The best investment banking schools are those that consistently place an abundance of students to top investment banks, and have impressive placement rates for undergrads and provide special programs or student groups that help you prepare for a career in finance. Cornell, MIT and Columbia all fit this criteria along with having prominent alumni from the industry and extracurricular activities like Stern’s finance society and Booth’s famed finance program, which provides the chance to experience real-world investment banking challenges.

These schools also typically have a large alumni network within the field which is beneficial for networking. They are often located near the financial hub of small or regional investment banks. In addition, they usually have top-ranked programs in their finance and accounting departments.

When choosing a school, you must consider your individual interests, the kind of career you would like to pursue and the types of jobs you’re interested in working at an investment bank. In contrast to other industries, where hiring is more competitive through technical interviews, investment banking recruiting is largely dependent on the school’s reputation and the quantity of top performing students that the school produces every year.

For undergrads, consider universities like NYU and UMich with strong reputations in the field of business and are well-known for their alumni networks and high placement rates. In Europe, consider HEC Paris and Oxford Said Business School. In visit the site Asia take a look at HKUST and CUHK, and Chinese universities like Peking University, Tsinghua and Fudan.