Alumni Data Analysis · 2025

Columbia vs NYU — Where does each school's network actually show up?

Alumni presence across 55 top employers in quant/HFT, Big Tech, banking, and AI. Based on LinkedIn data scraped while deciding between both programs.

55 companies tracked Quant · Big Tech · Finance · AI r/gradadmissions
Columbia total alumni
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NYU total alumni
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Columbia lead
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Companies in view
55
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Columbia
NYU

Source: LinkedIn alumni data · Numbers = headcount of alumni listed at each firm · Some firms excluded due to missing/unreliable data (RenTec, GSA, Maverick, etc.)

Key Takeaways

Quant / HFT
Columbia dominates — Citadel (130 vs 56), Millennium (150 vs 100), Two Sigma (97 vs 80), Jane Street (65 vs 45). Wall Street proximity built decades of quant alumni density.
Big Tech
Essentially a dead heat. NYU edges Amazon (2,398 vs 1,745) and Apple (735 vs 584). Google is nearly identical (1,897 vs 1,864). Both networks are strong.
Big Banks
NYU wins JP Morgan (1,108 vs 763), Citi (925 vs 719), and BofA (813 vs 609). Surprising given Columbia's finance reputation, but NYU math grads flow heavily into bank quant desks.
AI / ML
Columbia leads at NVIDIA (350 vs 152), Palantir (118 vs 49), DeepMind (104 vs 74). OpenAI is almost tied (111 vs 107). Columbia's MSAI brand is paying off in AI hiring.
OP

Why I made this: I'm starting at both Columbia and NYU this September. Before committing energy to one program's network, I wanted actual data — not Reddit anecdotes — on where each school's alumni end up. If you're navigating the same decision, the short answer: Columbia for quant/AI, NYU for Big Tech/banks, both for pure SWE. Happy to discuss in the comments.