Lower semi-target school#41 of 100
Villanova University investment banking placement: is it a target school?
Villanova University is a lower semi-target school for investment banking by our count. It ranks #41 of the 100 schools we measure: 225 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 1,018 profiles that include an investment banking job title.
- Rank
- #41of 100 schools
- At 18 top banks, 2015+
- 22575% graduated 2018+
- At the elite five
- 8036% of the top-bank total
- IB alumni network
- 1,018#42 by profiles
- Per 1,000 undergrads
- 144.1#40 per capita
- US-based
- 95%972 profiles
Is Villanova a target school for investment banking?
The verdict, from the dataVillanova's top-bank distribution has an unusual shape. Bank of America is its largest single employer at 33 people, ahead of Deutsche Bank at 32, Goldman Sachs at 28, J.P. Morgan at 25 and Barclays at 20. Nothing dominates, and the gap between the largest and fifth-largest block is only 13 people, which points to a network spread across firms instead of anchored to one recruiting relationship.
Across all 18 banks the school has 225 analysts, ranking #41 — exactly where the headline lands as well, so the seat count and the blended rank tell one story here. Elite-five placement is the soft spot at 80 people, a 36 percent share. Density holds up on the broad side too, with 1,018 profiles over 7,063 undergraduates producing 144.1 per 1,000 undergraduates, comfortably above the 97.8 median.
Venture capital is nearly absent from the network at 7 profiles per 100 IB profiles, ranking #72, and the elite-five share trails more than half the schools in this tier. Ninety-five percent of profiles are US-based, among the most domestic figures in this tier, which makes the network dense for anyone recruiting inside the United States. Villanova is a genuine multi-bank pipeline that leans toward balance-sheet firms rather than the elite five.
Villanova investment banking placement by bank
Analysts, classes of ~2015+Villanova University analysts at each of the top banks we measured — graduates of 2013 or later with investment banking analyst titles. Banks with published feeder pages link through.
- 1Bank of America33
- 2Deutsche Bank32
- 3Goldman Sachs28
- 4J.P. Morgan25
- 5Barclays20
- 6Morgan Stanley19
- 7Wells Fargo19
- 8Citi16
- 9UBS12
Banks with fewer than five matched analysts, and banks not yet measured for this school, are left off the list. Of the 225 analysts at the 18 banks, 80 (36%) are at the elite five: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Evercore, and Centerview.
Where Villanova alumni land beyond investment banking
Alumni profiles, all yearsVillanova 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 Villanova
Villanova’s Class of 2024 outcomes brochure reports that 96.4% of Villanova School of Business graduates successfully secured opportunities: 86.6% employed at an $84,880 average starting salary, 8.9% continuing education, and 3.6% still seeking, on a university-wide knowledge rate of 88.9%. The business school’s featured employers include Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorganChase, MUFG, Perella Weinberg Partners, and Point72.
The school’s own career page adds the Class of 2025: 95.9% secured opportunities, 97.1% of those who sought an internship or co-op completed at least one, and the average starting salary rose to $86,287. Barclays, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley are among the employers it names, and it counts 2,200 students mentored by alumni.
The Villanova Wildcat Fund is the campus pipeline. The student-managed fund holds more than $2,000,000 in assets, has more than 120 participants, and is up 82.54% since its 2000 inception, ahead of the Russell 1000 by more than nine points. Last year all 24 portfolio managers landed competitive internships and 23 received job offers at major banks and investment houses including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley; students of any major who complete the Villanova Investment Academy’s training can pitch a stock for an analyst seat.
Peak Frameworks, working from LinkedIn profiles of bankers hired between 2008 and 2023, ranks Villanova #57 of 60 schools and #59 by total hires, a lower semi-target that consistently places a few top students rather than a large cohort. It is tied for the lowest presence score on that list, and its strongest bank relationship is Barclays, which takes 26% of its investment banking hires, with the rest spread evenly across banks.
