Lower semi-target school#57 of 100
Bentley University investment banking placement: is it a target school?
Bentley University is a lower semi-target school for investment banking by our count. It ranks #57 of the 100 schools we measure: 109 alumni list investment banking analyst titles alongside the 18 top banks from classes of roughly 2015 onward, weighted for school size, and its wider banking alumni network holds 811 profiles that include an investment banking job title.
- Rank
- #57of 100 schools
- At 18 top banks, 2015+
- 10977% graduated 2018+
- At the elite five
- 3936% of the top-bank total
- IB alumni network
- 811#52 by profiles
- Per 1,000 undergrads
- 186.4#30 per capita
- US-based
- 74%601 profiles
Is Bentley a target school for investment banking?
The verdict, from the dataBentley shows 73 private equity profiles per 100 IB profiles, the richest buyside mix in this tier and a reflection of 592 private equity profiles that rank #36, twenty-one places better than its IB rank of #57. Hedge funds sit at 82 profiles and rank #33, also ahead of the banking rank. The network's centre of gravity leans further from banking than almost any other school here.
On the precise measure the picture reverses. Bentley has 109 top-bank analysts, ranking #61 against a headline rank of #57, a four-place shortfall the blend's per-student leg claws back. Of those 109, 39 are at the elite five for a 36 percent share, and 84 graduated in 2018 or later. Density remains solid at 186.4 profiles per 1,000 undergraduates versus the 97.8 median.
The honest reading is that the broad alumni network outruns hard placement at the named top banks — #52 by network size against #61 on analyst seats — and 74 percent US-based means roughly a quarter of profiles sit outside the country. Bentley alumni are demonstrably present across finance in volume, and the #57 headline now prices in a top-bank pipeline that stays thinner than the buyside numbers suggest.
Bentley investment banking placement by bank
Analysts, classes of ~2015+Bentley University's analysts at the 18 top banks we measure, graduates of 2013 or later with investment banking analyst titles, against the elite five. Its per-bank cells are not yet measured, so the breakdown by bank is the one thing this page cannot show.
- 18All 18 top banks we measure109
- 5The elite five: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Evercore, and Centerview39
By count alone Bentley University ranks #61 of 100; the table of schools ranked nearby, below, sets that figure beside its neighbors.
Where Bentley alumni land beyond investment banking
Alumni profiles, all yearsBentley University’s rank in each vertical we count, by the same title-phrase method. Bars show its count as a share of that ranking’s #1 school. Per 100 IB shows the network mix: profiles per 100 IB profiles.
How to recruit for investment banking from Bentley
Bentley’s outcomes page reports that 98% of the Class of 2025 were employed or in graduate school six months after graduation at a $75,000 median starting salary, the same $75,000 median for finance majors, and cites a New York Times tool ranking its alumni #4 nationally for median income a decade out and a Georgetown estimate of more than $1,000,000 in net economic gain 20 years after graduation.
The method behind that rate is a formal survey plus research by career services: for the Class of 2014 it produced a 91% knowledge rate, with 89% employed and 9% in graduate school, 314 employers, a $52,000 median, 60% of jobs found through campus recruiting, fairs, referrals, and internships and 29% through networking, and Morgan Stanley, GE Capital, and Fidelity among the hirers.
Wall Street Boot Camp, launched in 2020 by a 2007 graduate who is an executive director at JPMorgan Chase, brings alumni from Barclays, Lazard, and Canaccord Genuity to campus to prepare 24 selected students for banking recruiting, on the premise that banks moving beyond their historical target list removes the initial bias against a non-target. The career center’s Investment Banking community and the Investment Banking Club publish a semester-by-semester Breaking Into Investment Banking playbook, a recruiting timeline calendar, and sessions on high finance, timelines, and networking.
Forum accounts agree Bentley is a non-target whose placement numbers are mostly accounting and corporate finance, that front-office banking is uncommon and campus recruiting minimal, and that the path runs through the student investment group and the Investment Banking Club plus a very high GPA, strong internships, and hard networking; alumni sit at nearly every bulge bracket and top middle-market banks are feasible, elite boutiques less so. Posters steer students set on banking toward Boston College, whose academy and alumni pull harder, and suggest Boston boutiques for early summers.
Our data ranks Bentley #57 on 811 top-bank analysts from 4,350 undergraduates, or 186.4 per 1,000, the #30 per-capita figure in the country; 74% of its banking alumni network is US-based, the lowest share in this batch. Its per-bank cells are not yet fetched, so the neighbor table above stands in for a bank breakdown.
