Lower semi-target school#43 of 100
Penn State investment banking placement: is it a target school?
Penn State is a lower semi-target school for investment banking by our count. It ranks #43 of the 100 schools we measure: 283 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 1,462 profiles that include an investment banking job title.
- Rank
- #43of 100 schools
- At 18 top banks, 2015+
- 28373% graduated 2018+
- At the elite five
- 12845% of the top-bank total
- IB alumni network
- 1,462#31 by profiles
- Per 1,000 undergrads
- 34.6#76 per capita
- US-based
- 86%1,263 profiles
Is Penn State a target school for investment banking?
The verdict, from the dataPenn State counts 128 people at the elite five, a raw elite-five presence that only Northeastern's 148 and Johns Hopkins's 131 beat within this tier. That comes out of 283 total top-bank analysts, a 45 percent elite share, and it means the school's absolute footprint at the most selective firms rivals schools ranked well above it. The comparison holds against WashU St. Louis, which is ranked #33 overall and shows 121 at the elite five.
Its raw top-bank count ranks #31, twelve places better than the #43 headline once the per-student leg drags the blend down — one of the larger such gaps in this batch — and the hedge fund network is genuinely strong at 144 profiles and rank #17. Private equity adds 690 profiles at #31. The trend is the weaker element, with 208 of 283 analysts graduating in 2018 or later, a 73 percent recent share that sits toward the lower end here.
Per-capita reach is poor: 1,462 profiles across 42,223 undergraduates gives 34.6 per 1,000 undergraduates against a 97.8 median, ranking #76. Fourteen percent of profiles sit outside the United States. Penn State punches meaningfully above its headline rank at the top banks, and the competition for those seats inside a very large undergraduate population is correspondingly heavy.
Penn State investment banking placement by bank
Analysts, classes of ~2015+Penn State'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 measure283
- 5The elite five: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Evercore, and Centerview128
By count alone Penn State ranks #31 of 100; the table of schools ranked nearby, below, sets that figure beside its neighbors.
Where Penn State alumni land beyond investment banking
Alumni profiles, all yearsPenn State’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 Penn State
Smeal’s 2024 outcomes report covers 1,981 graduates with 1,686 known outcomes, an 85.1% knowledge rate: 84.3% placed within three months, 67.4% in full-time jobs and 12.2% in further education, at a $73,027 average salary. Finance majors did better, with an 89.3% placement rate, a $79,085 average salary, and an $8,612 signing bonus for the 69.1% who received one. Among full-time employers, Bank of America sits in the 10-to-16-hire tier, Citi and Morgan Stanley in the 6-to-9 tier, and Goldman Sachs and UBS at 4 to 5 hires, with BNP Paribas, SMBC, and Guggenheim Partners further down.
The finance department’s own placement page lists a sample of full-time hiring companies with counts: JP Morgan Chase 12, Bank of America 9, Citi 7, Morgan Stanley 7, BlackRock 5, and Goldman Sachs and UBS 4 each, with 72.9% of finance graduates in full-time employment and 14% in further education. Finance is Smeal’s largest major, 508 of the 1,892 undergraduate degrees awarded in 2024–25, and the school says it consistently ranks in the top 10 nationally for finance degrees awarded.
The Nittany Lion Fund is the pipeline: each semester 40 undergraduates manage an equity portfolio of more than $18,000,000 for accredited investors, fed by the Penn State Investment Association’s 200-plus members, and the fund says it has placed more than 350 alumni into financial institutions since its 2005 founding. In 2023–24 it hosted Goldman Sachs, TD Cowen, BDT & MSD, and Bank of America, and its Wall Street trips visited Bank of America, BNP Paribas, Citi, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and UBS.
In 2016, when all 17 graduating fund veterans took full-time seats in banking and investment management, 16 of them in New York, and 17 juniors and 12 sophomores landed summer internships, director Randy Woolridge told Penn State News that the school is a target at Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and most recently Citigroup. Alongside the fund, Leveraged Lion Capital, founded in 2017, runs a $125,000,000 paper portfolio of syndicated loans and high-yield bonds, and Wall Street Boot Camp, started in 2007, trains students aiming at financial services careers.
Peak Frameworks ranks Penn State #33 of 60, a lower semi-target where typically only the very top students reach banking: #28 by total hires but #49 by undergraduate placement rate, with 96% of its investment banking hires at bulge brackets, Bank of America and Citi the most common destinations, and just 4% at elite boutiques.
Forum accounts say the Nittany Lion Fund has historically placed better than Leveraged Lion Capital, since it manages real money while the other runs a paper portfolio, and that Penn State’s clubs mainly get looks from bulge brackets rather than boutiques. The Wisconsin comparison threads put both schools in the same bracket: mature preparation programs with plenty of alumni on the street and a process the clubs have down to a science, with Penn State’s New York pull built on Bank of America and Citi.
