Breaking into London ER from abroad. Take the 1 YR MiF at LBS/Cambridge route or directly look for jobs?
I've posted on this forum several times and spoken to people about IB/PE and now I'm considering the alternative of continuing to staying in research and not going into banking.
I started off as a sell side research analyst after a Bachelors in Finance from the University of Nottingham. I did about 2 years on the sell side then about 4 years on the buyside as a PM and as a Head of Research in Pakistan. I've had an excellent track record across the board, have plenty of experience training analysts, financial modelling, dodging office politics, dealing with the variety of clients and client requests you get etc.
I'm now in London (on a visit) and I essentially have two options:
1) My wife is getting a work visa around November which also gives me the right to work here and I can directly look for jobs.
2) I go for an MiF at LBS/Cambridge/LSE so I have a target school on my CV.
I'd appreciate advice from guys here on how to break into the industry. Can't really find much here on the forums as most of the advice is geared towards associates (I see that associates are below analysts in ER and its the opposite in IB/PE which is somewhat confusing).
The IB/PE guys I've spoken to almost unanimously recommend doing the MiF to break into IB to get the "prestige". I'm really not sure how ER recruiting works though.
If I can get an ER role and skip the MiF, I'd end up saving alot of time and money (if I opt for the MiF, then next intake is September 2024 and I'd graduate 2025).
I know this is not directly answering your question, but I really hope that people see this, will maybe make a separate post on this topic at some point.
CAMBRIDGE MFIN IS A PRETTY DARN HUGE SCAM. Here is why:
Caveat - there are a couple of profiles of people working at some top companies in smaller markets (Middle East, etc).
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/admission_statistics_mfin_202020
To paste from there:
239 applications received 123 offers made 73 withdrawals after offer made / offers declined
What kind of top programme would have a 50%+ admissions rate?? Wtf? (Look at LSE, Oxford and other masters, they are hovering around 10-15%)
In summary, it seems like a huge waste of time and money, wherein you pay £70k and get very close to no solid job opportunities. Just please beware. I was initially very interested in this masters, especially after they’ve reviewed my CV and encouraged me to apply. But then as I did more and more research I’ve uncovered more and more red flags.
As per usual, however, I welcome any facts that would disprove the above and change my opinion.
Thanks! I've heard some mixed reviews about Cambridge as well and spoken to some alumni who I did not find that accomplished anyway. I never knew that this was the extent of the problem, I will definitely look into it.
That being said, I am only considering the MiF route if I absolutely have to. If you were to ask my personal opinion experiential learning > academics and that is especially true for the social sciences. The whole target school prestige bull crap is just a huge scam. We live in a world where you can learn anything online and I don't think business school will "change my life"
That being said, I'll still go for it if its necessary to get into the career I want here but I definitely don't subscribe to the idea that target school students are somehow better than non-targets.
If companies really care about hiring the best and the brightest, just filter people by a test like the SAT/GMAT and you're good.
I'm like 8 years out of school, but just want you to know that this type of comment can really save someone from making a garbage life decision. Going to a crap program instead of a good program not just costs money, but also the opportunity cost of how their career trajectory has been altered.
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