Meet the least boring college rankings for buy-side jobs
Every finance-related website (including this one) comes out with their annual ranking of college programs for jobs in finance, taking into account different data points and survey information. But at the end of the day, they all look fairly similar. The University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and Stanford tend to lead the way, with NYU and the University of Chicago usually finding their way near the top five.
On the surface, the latest list is no different. In fact, the top three are in the identical order as listed above. UPenn, Harvard and Stanford send a larger percentage of their graduates to buy-side jobs than any other schools, according to SumZero, a private network for buy-side analysts. More than 8% of University of Pennsylvania alumni have or had worked an investment-management job at a hedge fund, mutual fund or private equity firm, nearly doubling the percentage sent by Harvard. Again, not a shocker.
But SumZero then took it a step further. They compiled a list of the best hedge funds to work for, based on a number of factors including assets under management, fund performance and multiple third party entities like Baron’s and Bloomberg. They then cross-referenced that list with the original rankings to see how “good” the jobs were for each set of graduates.
The “batting average,” as they call it, tells a much different story. [efc_twitter text="Colgate University sends 18% of its buy-side graduates to “elite” hedge funds, the highest percentage among any school,"] despite the fact that it didn’t finish in the top 30 of the traditional rankings. Colgate doesn’t send a ton of graduates to the buy-side, but those who make it tend to land in ideal spots.
Other movers include MIT and Johns Hopkins, which sent roughly 15% of buy-side analysts to elite hedge funds. UPenn (12%), Harvard (10%) and Stanford (8.5%) still did plenty well, but it’s just an interesting way of looking at what has largely been a static ranking over the better part of two decades.
Schools that send plenty of graduates to the buy-side but not many to elite funds include the University of Chicago, London School of Economics and the University of Southern California. Although much of that could have something to do with the fact that many third party entities put New York-area hedge funds on their elite list.
Click here for the full rankings, via CNBC.
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