P&Q’s Must Reads: Best Investment Banks To Work For In 2024

Hello everyone  — Welcome back to Poets&Quants’ Must Reads, a quick, digestible recap of the top business school news, sponsored by CentreCourt, P&Q’s virtual admission events.

I’m your host, Kristy Bleizeffer, and I’ll be highlighting the most important P&Q stories you might have missed. So, let’s get to it. 

No. 1: Best Investment Banks To Work For In 2024

Which investment banks produce the happiest employees who enjoy the best support, opportunities, and perks? Since 2007, Vault has been answering this question with its Banking 25, which ranks the top investment banks in North America according to bankers themselves. 

For the 5th consecutive year, Centerview Partners sits atop the list, thanks to earning the highest scores across 16 workplace quality categories. Evercore and Moelis & Company again finished 2nd and 3rd, with Lazard and Guggenheim Securities rounding out the Top 5.

Future bankers or banking curious can check out the full list, and the metrics considered, in this story. You can find it in our trending tab.

No. 2: Why hasn’t this M7 Published Its 2023 Employment Report?

We have 2023 employment data for most business schools in the United States. But a significant indicator of major decline in the (literal) fortunes of MBAs who graduated last year is what we haven’t seen: Columbia Business School, one of the premier B-schools on the planet, has yet to publish employment data for its 2023 graduating class — and there’s no telling when they intend to break that streak of silence.

Since publishing its MBA Class of 2022 employment report more than 13 months ago in mid-December 2022, CBS has not updated any of its numbers to show how that class’s successors fared in what we know was (and continues to be) a challenging job market. Every other top business school in the United States has published a 2023 jobs report — including all of the other M7 schools. Most published their reports months ago.

So where is Columbia’s? Marc Ethier tries to get an answer in this story, which you can find on our homepage.

No. 3: From Angry Voicemails To A Dog’s Death, These Students Grapple With A Leadership Crisis

In this feature, P&Q editor John Byrne takes you inside the annual 24-hour Leadership Crisis Challenge at University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

MBAs in this year’s challenge are confronted by a myriad of challenges that will ultimately include a flood of social media hate, a ransom demand by hackers, a class action lawsuit, and even the death of Fluffy the dog. In response, the MBAS will have to record a video to address the crisis to the public, present to an emergency board meeting, and respond to hard-hitting questions from actual journalists at a press conference.

The Ross challenge is a unique crisis training simulation that could make the most seasoned CEO sweat through his button-down. Read all about how the MBAs navigated the crisis in John’s full story, up now on our homepage.

No. 4: Our Weekly Round Up of  News You Can Use

No matter where you are in your MBA journey, we bring several helpful stories for you this week.

First up: Waitlisted? Six Steps To Take Now. This story, which you can find in our admissions hub, outlines what to do to maximize your chance at acceptance. 

Next: 3 Ways to Boost Your Quantitative Profile. You’ll also find advice for MBA applications and paying for B-school in this article, which you can find on our homepage.

Finally: How Much Is Too Much Information In Your MBA Application? This story from Fortuna Admissions is available in our admissions hub. 

And, that’s it for this week’s Must Reads recap. 

I also want to alert school seekers to our events tab from our main menu. There, you’ll find all the upcoming admissions events for a range of degrees and programs including full-time and online MBAs, specialized masters, entrepreneurship and more. Registration is free.

Again, I’m Kristy Bleizeffer, and you can join me next week, right here, for a recap of what’s important in the world of business education. Thanks for listening.