Non-target school#67 of 100
George Washington University investment banking placement: is it a target school?
George Washington University is a non-target school for investment banking by our count. It ranks #67 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 790 profiles that include an investment banking job title.
- Rank
- #67of 100 schools
- At 18 top banks, 2015+
- 10067% graduated 2018+
- At the elite five
- 4646% of the top-bank total
- IB alumni network
- 790#54 by profiles
- Per 1,000 undergrads
- 69.4#58 per capita
- US-based
- 76%598 profiles
Is GW a target school for investment banking?
The verdict, from the dataGeorge Washington's top-bank rank of #65 sits two places above its headline rank of #67, with the blend's per-student leg supplying the drag. The school shows 100 analysts across the 18 banks, one of the larger top-bank counts in this tier, while the broad network of 790 IB profiles ranks #54 by size — a volume read the analyst count never quite matched.
The trend compounds that lag: 67 of those 100 analysts graduated in 2018 or later, a 67 percent recent share toward the bottom of this tier, meaning fewer fresh seats are being added than at most nearby schools. Within the smaller cohort the quality is decent, with 46 people at the elite five for a 46 percent share, and venture capital adds 138 profiles at rank #44.
Density is unremarkable at 69.4 profiles per 1,000 undergraduates against the 97.8 median, and 24 percent of profiles are located outside the United States. George Washington supports a broad finance network with a genuine elite-weighted core, and the #67 headline now reflects the top-bank record directly rather than the size of the wider alumni base, which ranks thirteen places ahead of it.
GW investment banking placement by bank
Analysts, classes of ~2015+George Washington 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 measure100
- 5The elite five: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Evercore, and Centerview46
By count alone George Washington University ranks #66 of 100; the table of schools ranked nearby, below, sets that figure beside its neighbors.
Where GW alumni land beyond investment banking
Alumni profiles, all yearsGeorge Washington 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 GW
GW’s Class of 2025 first-destination profile covers 90% of 2,332 graduates six months out: 91.5% employed, continuing education, or otherwise engaged, 59.5% employed full time, 29.2% enrolled, and 8.5% seeking, with 74% of employed graduates in the Mid-Atlantic, financial services among the top industries, and 32% of reported salaries at $80,000 or more. The business school runs its own outcomes dashboard filterable by program, industry, and function, with a caution that the data set is limited.
The Wall Street Finance Alliance, formerly the REFA finance program, is the banking pipeline: sophomores apply in the first two months of a semester, sit two interview rounds and a Superday of technical, behavioral, and case interviews, choose investment banking, sales and trading, or asset and wealth management, and get Saturday sessions, an alumni mentor, coffee chats, and a New York trip; recent members have landed at Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo, TD Securities, Perella Weinberg Partners, Deutsche Bank, and Vista Equity Partners.
The GW Investment Institute puts undergraduates and graduate students to work as analysts and portfolio managers on about $11,900,000 of university endowment across equities, real estate, venture capital, and quantitative investing, under director Rodney Lake, with the capital markets as the classroom.
Forum consensus is a solid non-target: a prestigious name that is not a target for bulge brackets, workable for middle-market and boutique banks with networking, a strong GPA, and internships, and hampered by a thin banking alumni base; the harsher takes say Washington summer seats go to Georgetown and Virginia students and that a GW analyst in New York is rare, while an older thread insists a high GPA and finance internships earn bulge-bracket interviews and praises the Fowler career center.
Our data ranks GW #67 on 790 top-bank analysts, the #54 count in the country, from 11,387 undergraduates, or 69.4 per 1,000; 76% 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 GW publishes about outcomes
8 figures, 2 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.
GW Center for Career Services, Class of 2025 Post-Baccalaureate First Destination Profile (PDF)
- Class of 2025 graduates covered
- 90% of 2,332
- Employed, continuing education, or otherwise engaged, Class of 2025
- 91.5%
- Employed full time, Class of 2025
- 59.5%
- Enrolled in further education, Class of 2025
- 29.2%
- Seeking, Class of 2025
- 8.5%
- Employed graduates in the Mid-Atlantic
- 74%
- Reported salaries at the top bracket
- 32% at $80,000 or more
GW School of Business, The GW Investment Institute
- GW Investment Institute endowment funds managed
- about $11,900,000
How GW compares with schools ranked nearby
Analysts at 18 top banks, ~2015+GW investment banking FAQ
8 questionsIs George Washington University a target school for investment banking?
George Washington University is a non-target school for investment banking by our count. It ranks #67 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 790 profiles that include an investment banking job title.
How many GW alumni are analysts at the top investment banks?
100 George Washington University alumni from the classes of roughly 2015 onward hold investment banking analyst titles alongside one of the 18 top banks we measure, the #66 count of the 100 schools ranked; 46 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 George Washington University as a target school?
No; forum consensus calls it a non-target where middle-market and boutique banks are realistic with networking and bulge brackets rare. Our count ranks it #67 of 100.
What is the Wall Street Finance Alliance at GW?
A mentorship program for sophomores, chosen through two interview rounds and a Superday, with alumni mentors and a New York trip; recent members landed at Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Perella Weinberg Partners, and Deutsche Bank.
How do GW graduates fare six months after graduation?
91.5% of the Class of 2025 were employed, continuing education, or otherwise engaged, with 59.5% in full-time jobs and 32% of reported salaries at $80,000 or more, on a 90% knowledge rate.
How many George Washington University alumni work in private equity?
361 George Washington University alumni profiles include a private equity job title, ranking #53 of the 100 schools in our database.
How many George Washington University alumni work in venture capital?
138 George Washington University alumni profiles include a venture capital job title, ranking #44 of the 100 schools in our database.
How many George Washington University alumni work in hedge fund?
63 George Washington University alumni profiles include a hedge fund job title, ranking #47 of the 100 schools in our database.
How we counted GW’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 George Washington 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, 598 (76%) are currently based in the United States and 192 are abroad. The per-1,000 figure divides the network count by 11,387 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.
