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Southern Methodist University
The Southern Methodist University is one of the most underrated U.S. schools when it comes to finance and investment banking placement.
SMU is home to the Cox School of Business, a highly regarded business school that is home to several unique programs.
Of note, Cox has a dedicated Alternative Asset Management Program, which is a consistent feeder into great finance and investing jobs. Like similar programs at UVA and UBC, this program involves a strict application process and heavy involvement from the school. The Alternative Asset Management program exposes students to industry speakers and practical investing classes.
SMU ranks as #20 on our investment banking target school list. We observe that Cox's investment banking placement numbers are bolstered by its strong relationship with Houston offices.
SMU is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and is recognized for its tight-knit class sizes.
SMU has an impressive "Presence" score, indicating that the school is well-represented across Wall Street.
SMU also has an incredible Undergrad Placement %, with 1.19% of all SMU undergrads earning a role at a top investment bank (good enough for #15 on our list).
Despite strong investment banking opportunities, we have observed that SMU does not have a good track when it comes to private equity placements.
Our investment banking target school list is a complete rank of 60 schools and analyzed >60k LinkedIn profiles of professionals who worked in investment banking between 2008 and 2023. We filtered the data to examine U.S. hires into the top investment banks.
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Investment Banking Placement
School Factsheet
Established: 1911
Location: Dallas, Texas
Business School Name: Cox
# of Undergrads: 6,908 per U.S. News
# of Business School Undergrads: 1,600
Median Starting Salary (2021): $73k
President: R. Gerald Turner
U.S. News Global Rank (2022-2023): #732
QS World University Rankings: #1001-1200
Financial Times MBA Rank: #66