2018 UK Target Uni - MSc - for FO jobs: put your POV

2018 guide (obviously based on my experience and from various rankings)

TARGET: Oxbridge, LSE, LBS, IBS

STRONG SEMI: Warwick, UCL

SEMI: Cass, Edinburgh, Bath, Manchester, Durham

Other SEMI: Exeter, Queen Mary, Bristol, Kings, and so on through the Russel Group.

Decent chances to get a FO job but not so much in auge: Royal Holloway, Loughborough etc.

NON

You agree?

 

For MSc, it is not divided like how OP laid it out. For UK masters, we only look at LBS, LSE, Oxbridge. These are the targets masters. Warwick, UCL, Imperial masters are good, but whenever we see these, we will look at undergrad to see if they did anything interesting at a target. The hardest course, assuming what you said is true, does not equate good placement. Perception of your uni, fair or not, largely determines where you get interviews.

Overall, European masters are much more popular here in the City.

 

Fair enough on the rankings point. So for full disclosure, ICBS was one of the three MSc choices I considered and I looked into the career placement from it.

According to the careers report, MSc Finance students have placed in BAML, Barclays, Blackstone, BNPP, Citi, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman, HSBC, Lazard, Macquarie, Moelis, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, RBC, Roths, SocGen, StanChart, UBS.

Fair enough, we don't know whether this was for FO and we don't know what % of students placed. But LinkedIn yields similar results.

I ended up going to one of the two other London universities you mentioned - but I still know friends at ICBS doing well. So I wouldn't call ICBS a joke, though saying it isn't at the level of LSE or LBS may be fair.

 

St Andrews places well into Citi/Barclays (both IBD and S&T), and sends at least one to BAML, LAZ, and Evercore every year consistently. I'd say it is a semi target. This is only for Undergrad.

Array
 

It's pretty hard to come up with a fully exhaustive list, but if you're including some of the universities there then you should also drop in Nottingham and St. Andrews.

Realistically, once you get below a certain university, I think it's worth trying to go for a continental European school instead. For example, unless you are a British national, I'd pick RSM or a WHU over a Queen Mary.

 

Lads I'm not enrolled in master, and to be honest I'm looking for a good one to apply.. I want to be in London, and I think if my app with LSE, IBS, Warwick and CASS will not be successful, I'll try with QM or Edinburgh If you have advices are accepted.. I haven't the GMAT I'm French but I want to be in London/UK.. So I'm not considering RSM WHU and so on. Exception could be Bocconi or Politecnico of Milan or LUISS (all of these in Italy)

The name of the game, moving the money from the client's pocket to your pocket
 

I believe if u want FO after Masters program in London, I would go: Oxbridge, LBS, LSE and Imperial(harder to get FO but still good program)

All else are a lot harder to get FO I think.

 

Are these MsC programs worth it if you don't have any prior IB internships? Asking because I am interested in UK IBD but I only have PWM experience.

I believe the best choice for someone without prior IB internships is LBS's MiM. Are there any other good MiM or MsC programs in UK that places well in London IBD that are longer than 1 year?

 

So there isn't another program with an optional extended term like LBS MiM?

Do you know how likely it is to get a SA position after you're done with the one year programs? Applying right before the 1 year program starts.

I heard IB experience varies with countries. If I do a unpaid internship at a tiny boutique in the US would that benefit me for London FT recruitment after a one year MsC program?

 

HEC and Bocconi are very strong in London. ESSEC not bad, but obviously they're better in Paris placement. Look at this: https://news.efinancialcareers.com/uk-en/218782/the-top-universities-fo…

Or https://news.efinancialcareers.com/uk-en/274288/summer-interns-goldman-…

Is quite clear, LSE, Oxbridge, Imperial, Warwick, UCL etc. win

 
The Original Mark Hannah:
2018 guide (obviously based on my experience and from various rankings)

TARGET: Oxbridge, LSE, LBS, IBS

STRONG SEMI: Warwick, UCL

SEMI: Cass, Edinburgh, Bath, Manchester, Durham

Other SEMI: Exeter, Queen Mary, Bristol, Kings, and so on through the Russel Group.

Decent chances to get a FO job but not so much in auge: Royal Holloway, Loughborough etc.

NON

You agree?

Warwick is a target, and I would rather go there than at Imperial any day.

If your goal is breaking into the City, if I were you I'd apply to Oxbridge, LSE, LBS, Warwick and Imperial in the UK, HEC and Bocconi in Europe. Maybe HSG as well.

Those are my "tier 1" targets.

 
Alessiod:
Warwick is a target, and I would rather go there than at Imperial any day.

Then how do you explain the TOTAL ABSENCE of any BB IBD FO employer/position on Warwick's M.Sc. Finance's Career page.

Whereas the Imperial M.Sc. 2018 Brochure lists them all (and even Blackstone & BlackRock).

I don't know man... : It looks like Warwick seems leagues behind Imperial, in that matter.

 

For those who are - for some biased reason - shit monkeying me, here's the link to Warwick M.Sc. Fin.'s list of employers & occupations:http://www.wbs.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/finance/careers/#more

If that looks attractive and strong enough for you as a possible career outcome. Be my guest, enroll there & I wish you the best of luck.

Now, if you ain'y lazy, you could also properly download Imperial's 2018 M.Sc. Brochure on their website.

Here you go. I'm only relying on facts & data published by the schools.