What Bentley publishes about outcomes
13 figures, 3 sourcesEvery figure below is quoted from the source named above it, as published; none is ours. Read them beside our counts, which measure a different thing: analysts matched to named banks rather than a graduating class's outcomes.
Bentley University, Return on Investment
- Class of 2025 employed or in graduate school within six months
- 98%
- Median starting salary, Class of 2025
- $75,000
- Finance major median starting salary
- $75,000
- New York Times rank for alumni median income a decade out
- #4
- Net economic gain, Georgetown estimate
- more than $1,000,000 at 20 years
Bentley University, Bentley Graduates Report Encouraging Career Outcomes: 98% Placement Rate (Class of 2014)
- Knowledge rate, Class of 2014
- 91%
- Employed, Class of 2014
- 89%
- In graduate school, Class of 2014
- 9%
- Employers hiring the Class of 2014
- 314
- Median starting salary, Class of 2014
- $52,000
- Jobs found through campus recruiting, fairs, referrals, and internships
- 60%
- Jobs found through networking
- 29%
Bentley University, A new program at Bentley University prepares students for investment banking careers (February 2020)
- Students accepted to Wall Street Boot Camp
- 24
How Bentley compares with schools ranked nearby
Analysts at 18 top banks, ~2015+Bentley investment banking FAQ
8 questionsIs Bentley University a target school for investment banking?
Bentley University is a lower semi-target school for investment banking by our count. It ranks #57 of the 100 schools we measure: 109 alumni list investment banking analyst titles alongside the 18 top banks from classes of roughly 2015 onward, weighted for school size, and its wider banking alumni network holds 811 profiles that include an investment banking job title.
How many Bentley alumni are analysts at the top investment banks?
109 Bentley University alumni from the classes of roughly 2015 onward hold investment banking analyst titles alongside one of the 18 top banks we measure, the #61 count of the 100 schools ranked; 39 of them are at the elite five, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Evercore, and Centerview. Its per-bank breakdown is not yet measured, so the table above compares its total with the top of the ranking.
Do banks treat Bentley as a target school?
No; forum consensus calls it a non-target strong for accounting and corporate finance, where banking takes a top GPA, the investment club, and heavy networking. Our count ranks it #57 of 100, with the #30 per-capita figure in the country.
What does Bentley do to prepare students for investment banking?
Wall Street Boot Camp, run by alumni from JPMorgan Chase, Barclays, Lazard, and Canaccord Genuity for 24 selected students, plus the Investment Banking Club’s semester-by-semester playbook and the career center’s banking community.
What do Bentley graduates earn out of school?
A $75,000 median starting salary for the Class of 2025, the same for finance majors, with 98% employed or in graduate school within six months by the school’s outcomes page.
How many Bentley University alumni work in private equity?
592 Bentley University alumni profiles include a private equity job title, ranking #36 of the 100 schools in our database.
How many Bentley University alumni work in venture capital?
103 Bentley University alumni profiles include a venture capital job title, ranking #56 of the 100 schools in our database.
How many Bentley University alumni work in hedge fund?
82 Bentley University alumni profiles include a hedge fund job title, ranking #33 of the 100 schools in our database.
How we counted Bentley’s analysts
Counts come from People Data Labs, which aggregates public professional profiles. The headline rank is anchored on the strict measure: profiles that list Bentley University in their education, a job title containing “investment banking analyst”, one of 18 named top banks as an employer, and a graduation year of 2013 or later — the analyst classes of roughly 2015 onward, deduplicated across banks. Those conditions hold on the profile rather than on a single job, so the title and the bank are usually but not provably the same role. The rank weights that count at two-thirds and the same count per 1,000 undergraduates at one-third, so school size is priced in. The elite-five figure counts analysts at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Evercore, and Centerview. Data pulled 2026-10-16.
The alumni-network figure is broader: everyone who has held a title containing “investment banking” at any firm worldwide, across all years, including graduate alumni. It reads as the size of the school’s banking network rather than a single era’s placement. Of those, 601 (74%) are currently based in the United States and 210 are abroad. The per-1,000 figure divides the network count by 4,350 total undergraduates reported for fall 2023 in the NCES IPEDS Fall Enrollment dataset — a school-size comparison, not a placement rate for a graduating class.
