Master in Finance: IE vs LSE vs Cambridge

Hey congrats. I was also thinking of applying to these programs. If you don't mind me asking what are your background/stats (GMAT, etc.), or whatever info you are comfortable giving?

I would say hands down MPhil program in Cambridge is the most highly regarded, but LSE may place better at banks in the City. IE is definitely great for the MBA and am not sure how its Masters in Finance is viewed in London or Asia for that matter, but it is definitely has the brand name in Spain and Europe.

Although the MPhil Finance in Cambridge is advertised as a more practical degree, I know people who studied there that feel the course is not very practical if your goal is to get a job after graduation. LSE, on the other hand, attracts a lot of recruiters and firms, and recruiters seem to have a strong preference for LSE students compared to Oxbridge grads in IBD/PE/VC roles.

Now I just want to add that this has been my personal experience and observation after going through a whole bunch of interviews/networking sessions. That being said, Oxbridge grads are truly very smart - but I find they don't prepare students well enough for BB interviews. Take it for what its worth.

are you paying full price?

cambridge is not too practical course-work wise but they get their fair share of recruiters (being oxbridge after all). of those, i would go with cambridge because of their selectivity (

The head of Econ Department of my Uni ranked UK Finance programs in following order: LSE > Oxford > Cambridge

Thank you all for the replies.

1. I also was wondering whether Warwick would be considered among the rank of the schools discussed?

2. Not that many people discussed on IE's MiF, but if you could give me some more insights will be great. I considered it so far as one of the best after I visited the uni and saw faculty profiles (former IB CEO's, current portfolio mngs, etc - 75% is currently in fin serv.), but indeed as woody_banker said I am also unsure of its brand recognition in London or Asia.

I feel it might be leveraged toward the main European markets, while I would like to work in London or one of the big markets in Asia. But I might be quite wrong on this, so if anyone can give more insights on IE, please do so.

Thanks!!!

@ woody_banker

Brief on my b-round, I worked in I-Banking for a year during my undergrad as internship and grad thesis, and had internships also in commercial banking, corp fin, consultancy (2,5 yr total exp.). This basically gave me high advantage compared to other applicants directly from undergrad degrees.

To answer your questions Je:

For England, Warwick is goodish, but nothing special in terms of MSc Finance. Def not competitive as LSE and Oxbridge. I don't think Warwick is going to get you a position at a PE/VC firm.

IE has a good reputation, but it is in Spain. So, you will have two options upon graduation: 1) work in Spain, a prerequisite for this would be fluency in Spanish. Careful, If you aren't fluent, you ain't getting hired to work in Spain. Also, the job market there is abysmal and the jobs are typically lower-paying.
2) use the IE brand name to get a job in London. Being a well-respected school, I imagine that it is one of the places (along with HEC-Paris and Bocconi-Milan) where London recruiters go. However, it should be patently obvious that if you want to work in London, your very best bet is to go to school in England.

Given the above, it seems that attending IE may be a bit too risky b/c if you want to work in London you will have to rely on English recruiters finding you in Spain and if that doesn't work it out AND you aren't fluent in Spanish you will be miserably unemployed.

I know someone, an American girl, who got her MBA at IE, which is a top-ranked program per Financial Times and BusinessWeek etc., and 3 years later she is still working as a loan officer for a commercial bank in the US. I don't think you want that to happen to you, but it could if you aren't very careful about where you want to go to school.

Hi there, I saw this discussion and decided to join. I was too wondering between IE, LBS, and maybe LSE for a MiF or MSc Fin. The thing is I don't have the experience yet for the LBS MiF so thought of the IE MiF since it requires less work experience (compared to the IE's Advanced MiF) but also know that LSE has a good MSc Finance.

What I wonder is which school has a better track record in more alternative areas to investment banking, like the discussed PE or maybe hedge funds? I spoke with 2 PE firms and they all recognize both schools, but the problem is LSE does not have any placement statistics. The other issue with me is that I too wonder how established the IE's network is in the city, Switzerland, US or the Asian centers like Singapore. Any alumni here of these schools?