Please feel free to contradict me and come up with constructive and fact-based arguments.

If I'm wrong, I'd like to be aware of it. Thx

 

UCL School of Management's campus is located right there in the heart of Canary Wharf financial district.

So, it wouldn't surprise me at all that its M.Sc. Programs (Finance, Management) place well in the City.

The school hasn't published a comprehensive employment report yet, but the listed employers on the programs' career page include the Tier 1 & Tier 2 BB.

 

For those of you who keep coming up with 'Oxbridge':

  • Cambridge has only one pre-experience Master program in its portfolio: and it's the M. Phil. in Management, which is delivered under the Judge Business School umbrella. No detailed data on employment on the program's page (only company names exhaustively listed, just like on the UCL MiM website);

  • As for Oxford: the Saïd brand is way weaker than the overall Oxford brand (UG). Plus, the MFE is extremely heavily quant-focused (both curriculum & career placement).

I would never put these specific 'Oxbridge' programs above an LBS (MiM or M.F.A. - both include summer internship) or an LSE (G.M.I.M. (2 years) or M.Sc. Finance (absolute ultra target for UK IBD FO)).

Have some judgement & learn to read public employment data. This is how we were able to filter out the US pre-experience Masters (Duke, Ross, Kellogg, UVA) which, aside from their brandnames, are empty, really.

 

Since this thread keeps popping up for no reasons, here are a few things I found from just googling to confirm your infos:

-Cambridge has more MPhils than just Management for pre-experience. MPhil Finance and Real Estate are two just on top of my head. They have another MSc Finance but that's post experience.

-Oxford: Said indeed has only MFE (not counting MLF) but this course places over 50% in either ibd (37%) and management consulting (around 20%) from one of the latest brochure (heard from a friend there that this year might be their best year in placement with Blackstone, GS, MS, JPM, PJT ft offers). No idea about curriculum but career placement is definitely not quant.

I had the chance to interview candidates for this year's cycle and honestly if you go to these schools, it doesn't matter to me. You already checked that box. We don't sit around and say to each other oh sh*t this kid goes to Oxbridge or LBS or LSE, doing a master in this course, we have to get them or whatever.

 

Haha you guys make me laugh with terms like 'ultra target' being flung around the place. Have you guys ever considered that it isn't the course that gets people recruited but the calibre of person that the course recruits? The reason that LBS MiM/ LSE finance MSc places so well isn't because the recruiter has an orgasm as soon as they see 'ultra target' on cv but because generally the students have previous ib internships, speak 3 or so languages and top grades and therefore seem to be a good fit. If you have the above qualities you should do well in recruitment whether you go to LBS MiM or Imperial finance and accounting.

 

The role of the career service in the UK universities is greatly exaggerated. Most people i know, some that have secured places at PJT, Morgan Stanley etc have never stepped inside the career services. What is more useful though is that there are loads of events where you can meet bank employees as well as the wide range of career related societies on offer.

 
beckett:
If you have the above qualities you should do well in recruitment whether you go to LBS MiM or Imperial finance and accounting.

The thing is: some of the programs offered by LBS (MiM, MFA) & LSE (GMiM) include summer internships in the curriculum. Imperial & UCL lack such an opportunity. One could very well pursue a Summer on his own, after completing his 1-year UK M.Sc.. But I don't know how the banks feel about such applicants (who, theoretically, should be applying for FT positions).

 

EU applicant here.

Very well-versed about career outcomes of top UK (Oxford, Cambridge, LBS, LSE) & Continental (HEC) M.Sc. programs.

I'm humbly asking UK grads & other insiders about the other two (lesser known to international applicants) UK M.Sc.: - Imperial - Warwick

We seem to be getting conflicting info on these two programs. And here, I'm strictly speaking M.Sc. Finance. (I'm very well aware that Warwick UG & Imperial Eng. & Sciences are full targets. I'm specifically asking about their graduate business M.Sc. for opening doors to non-UK applicants to UK FO IBD roles in BB).

Sorry for insisting, as this is very important. Thank you so much for your time and effort, if someone has the kindness to enlighten us.

 
Best Response

UK citizen here - completed a UK undergrad and doing a MSc in the UK.

Overall (not just for IB)- Imperial is viewed as more prestigious.

Undergrad for IB - equal. There are a lot of Warwick guys at banks, more so than Imperial. However, Warwick has a larger student population (24K) than Imperial (17K) and more tellingly has a higher number of IB-focused courses (Econ, A+F, Management, Maths) than Imperial does (Maths) at the undergrad level.

Postgrad for IB - Imperial- its business school is better located, facilities are top notch, and whilst ICL is known for medicine / engineering / maths, ICBS is building a very respectable brand for itself. On the other hand, I doubt WBS MSc programmes enjoy the same success as the undergrad courses do. Generally, from people who've applied, I get the feeling that WBS is lower down in the pecking order. I see more ICBS guys in IB but that's not a huge sample size.

As a UK guy, I just think ICL and ICBS have more prestige than Warwick. I'd guess 8 out of 10 students would agree with me. The other 2 would be Warwick guys.

 

In my opinion, it's safer to go for an Oxbridge, LSE name simply because of their world-wide recognition. Sure, if you are dead set on London, schools like Warwick could cut it.

But why not play it safe and just get a GLOBAL brand on your CV? Gives you so many recruiting opportunities outside of the UK as well.

 

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I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. See my Blog & AMA
 

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