Every year hundreds of fresh investment banking analysts graduate from a wide range of programs all across the U.S. But how many of them landed in buy-side positions and what types of positions are they going into? Vettery has tracked the 2012 investment banking analyst class at the end of their two-year banking program to see where they ended up.
Buy-side analysts: A variety of positions
The firm reports that the new analysts landed in a variety of places spread across 568 firms and schools. Of course many ended up in traditional analyst positions like roles a private equity firms or hedge funds. Others went on to found their own companies or firms, while others went on to doctorate, law or medical school and still others joined the U.S. Armed Forces.
Vettery tracked more than 1,400 analysts after their two-year banking program and found that 47% of them landed buy-side jobs in more than 375 private equity, hedge fund or venture capital firms. Out of all the firms hiring, just 28% hired more than one analyst.
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Less than 15% of total private equity firms were in debt-focused and distressed investing firms. Less than 27% of the analysts the firm tracked finished their two-year program because they either left the program early or joined another investment bank.
Here’s a look at the breakdown of what types of firms the 2012 analyst class went into (All graphs are courtesy Vettery):
Top schools for analysts
According to Vettery, the top 25 undergraduate schools for investment analysts made up more than 80% of the analysts who received buy-side jobs. The firm found that the University of Pennsylvania was by far the leader in buy-side placements. The university placed four times more than Stanford University did and twice as many as Harvard University. However, Stanford had the highest placement rates into the buy-side overall.
The lowest placement rate was Emory with 18%, as there was low representation among the “premier banks,” states Vettery. The University of Virginia had the highest percentage of analysts who landed in positions at hedge funds.
Here’s a look at the breakdown of the top schools with undergraduate programs for buy-side analysts:
Buy-side analysts: Top investment banks
Vettery found that JPMorgan was the top destination for analysts who wanted to move laterally from their position at a second-tier bank to a top investment bank, while Credit Suisse led placement of females into buy-side jobs. The top “boutique banks” put 71% of their analyst class into buy-side brackets, compared to “top bulge-brackets” at 47%. The firm also found that 30% of UBS’ entire analyst class in 2012 left to go to another bank.
Analysts at the top 15 investment banks received more than 490 buy-side jobs in 290 firms. Analysts from second-tier banks secured nearly 175 buy-side jobs. Here’s a look at the breakdown of the top investment banks according to Vettery:
