How many Davidson alumni are analysts at the top investment banks?

100 Davidson College alumni from the classes of roughly 2015 onward hold investment banking analyst titles alongside one of the 18 top banks we measure, the #64 count of the 100 schools ranked; 11 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 Davidson as a target school?

A liberal arts semi-target with a Charlotte pipeline by forum accounts, which also warn that placement runs through athletic and alumni networks. Our count ranks it #53 of 100, with the #39 per-capita figure in the country.

Which Davidson programs prepare students for finance recruiting?

The Davidson Investment & Finance Association, which manages more than $700,000 of the endowment, the Pre-Business Society’s mentorship program, Women in Business, and summer immersions at Tuck Business Bridge and the Vanderbilt Accelerator.

How do Davidson graduates fare after graduation?

95% are employed or enrolled within six months by the college’s outcomes page, and the Class of 2025 report covers 451 graduates at an 88.6% knowledge rate.

How many Davidson College alumni work in private equity?

113 Davidson College alumni profiles include a private equity job title, ranking #96 of the 100 schools in our database.

How many Davidson College alumni work in venture capital?

21 Davidson College alumni profiles include a venture capital job title, ranking #96 of the 100 schools in our database.

How many Davidson College alumni work in hedge fund?

6 Davidson College alumni profiles include a hedge fund job title, ranking #98 of the 100 schools in our database.

Lower semi-target school#53 of 100

Davidson College investment banking placement: is it a target school?

Davidson College is a lower semi-target school for investment banking by our count. It ranks #53 of the 100 schools we measure: 100 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 286 profiles that include an investment banking job title.

By Ben Chon, former J.P. Morgan investment banking analystUpdated 2026-10-16

Photo: Dacoslett at English Wikipedia · Public domain

Rank: #53of 100 schools
At 18 top banks, 2015+: 10076% graduated 2018+
At the elite five: 1111% of the top-bank total
IB alumni network: 286#90 by profiles
Per 1,000 undergrads: 150.2#39 per capita
US-based: 95%271 profiles

TargetTarget 1–15Semi-targetSemi 16–35Lower semi-targetLower 36–60Non-targetNon-target 61–100

In the 36 to 60 band the pipeline still exists — every school here shows at least 92 analysts at the top banks — but it is thin enough that you have to build your own. Expect to source interviews through cold emails and off-cycle applications rather than campus recruiting, and expect the alumni you find to remember what that climb felt like.

Is Davidson a target school for investment banking?

The verdict, from the data

Davidson ranks #64 on alumni at the 18 top banks against #90 by raw investment banking count, a 26-place gap produced by 100 top-bank analysts drawn from a total of only 286 IB profiles. More than a third of the school's entire banking network listed an investment banking analyst title alongside one of those firms since the 2013 class.

Density reaches 150.2 profiles per 1,000 undergraduates against the 97.8 median from a base of 1,904 undergrads, and 76 of the 100 top-bank analysts, or 76 percent, graduated in 2018 or later. 95 percent of profiles are US-based. The pattern is a small college punching considerably above its raw count at the biggest banks, and the top-bank-anchored headline now puts the school at #53 overall.

The elite-five share is the striking weakness, at 11 of 100 or 11 percent, and the buyside network is smaller still, with hedge funds at #98 on 6 profiles. Davidson gets people into large banks reliably; the most selective firms and the longer buyside route have very few alumni to follow, so those paths need building rather than borrowing.

Davidson investment banking placement by bank

Analysts, classes of ~2015+

Davidson College'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 measure100
5The elite five: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Evercore, and Centerview11

By count alone Davidson College ranks #64 of 100; the table of schools ranked nearby, below, sets that figure beside its neighbors.

Where Davidson alumni land beyond investment banking

Alumni profiles, all years

Davidson College’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.

How to recruit for investment banking from Davidson

Davidson’s outcomes page reports 95% of graduates employed or enrolled within six months, an alumni network of more than 26,000 that LinkedIn ranks #7 in the nation for strength, and 93% of students completing an internship, mentored research, study abroad, or community project; the Class of 2025 report covers 451 graduates at an 88.6% knowledge rate under the NACE first-destination standard.

