, class sizes are derived from employment reports. If employment reports are not available or graduating class sizes are not reported, figures reported at matriculation (in class profiles) are used.
For the purposes of our report, we classify the following firms as Elite Boutique.
| Allegiance Capital Corporation | Lancaster Pollard |
| Allen & Company | Lazard Ltd |
| Arma Partners | Lincoln International |
| Berkery, Noyes & Co. | Marathon Capital |
| BG Capital | Marlin & Associates |
| Blackstone | McColl Partners |
| C.W. Downer | Miller Buckfire & Co. |
| Cain Brothers | Moelis & Company |
| Cantor Fitzgerald | Montgomery & Co. |
| Capstone Partners | Morgan Keegan & Co. |
| Centerview Partners | Needham & Co. |
| Corporate Finance Associates | Oppenheimer & Co |
| Cowen Inc | Panmure Gordon |
| CSG Partners | PCE Investment Bankers, Inc. |
| Europa Partners | Perella Weinberg Partners |
| Evercore Inc | Piper Sandler Companies |
| Fennebresque & Co | PJT Partners |
| Financo | Qatalyst Partners |
| Foros | Roth Capital Partners |
| Gleacher & Company | Rothschild & Co |
| Greenhill & Co. | Sagent Advisors |
| Guggenheim Partners | Sandler O’Neill Partners |
| High Rock Partners | Sonenshine Partners |
| Houlihan Lokey | Stephens, Inc. |
| Imperial Capital | Stifel Financial |
| Invesco PowerShares | Sucsy, Fischer & Company |
| Jefferies & Co. | WR Hambrecht + Co |
| Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods | Ziegler |
| Ladenburg Thalmann |
| The University of Chicago Booth School of Business | |
| New York, New York, United States | 34 |
| Chicago, Illinois, United States | 15 |
| San Francisco, California, United States | 3 |
| Los Angeles, California, United States | 2 |
| Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States | 2 |
| Houston, Texas, United States | 2 |
| Palo Alto, California, United States | 1 |
| London, England, United Kingdom | 1 |
| Charlotte, North Carolina, United States | 1 |
| Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management | |
| New York, New York, United States | 11 |
| Chicago, Illinois, United States | 7 |
| San Francisco, California, United States | 2 |
| Atlanta, Georgia, United States | 1 |
| Boston, Massachusetts, United States | 1 |
| Houston, Texas, United States | 1 |
| Richmond, Virginia, United States | 1 |
| São Paulo, Brasil | 1 |
| St Petersburg, Florida, United States | 1 |
| Tampa, Florida, United States | 1 |
