The paths to Wall Street success: Where 25 rising stars went to school and started their careers

While there's no sole path to the top of Wall Street, several paths are additional well-trodden than others.

Of the 25 rockstar professionals on Business Insider's Rising Stars of Wall Street, 11 attended Ivy League universities — additional than twice the five in last year's class. And nearly fractional began their careers at four financial powerhouses: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America.

Though that's not to say there are not several who took less accepted routes.

We analyzed the alma maters of this year's category and their occupation trajectories to gauge how they bankrupt into finance. Here's a snapshot of the next generation of Wall Street leaders.

Meet the class:

• The 25 rising stars range in age from 27 to 35, alongside an average age of 32.
• Three are under 30, including the youngest, Theo Saarinen, 27, who is the chief investigation authoritative of AIA Labs, which sits inside hedge prosperity Bridgewater Associates.
• Twelve activity at funding banks, seven at hedge funds, six in personal equity and another personal markets, and one at a market maker.
• New York is motionless the foremost agency location, as 20 of the 25 activity in New York City. Two activity in Houston, two in San Francisco, and one in the Wall Street of the South, Miami.

Where they went to school

• The category hails from 20 different universities for their undergraduate years. It's a mix of ample investigation universities, top endeavor schools, and choose liberal-arts colleges.
• Eleven attended Ivy League universities for their undergraduate degrees, up from five in 2025.
• The University of Pennsylvania was particularly fine represented, with five graduates.
• Economics, finance, and endeavor were famous choices, but others pursued degrees in engineering, mathematics, and the humanities. ExodusPoint portfolio director Ben Atlas studied doctrine at the University of Cambridge, during Bank of America's Cody Kiechle majored in applied math at Harvard.
• Two pursued alumnus degrees. Goldman Sachs managing director Bridget Chaudhry earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, during Balyasny portfolio director Sahil Singhal earned a master's flat in applied mathematics.

List of schools

How they got their start

• Wall Street's biggest banks remain a famous launching pad. Twelve members of this year's stars began their careers at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, or Bank of America. Goldman and JPMorgan all document for four, during Morgan Stanley and Bank of America all document for two.
• Seven made the famous jump from banking to investing. Apollo chief Daniel Borkenstein started at PJT Partners before moving into personal equity, during TPG's David Bessel got his commencement at Morgan Stanley.
• At smallest nine have spent their complete careers at one firm. Blackstone's Jake Epstein joined the substitute asset director direct out of college. Morgan Stanley's Maya Venkatraman and Goldman Sachs' Bridget Chaudhry have climbed the ranks at the firms anywhere they started.

The AI surge is shaping careers

Ten of this year's category honorees are operating immediately on the AI boom, whether through infrastructure, investing in AI companies directly, or evolving AI-powered funding strategies.

• 6 are operating on financing or investing in AI infrastructure
• 2 are investing in AI companies
• 2 are using AI to assistance create funding strategies

A breakdown of titles

• 8 managing directors
• 5 principles
• 2 portfolio managers
• 1 administrator director
• 1 director
• 1 vice president

Extracurriculars

• Three rising stars told us concerning their university sports careers, including Mike Washington, who played basketball at Princeton before joining Goldman Sachs. Jim Tilson played protective end at Middlebury College, during Alex Winrich played football at the University of Dayton.

  This data is drawn from reporting by Bradley Saacks, Alex Nicoll, Alice Tecotzky, Ben Bergman, Jennifer Sor, Ashley Stewart, and James Faris.