Should my goal be an MBA from a top grad school or an undergrad finance (or economics) degree?

Question

My dream job is to work on Wall Street either in investment banking or as a trader. At the moment, I am completely high-strung about studying for the upcoming SAT II's and later the SAT, filling out applications and writing essays on time, and that's just in between my loads of homework. I am applying to most of the Ivies (as I have read numerous times that "if you want a job on Wall Street, get an Ivy League degree", University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, Michigan, Northwestern, Indiana, New York U, and University of Virginia. Should I be frantic and amidst constant worry about choosing the best undergrad school or should I worry more about how I do once I get to college, and focus more on getting accepted to a top notch MBA program? It seems to me that with today's fledgling economy, the top i-banks would only want to hire a more experienced MBA, rather than a 22-year old undergrad fresh off the grill.

Give me your opinions.

P.S. I have some connections to Wall Street and I believe that they could assist me in a job especially if I were to fore go the MBA.

Answer 1

If you look at the roster at any top business school you'll see that the majority came from top colleges.

Keep in mind you'll need to work for several years after college before getting the MBA. If you want a career on The Street, you'll want to spend those years working on The Street. Thus the need for a "target" college. The was a survey recently that showed fewer and fewer Wall Streeters are going back for the MBA. In the frenzied world of ibanking the employers don't want to lose their best for 2 years and the employees don't want to lose the big bucks in a hot market. So more employers are saying the MBA doesn't matter, it was always more about networking then learning.

So bottom line: top college. It doesn't have to be an ivy, they recruit from top LACs as well. Also add Duke which is the most recruited of any non ivy school other than maybe Williams and NYU's Stern. I'd can Indiana and Illinois and of the ivies skip Cornell and Brown.

Even with great connections, school matters.