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European MSc Finance direction
 

finity55's picture
CO
(Monkey, 31
 
Points)
 on 7/28/12 at 4:02pm

Im pretty lost.

In a couple weeks I will be taking the GRE with plans on applying to European MS finance programs in the upcoming months. My ultimate goal is to work in Europe, as i used to work there for the defense department and studied abroad there and loved it. My target schools are St Gallen (my german is pretty darn good), LSE, Imperial, Warwick, HEC, Bocconi, WU Vienna. Ideally, I would like to live in either Paris, London, or anywhere in the German speaking regions.

I have a 3.1 GPA. Great extra curriculars, pretty good work experience and I feel as though I could put up a really competitive GRE score, especially in math.

My friends think this is insane and that I wont get into any of these schools and its going to end up being a huge waste of time and, even if i do get in, won't be able to find employment in Europe upon graduating and won't be a very marketable candidate in the US if this all fails.

Have any americans gone this route before? Or do any europeans have any advice or insight into these ambitions? Is this reachable? Am I crazy?

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jmayhem's picture

Everything in life is a risk.

O
 
Points)
 on 7/28/12 at 4:14pm

Everything in life is a risk. If you want it bad enough, you'll make it happen.

On a more practical note, talk to the career centre at the universities you intend on applying to and ask them who's recruiting at their schools and go from there.

"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw

fours's picture

Why GRE? All these school

IB
 
Points)
 on 7/28/12 at 4:41pm

Why GRE? All these school accept GMAT.

I'm applying to the same schools (St Gallen being my priority as well cause I love Swiss) except Imperial and WU next year. If your background is business/economics consider WHU as well, although their Masters isn't MSF.

Only issue when it comes to employment in EU is the language and since you mention you speak good German, I think you'll do well.

GoodBread's picture

I'm at one of the schools you

AM
(Neanderthal, 3,602
 
Points)
 on 7/28/12 at 4:50pm

I'm at one of the schools you mentioned and did my undergrad in the US. Your GPA is probably the main hurdle you'll be facing as well as how many years of experience you already have. I have 3 years of experience and I keep having to explain in interviews why I didn't just go do an MBA (the real reason is 3 years of BO experience won't cut it at an M7).

Also, you shouldn't be taking the GRE if you want to do an Msc. in Finance. I took it before being sure what I wanted to do for grad school and got a 680V 800Q. But all those schools want the GMAT which is a different beast (I somehow ended up completely bombing the quant part, got 59%ile, and got a 720 thanks to my verbal).

I wouldn't put all your chips in one basket on this. I am the only native English speaker in my program of 150+ that is taught in English. I grew up in Europe and am a European citizen but it if weren't for that I would have felt very out of my place in my program. Finally, if your goal is S&T, it probably isn't worth it unless you get into LSE. It will be excessively hard to find a spot in S&T coming from any other school on that list because traders from continental Europe tend to have engineering/math backgrounds. But if IBD is your game, power to you. BB IB departments recruit hand over fist at LSE/Bocconi/ESADE/Saint-Gallen/HEC.

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above_and_beyond's picture

You might want to add

IB
 
Points)
 on 7/28/12 at 5:06pm

You might want to add Stockholm School of Economics to your list. I would rank SSE above Warwick, WU and maybe Bocconi. Furthermore, Stockholm is a damn nice city to live in and all the major banks recruit there as well.

fours's picture

above_and_beyond: You might

IB
 
Points)
 on 7/28/12 at 5:38pm
above_and_beyond:

You might want to add Stockholm School of Economics to your list. I would rank SSE above Warwick, WU and maybe Bocconi. Furthermore, Stockholm is a damn nice city to live in and all the major banks recruit there as well.

Do you think it'd still be worth it if a non-EU like me has to pay 34k in tution fees? The fact that it's free for EU nationals puts me off

Walkio's picture

Unlike the US, MBAs aren't as

(King Kong, 1,184
 
Points)
 on 7/28/12 at 9:16pm

Unlike the US, MBAs aren't as relevant in the job hunt. I can talk for Switzerland and France where having a Masters is almost crucial to getting into a top front-office job (e.g. Commodities Trading, MM M&A or AM). If you can get into either HEC or the LSE, you'll definitely get some interesting interviews.

above_and_beyond's picture

fours: above_and_beyond: Yo

IB
 
Points)
 on 7/30/12 at 9:53am
fours:
above_and_beyond:

You might want to add Stockholm School of Economics to your list. I would rank SSE above Warwick, WU and maybe Bocconi. Furthermore, Stockholm is a damn nice city to live in and all the major banks recruit there as well.

Do you think it'd still be worth it if a non-EU like me has to pay 34k in tution fees? The fact that it's free for EU nationals puts me off

Sorry, I didn't consider the fees for non-EU nationals. Although SSE might rank above those schools, I don't think it will be worth the tuition "premium". However, I guess your safest bet would be LSE and HEC (assuming you would get in, which will be difficult enough) for Finance. Warwick, WU and Bocconi are way behind those two.

finity55's picture

Wow i didnt expect so much

CO
(Monkey, 31
 
Points)
 on 7/30/12 at 11:45am

Wow i didnt expect so much response on this. Yeah I think im just going to try to apply and see what I can make happen. My peers and mentors tell me that finding an international company with positions overseas would be a better route. Im just struggling immensely to find a job in the US right now to even get my foot in the door.

GoodBread's picture

above_and_beyond: Sorry, I

AM
(Neanderthal, 3,602
 
Points)
 on 7/30/12 at 12:15pm
above_and_beyond:

Sorry, I didn't consider the fees for non-EU nationals. Although SSE might rank above those schools, I don't think it will be worth the tuition "premium". However, I guess your safest bet would be LSE and HEC (assuming you would get in, which will be difficult enough) for Finance. Warwick, WU and Bocconi are way behind those two.

Bocconi is at least as good as HEC for IBD. But for any other department or stuff like consulting, marketing.. HEC is way ahead.

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above_and_beyond's picture

GoodBread: above_and_beyond

IB
 
Points)
 on 7/30/12 at 1:22pm
GoodBread:
above_and_beyond:

Sorry, I didn't consider the fees for non-EU nationals. Although SSE might rank above those schools, I don't think it will be worth the tuition "premium". However, I guess your safest bet would be LSE and HEC (assuming you would get in, which will be difficult enough) for Finance. Warwick, WU and Bocconi are way behind those two.

Bocconi is at least as good as HEC for IBD. But for any other department or stuff like consulting, marketing.. HEC is way ahead.

Bocconi undergrad, agreed.
Bocconi Master vs. HEC, don't think so..

GoodBread's picture

Probably depends on whether

AM
(Neanderthal, 3,602
 
Points)
 on 7/30/12 at 6:57pm

Probably depends on whether you're doing the "grande école" program at HEC or whatever the equivalent is for international students. For specialized masters, no way. The vast majority of people I know in Bocconi's Msc. Finance who focused on IBD summers got them (trading, not so much).

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