Forum accounts call Villanova a semi-target that places students in front-office seats at bulge brackets and middle-market banks, with banking and trading offers going to roughly the top five to ten percent of business students. A thread comparing it with Wake Forest, Bucknell, Colgate, and Hamilton, using each school’s first-destination report, put Villanova’s investment banking count in the high teens from the largest student body of the group, and rated all five as semi-targets with strong alumni networks and some bulge-bracket recruiting on campus.
Our data ranks Villanova #41, the first school in the lower semi-target tier, on 1,018 top-bank analysts from 7,063 undergraduates, or 144.1 per 1,000, with 95% of its banking alumni network based in the United States. The bank breakdown above shows which of the 18 measured firms hold the most Villanova analysts.
What Villanova publishes about outcomes
18 figures, 4 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.
Villanova University, Class of 2024 Career Outcomes Brochure (PDF)
- VSB Class of 2024 successfully secured opportunities
- 96.4%
- VSB Class of 2024 employed
- 86.6%
- VSB Class of 2024 average starting salary
- $84,880
- VSB Class of 2024 continuing education
- 8.9%
- VSB Class of 2024 seeking opportunities
- 3.6%
- University knowledge rate, Class of 2024
- 88.9%
Villanova School of Business, Rankings and Career Success
- VSB Class of 2025 secured opportunities
- 95.9%
- VSB Class of 2025 internship or co-op participation
- 97.1%
- VSB Class of 2025 average starting salary
- $86,287
- Students mentored by alumni
- 2,200
Villanova Magazine, The Wildcats of Wall Street (Fall 2024)
- Wildcat Fund assets under management
- more than $2,000,000
- Wildcat Fund participants
- more than 120
- Wildcat Fund return since its 2000 inception
- 82.54%
- Portfolio managers who landed internships last year
- 24 of 24
- Portfolio managers with job offers at major banks
- 23
Peak Frameworks, Villanova University Investment Banking Placement
- Peak Frameworks rank
- #57 of 60
- Peak Frameworks rank by total hires
- #59
- Share of Peak-counted hires at Barclays
- 26%
How Villanova compares with schools ranked nearby
Analysts at 18 top banks, ~2015+Villanova investment banking FAQ
8 questionsIs Villanova University a target school for investment banking?
Villanova University is a lower semi-target school for investment banking by our count. It ranks #41 of the 100 schools we measure: 225 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 1,018 profiles that include an investment banking job title.
Which banks hire the most Villanova analysts?
By our count, Bank of America leads with 33 Villanova alumni holding investment banking analyst titles, then Deutsche Bank with 32 and Goldman Sachs with 28, among graduates of 2013 or later at the 18 top banks we measure.
Do banks treat Villanova as a target school?
Not a target. Forum consensus and Peak Frameworks both call it a semi-target that places a few top students each year, strongest at Barclays. Our count ranks it #41 of 100, the first school in the lower semi-target tier.
Which Villanova program feeds investment banking recruiting?
The Villanova Wildcat Fund, a student-managed fund with more than 120 participants, where last year all 24 portfolio managers landed internships and 23 received offers at firms including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
What do Villanova business graduates earn out of school?
The Class of 2024 brochure reports an $84,880 average starting salary with 86.6% employed, and the school’s career page lists $86,287 for the Class of 2025.
How many Villanova University alumni work in private equity?
426 Villanova University alumni profiles include a private equity job title, ranking #47 of the 100 schools in our database.
How many Villanova University alumni work in venture capital?
67 Villanova University alumni profiles include a venture capital job title, ranking #72 of the 100 schools in our database.
How many Villanova University alumni work in hedge fund?
90 Villanova University alumni profiles include a hedge fund job title, ranking #30 of the 100 schools in our database.
How we counted Villanova’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 Villanova 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, 972 (95%) are currently based in the United States and 46 are abroad. The per-1,000 figure divides the network count by 7,063 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.
