These firms have had a big presence on campus lately and large numbers of students in recent years have responded to these recruiters.
Usually, 100 to 120 students explore the information sessions offered by corporations. The number of students attending these sessions has been fairly constant in recent years.
In 1999, 28 students out of 216 who responded to a Career Center survey went into investment banking, while nine went into consulting. In the class of 1998, 33 students out of 207 who responded are working in investment banking and 11 students are into consulting.
Hoffa said that the only changes in investment banking and consulting firms in recent years have been the times that the representatives visit and the number of corporations visiting.
Hoffa added that they used to visit in the spring, when other companies also come to Amherst to recruit, but they now visit in the fall in greater numbers.
"We're still adjusting in terms of informing the students about their visits," Hoffa said. "There's a huge onslaught when students come back from the summer."
She said that these financial corporations know they're going to hire a certain number of students, so they're able to visit the campus now rather than later, as opposed to other businesses that have to wait for positions to open up.
Hoffa said that the presence of investment banking and consulting recruiters is especially noticeable on Amherst's campus, whereas Fortune 500 companies might visit the University of Massachusetts and human services organizations might visit Hampshire College in greater number.
"Among the Five Colleges, Amherst is probably better known for visits by investment banks and consulting firms," Hoffa said.
But President Tom Gerety noted that Amherst has similar numbers of students going into business fields as other elite schools. "Amherst seems to be right in the middle," he said.
Tamara Venit '00, who now works at Monitor, a consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass., said that her company tries to recruit at least one Amherst student every year in order to keep a network alive. "You want your personal college network to be strong," she said.
"It behooves our network within our company to be consistently drawing Amherst students," Venit said.
Venit added that one of the reasons she chose Monitor is because she already knew people who were working there.
Hoffa said that students who choose to go into i-banking and consulting do so for different reasons. "Some love the field, or the industry," said Hoffa. "Others are just getting exposure to something different, and some just want a good salary."
"[Consulting] is a great introduction to business," said James Vesterman '93, who worked for the consulting firm Monitor Clipper Partners when he graduated and is now the vice president of corporate development for eNexi Holdings.
Vesterman speculated that recruiters are having to make an extra effort because of the draw of Internet start-up companies. "[They] have to work harder for their recruits," he said. "I would imagine that they're getting a poorer yield than they used to get, so to maintain the same number of recruits, they have to increase the number of schools they're going to."
Venit said that there is also an increasing need for workers in those industries. "I-banking and consulting are service industries and that is the growing sector of our economy," she said.
Venit added that, with the immense presence of banking and consulting recruiters on campus, it can be easy to fall into those fields. "It is very accessible," she said.
Many students keep their positions for only two to three years, Hoffa said. "The same amount of students go on to graduate school eventually," Hoffa said. "But more students seem to be taking a year or two off now."
In the class of 1998, 45.4 percent of alumni planned to do graduate work within one to two years after graduation, and 48.1 percent plan to do graduate work within three to five years.
Despite the growing field, students have not concentrated solely on consulting and investment firms, according to Hoffa. The recruiting done during the spring by other industries is just as important for students as the recruiting that investment and consulting firms now do in the fall.
"It's a very important exploration for students," Hoffa said. "We always have a portion going into the financial world, but there's always another group going elsewhere. Every Amherst student is reflected in every industry."
Hoffa said that many options are also available for those not interested in going into the financial world. She notes that organizations in fields such as human services and communication don't recruit until March and June next year.
Students interested in other fields, like journalism, may not find offerings until a position becomes available. "There's a different timetable for those students," said Hoffa.