The top universities for technology jobs on Wall Street
When banks want students and graduates for their technology analyst programs on Wall Street and in U.S. finance where do they turn? Not necessarily to Silicon Valley's favorites of the University of California Berkeley or Stanford. Nor, necessarily to their favorite universities for recruits for the front office. Instead, our analysis of the top universities for technology jobs at financial services firms in the U.S. reveals several of banks’ and buy-side firms’ all-time favorite universities in the top 40 list, along with some huge surprises.
We looked at more than 35,000 resumes of U.S.-based technologists in our CV database. The results revealed that while financial services firms predictably hire many of their technologists from New York University, the Ivy League, MIT and Stanford, they also recruit heavily from the likes of Rutgers University, the University of Illinois and the University Maryland’s Clark School of Engineering.
Keep in mind that this list does not rank these universities based on the quality of the education that each offers; rather, it is a reflection of the quantity of alumni that each funnels into information technology (IT) and information services/systems (IS) jobs at financial services firms. Basically, it’s an indication of the biggest feeder schools for financial technology jobs at banks and buy-side firms across the U.S. (without accounting for the differences in student-body size among these universities).
The best universities for technology jobs on Wall Street
The inclusion of NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, the second-oldest private technology-and-engineering school in the U.S. (previously known as the Polytechnic Institute) is no surprise – it’s conveniently located a short subway ride from Wall Street in Brooklyn. It made Forbes' top 10 list of universities that will make you rich and it ranked seventh on its best colleges for women in STEM list.
The four Ivy League institutions that made the top 10 list based on eFinancialCareers data were Princeton, Columbia, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, while Yale finished 26th.
Another member of that elite club, Cornell, placed 11th and may be poised to make a move upward, as it is partnering with Citi, which will lease space at the university’s engineering campus, The Bridge, in New York City. Up to 80 Citi technologists will work with students and faculty on emerging technologies such as blockchain, machine learning, big data applications, biometric authentication, the Internet of Things and cyber-security. Meanwhile, Citi is making a hiring push for a Smart Automation Centre focused on robotics and related technologies, and Cornell Tech students will presumably have the inside track for those positions.
Another major takeaway from this top 40 ranking is the fact that financial services firms do not limit themselves to private institutions and are more than happy to bring on qualified technologists from public universities. In addition to the aforementioned Rutgers, Illinois and Maryland, state schools that made the cut include the University of Michigan, various branches of the University of California system (with UCLA and Berkeley ranking highest), the University of Colorado, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Washington, Texas A&M, the University of Texas, Georgia Tech, Ohio State and Virginia Tech.
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