And btw, how about some second tier schools like Imperial or Cass? Do they provide the same opportunities as IE or LSE? Any other internationally recognized schools you would suggest for a MiF program? (Not requiring more then 2 yr work experience)

Thank you!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_jenkinson

Hi all again. So I decided to come back to my original post and update all who might read this in the future.

After I got accepted at IE, I decided to apply to few UK based universities. One of them was Judge b-school, but I did not get in there. Then I also applied to LSE, Cass b-school, and Imperial, namely: MSc Finance, MSc Investment Management, MSc Finance. I got in my second choice in LSE (MSc Acc & Fin), my first at Cass, and first at Imperial. I applied to all those programs because as some would have seen I wanted to gain work experience in London, and so it made more sense to indeed study there instead of Madrid, despite IE's reputation.

At this stage I am wondering between LSE and Cass, and I think I am more inclined toward Cass because of the program. I rejected Imperial based again on the program and because they ask for 26000 GBP, 6000 more than LSE and Cass, which in my view is not reasonable considering the brand name is not much different.

I am still to make my mind and will post an additional comment with more a summary of my research and outcomes of my conversations with alumni from the 3 schools.

I am still open to advice if anyone is to read this blog as the topic is already quite old. Bye all for now.

Taking Cass over LSE is the equivalent of taking Baruch over NYU.

Cass program content might be "better" but it's hard to choose Cass over LSE irrespective of the program differences. That said, I think you should revisit Imperial as a viable option again because in my opinion it strikes a right balance between Cass and LSE choice, in that Imperial Finance program reputation (employability) is hands down better than Cass, but not up to par with LSE. However, Imperial Finance is one the more academically challenging Finance programs in Europe. So if the extra fee is not too much of an issue, you should also consider imperial in the mix.

If you already have a good profile (wrk ex or good internship experience) and you're primary concern is landing good gigs, then I would go for LSE choice simply because of the brand.

Although Cambridge has the history and tradition, LSE is bang in the centre of London. A lot of financial institutions come to the LSE for talks, etc... so I would highly recommend it.

It seems like Cambridge has been outperforming everybody in recruiting lately. I heard they're a little down but they're still placing pretty well compared to the rest, including LSE, Oxford...seems consistent with what I've seen.

If anybody from Cambridge wants to comment they can speak more to this than I.

Thanks for the replies.

Well as I said I did not get accepted at Cambridge. Otherwise I wonder how many of the posts are from people in the industry because after I did my research on Cass it appears as a quite strong b-school for finance. I also do not understand why you would suggest me to take a MSc Accounting and Finance from LSE since this is not what I want, especially Accounting!

If there are any graduates from Cass, Imperial or LSE on this forum I will appreciate to exchange contacts and have a chat. Thanks all

choose Cass then, you deserve it

choose Cass then, you deserve it

It doesn't matter if you have finished at Harvard or some school ranked Nr. 10000000 on the list, it is what you can do after you obtained your degree. Surely name helps, but that's not all! I know a friend who did his MBA at Columbia, worked for Lehman brothers for a couple of months and is currently searching for a job...which has been for about 2 years now.

So for those who think that LSE, Oxbridge, Cass, or whatever other schools you plan on attending or currently attend, will put you the money in your hands ... good luck! Although I was concerned also with my choice for a graduate program, I am far away from the people who would blindly suggest going to LSE "because of the name". The name is build upon time, some schools had 800 years to do it, others had 80 or even less. This first case is with Cambridge, Oxford, etc, the second one is with IE, Cass, or some of the other you mention here. But what one should really think about, and this I give from my personal experience, is what suits you best.

@je77677: In that sense if you do not want to be studying Accounting, then do not go to LSE, forget what people thinks, its what you want. Great entrepreneurs and business leaders follow their instincts, not people's opinion! Hope this helps. And btw, I have also researched Cass and have friends who graduated there, I can honestly tell you it is a well respected place, from this year GS will be recruiting there too, so should give you an idea (And no, I am not going there, decided to do a US MBA in few years). Hope this helped