Our data ranks Penn State #43 on 1,462 top-bank analysts, the #31 count in the country, from 42,223 undergraduates, or 34.6 per 1,000; 86% 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 Penn State publishes about outcomes
34 figures, 7 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.
Smeal College of Business, 2024 Undergraduate Outcomes Report (PDF)
- Graduates covered, Smeal Class of 2024
- 1,981 (1,686 known)
- Knowledge rate, Class of 2024
- 85.1%
- Placed within three months, all majors
- 84.3%
- Full-time employment, all majors
- 67.4%
- Further education or fellowship, all majors
- 12.2%
- Average full-time salary, all majors
- $73,027
- Finance major placement rate
- 89.3%
- Finance major average salary
- $79,085
- Finance major average signing bonus
- $8,612
- Finance majors receiving a signing bonus
- 69.1%
- Bank of America full-time hires, Class of 2024
- 10 to 16
- Citi and Morgan Stanley full-time hires each, Class of 2024
- 6 to 9
- Goldman Sachs and UBS full-time hires each, Class of 2024
- 4 to 5
Smeal Finance Annual Update, Undergraduate placement data
- JP Morgan Chase full-time hires, finance sample
- 12
- Bank of America full-time hires, finance sample
- 9
- Citi and Morgan Stanley full-time hires each, finance sample
- 7
- BlackRock full-time hires, finance sample
- 5
- Goldman Sachs and UBS full-time hires each, finance sample
- 4
- Finance graduates in full-time employment
- 72.9%
- Finance graduates in further education
- 14%
Smeal Finance Annual Update, Undergraduate
- Finance degrees awarded, 2024–25
- 508 of 1,892
- National rank for finance degrees awarded
- top 10
Smeal Finance Annual Update, Experiential learning
- Nittany Lion Fund managers each semester
- 40
- Nittany Lion Fund assets under management
- more than $18,000,000
- Leveraged Lion Capital paper portfolio
- $125,000,000
Nittany Lion Fund
- Penn State Investment Association members
- more than 200
- Nittany Lion Fund alumni placed since 2005
- more than 350
Penn State News, Nittany Lion Fund job placement rate at 100 percent for 2016
- Graduating fund veterans with full-time seats, 2016
- 17 (16 in New York)
- Fund juniors and sophomores with summer internships, 2016
- 17 and 12
Peak Frameworks, Penn State University Investment Banking Placement
- Peak Frameworks rank
- #33 of 60
- Peak Frameworks rank by total hires
- #28
- Peak Frameworks rank by undergraduate placement rate
- #49
- Share of Peak-counted hires at bulge brackets
- 96%
- Share of Peak-counted hires at elite boutiques
- 4%
How Penn State compares with schools ranked nearby
Analysts at 18 top banks, ~2015+Penn State investment banking FAQ
8 questionsIs Penn State a target school for investment banking?
Penn State is a lower semi-target school for investment banking by our count. It ranks #43 of the 100 schools we measure: 283 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 1,462 profiles that include an investment banking job title.
How many Penn State alumni are analysts at the top investment banks?
283 Penn State alumni from the classes of roughly 2015 onward hold investment banking analyst titles alongside one of the 18 top banks we measure, the #31 count of the 100 schools ranked; 128 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.
How do banks and Peak Frameworks classify Penn State for investment banking?
A lower semi-target by Peak Frameworks’ count, #33 of 60, where the very top students reach bulge brackets; the fund’s director calls it a target at Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Citigroup. Our count ranks it #43 of 100.
How do Penn State students get into investment banking?
Through the Nittany Lion Fund, where 40 students a semester manage more than $18,000,000 and the fund reports more than 350 alumni placed since 2005, plus Leveraged Lion Capital and the Wall Street Boot Camp.
What do Smeal finance majors earn after graduation?
The 2024 outcomes report lists an 89.3% placement rate, a $79,085 average salary, and an $8,612 signing bonus for finance majors, against $73,027 for the college as a whole.
How many Penn State alumni work in private equity?
690 Penn State alumni profiles include a private equity job title, ranking #31 of the 100 schools in our database.
How many Penn State alumni work in venture capital?
191 Penn State alumni profiles include a venture capital job title, ranking #33 of the 100 schools in our database.
How many Penn State alumni work in hedge fund?
144 Penn State alumni profiles include a hedge fund job title, ranking #17 of the 100 schools in our database.
How we counted Penn State’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 Penn State 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, 1,263 (86%) are currently based in the United States and 199 are abroad. The per-1,000 figure divides the network count by 42,223 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.
