Advice on asset management in a BB

I'm an undergrad in London and I would like some advice on working in the Asset Management division. I'm studying Theoretical Physics at Imperial right now (for those in the states who may not have heard of it, it's like the European equivalent of MIT).

Now being at the uni I'm in and my academic record, just about all career advisers and seniors/alumni have suggested that I should aim for IB M&A. My university is targeted by just about every IB in the city and the majority of the graduates tend to go into front office roles or as quants at hedge funds, so I think on paper those are the kind of roles people expect I should aim for whenever I ask for advice.

I personally don't think I would be suited to it because of the lifestyle. I've been interested in working in the asset management arms of BBs, but I haven't been able to find out much about it. One person has told me that its more competitive than IB because there are very few places available every year, is this true?

Just trying to get a grasp of how hard (relatively speaking) it is to get into the AM arm of a BB? I'll be applying for internships in a few months and I don't want to be applying if there are only like 2-3 places with 1000s of applications because frankly I just don't think I'd be competitive.

Asset management is a field that is massively interesting to me though but in terms of employment prospects there's very little info out there!

Would appreciate if someone can shed some light into this!