Are London MSc programmes worth the cost?
Current situation:
Graduated from bachelor’s, working in M&A, have an offer for a semi-target for Sep 2022 MSc Finance.
However I have my eye on the likes of LSE and Imperial, even if it’s not a finance course such as Management, Business Analytics…
Is it worth the extra £20k London uni’s charge?
In your situation no it won’t be worth it as your already in the industry and have relevant experience. I’m guessing you are trying to leverage up to a BB for whatever reason? If so a Semi-target MFin with your relevant experience should do the trick
I’m not sure what your current firm is, but in your situation I think a MSc is only worth it for the following reasons:
- It is at a top target uni (Oxford / LSE / LBS / HEC, to some extent Cambridge and others like ESADE, St Gallen, Bocconi), preferably in econ or finance
- you’re not currently at a BB / EB
I don’t think going to a semi target for a non finance/econ programme is worth it because 1) it won’t help you upgrade much more than if you tried to lateral (unless you’re at a total no name firm) as most of the spots are filled with the LSE/Oxbridge/LBS guys, with of course some exceptions 2) you’re giving up 1 yr salary + £30k tuition + COL to re start as Analyst 1 or at the very best AN2 (but I have never seen that before)
How much weighting would you place on doing econ or finance?
I have been looking at alternatives such as Management, Accounting, Business Analytics… because my chances of studying econ or finance are very slim.
The issue is your story may look weird if you leave IB to study business analytics and look to move to IB again. You’re not learning skills directly relevant to IB, recruiters won’t spend time to understand.
Esade and not IE?
My list for non top target unis was illustrative, don’t think recruiters know the difference between ESADE and IE tbh, both are good
HSG is not really a target for LDN. Most German dons seem to be from WHU, Mannheim and FSFM
Uhm what?
HSG is far and away the strongest and most well respected uni for business/finance in the DACH region.
Mannheim / WHU are en par locally but in London it does not really compare
MFin semi-target placement into BB IB (which I assume is your goal from this) is very, very low. Only the (expensive) targets have good placement. And no it's not worth doing a Masters in anything but finance if your goal is the aforementioned, the prestige does not carry.
Yes I am looking to get into a BB or EB after my studies.
Purely finance though? Would business/accounting/management courses with finance electives not carry prestige from somewhere like LSE?
Finance or Accounting and Finance or Finance as the major with some random minor. Go look at the number of people in BB IB in London with MSc's that aren't in finance. Apart from if they're in some STEM-related coverage group, I wouldn't be surprised if the figure was close to 0. Of course, though, there is selection bias in this.
Program + School matters more than just School at the postgrad level.
What would be the specific course at LSE ?
I think if business related and you can take some finance classes LSE is worth it if you can sell the story
Never drop that kind of a money on a degree unless you have a very clear plan on what you will do with it.
It’s a waste of money, all of them. Even LBS or LSE is not worth it since most banks in London don’t value masters programs. The pay in London is also horseshit. Work for a while and get yourself to the US for an MBA to recruit for associate positions.
Half of the analysts in my class and following class have MSc degrees. Within those, a significant part are from LSE/LBS
OP has an undergrad degree + work ex + masters degree (potentially) and he/she would still only get an analyst position in London. In the US, you would recruit for associate. It’s a pretty big difference in comp and work.
Working as an analyst after a masters makes no sense to me. Get work ex and go to the US for business school. It’s just much better than London in every way.
Also, the pay improved, everyone now makes > £100k so you could pay for your MSc with your bonus essentially
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