The same page leans on Charlotte, twenty minutes down the road: two of its employer testimonials come from the chairman and chief executive of Truist and the president of Bank of America Charlotte, who describe Davidson interns and graduates as people who can lead teams, pivot, and learn technical skills quickly.

The employer-engagement site lists the finance infrastructure: the Davidson Investment & Finance Association, which manages more than $700,000 of the college endowment, a Pre-Business Society with a mentorship program for finance careers, Women in Business, a venture capital group that supports local firms, a pre-consulting society, and summer business immersions through Tuck Business Bridge and the Vanderbilt Accelerator.

The student body behind that is small and busy: 79% of graduates complete at least one internship or supervised research experience and 66% at least two, economics is the largest major at 17% ahead of political science at 16%, 25% of students compete in Division I athletics, and the college admits domestic students regardless of ability to pay with loan-free aid.

Forum accounts describe bulge-bracket placement from Davidson in the big cities but mostly in Charlotte, with a caveat: the banking pipeline runs largely through varsity athletes and their networks, so students outside those circles may find it harder. In a thread on southern schools, Davidson and Washington and Lee are held up as the liberal arts colleges that place into Atlanta, Charlotte, and New York banking.

Our data ranks Davidson #53 on 286 top-bank analysts from 1,904 undergraduates, or 150.2 per 1,000, the #39 per-capita figure in the country from a raw count that ranks #90; 95% of its banking alumni network is US-based. Its per-bank cells are not yet fetched, so the neighbor table above stands in for a bank breakdown.

What Davidson publishes about outcomes

12 figures, 3 sources

Every 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.

Davidson College, Career Outcomes & Networking

Graduates employed or enrolled within six months: 95%
Alumni worldwide: more than 26,000
LinkedIn rank for alumni network strength: #7
Students completing a high-impact experience: 93%

Davidson College Matthews Center, Latest Career Outcomes (Class of 2025)

Graduates covered, Class of 2025: 451
Knowledge rate, Class of 2025: 88.6%

Davidson College Employer Engagement, Why Recruit Davidson

Davidson Investment & Finance Association assets: more than $700,000
Graduates with at least one internship or supervised research experience: 79%
Graduates with at least two: 66%
Economics share of majors: 17%
Political science share of majors: 16%
Students in Division I athletics: 25%

How Davidson compares with schools ranked nearby

Analysts at 18 top banks, ~2015+

See the full ranking of 100 schools →

Davidson investment banking FAQ

8 questions

Is Davidson College a target school for investment banking?
Davidson College is a lower semi-target school for investment banking by our count. It ranks #53 of the 100 schools we measure: 100 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 286 profiles that include an investment banking job title.
How many Davidson alumni are analysts at the top investment banks?
100 Davidson College alumni from the classes of roughly 2015 onward hold investment banking analyst titles alongside one of the 18 top banks we measure, the #64 count of the 100 schools ranked; 11 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 Davidson as a target school?
A liberal arts semi-target with a Charlotte pipeline by forum accounts, which also warn that placement runs through athletic and alumni networks. Our count ranks it #53 of 100, with the #39 per-capita figure in the country.
Which Davidson programs prepare students for finance recruiting?
The Davidson Investment & Finance Association, which manages more than $700,000 of the endowment, the Pre-Business Society’s mentorship program, Women in Business, and summer immersions at Tuck Business Bridge and the Vanderbilt Accelerator.
How do Davidson graduates fare after graduation?
95% are employed or enrolled within six months by the college’s outcomes page, and the Class of 2025 report covers 451 graduates at an 88.6% knowledge rate.
How many Davidson College alumni work in private equity?
113 Davidson College alumni profiles include a private equity job title, ranking #96 of the 100 schools in our database.
How many Davidson College alumni work in venture capital?
21 Davidson College alumni profiles include a venture capital job title, ranking #96 of the 100 schools in our database.
How many Davidson College alumni work in hedge fund?
6 Davidson College alumni profiles include a hedge fund job title, ranking #98 of the 100 schools in our database.

How we counted Davidson’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 Davidson College 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, 271 (95%) are currently based in the United States and 15 are abroad. The per-1,000 figure divides the network count by 1,904 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.