Edinburgh Econ&Finance for free or Cambridge Land Economy 60k debt 6% interest or big 4 apprenticeship
question is in the title basically… is it worth accruing that debt for the added chance of breaking into IB/Consulting? I’d like some insight on this. (undergrad)
Probs Edinburgh tbh. Which team for B4?
KPMG
you wouldn’t take cambridge?
I think completely dependent on financial situation. 60k @ 6% is quite hefty. Is that just tuition or all in?
I'd personally go Cambridge. Compounding effect of being around more ambitious people for 3 years and better network + slightly better IB odds + lifelong Cambridge brand. 60k debt is nothing relative to lifelong high finance career.
MD at a bank. Do a lot of junior recruiting. We don’t GAF between Cambridge and Edinburgh. It’s literally all the same along with 7-8 other universities. There’s more OCR in Cambridge and it’s closer to London so you have to work a tad harder at Edinburgh but there’s zero difference in perception in banks. Don’t make this decision for banking recruiting.
what are the 7-8 schools? Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, LSE, Imperial, Warwick, Durham, Edinburgh?
I looked at recruiting for the MM I work at (because there’s so much misinformation) which is comparably selective to several BBs. In order of juniors.
Warwick
Imperial
Edinburgh
Canbridge
LSE
Durham
UCL
Oxford
Exeter
St Andrews
weve also have a smattering from Bristol, Bath, Manchester, Kings and they wouldn’t be perceived any differently.
And of course Bocconi, the Grand Ecoles and the US universities
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Yes and often as off cycles that become full time. Lot of paths in. Don’t let anyone think there’s one true way.
Cambridge no questions asked, going to Edinburgh uni would be the biggest mistake of your life. I don't know where the MD above works, but at any BB the Cambridge brand would be miles ahead of Edinburgh, which falls into my bucket of non-targets because in the UK only Oxbridge, LSE and Imperial matter.
I ran analyst recruiting for on of the most selective “elite” boutiques in London. No one above the level of analyst GAF where you went to university and any one of the top 10 gives you the same shot
the stark contrast in opinions here is making it so tough..
60k a year or all in? Financed through SFE as a UK citizen or international?
All important questions. If you are a UK citizen and can get financed through SFE, I would 100% go to Camb, the interest at 6% and 60k is not really a big deal considering how student finance is structured to be 9% of your income above 25k.
Context
I’m a scottish citizen
Edinburgh is free tuition due to Scottish policy and 1 hour commute
my debt repayments would be 9% of salary over £31,395
I guess I need to have a deep think as to wether its worth going to Cambridge for that “chance” of IB (which MD says recruiters don’t care)…
Go to Cambridge.
Edinburgh is a really fun and well regarded uni/city so living there is a must. However, housing prices have skyrocketed and will cost at the very minimum 6,000 quid an yeae with around 7,500 more likely. Given that cost which you don’t account for, the extra year of uni, and Cambridge’s on campus recruiting advantage, you really cannot say no.
The debt won’t matter given if you land a job that pays well out of uni given it comes out of your paycheck rather than being a constant no matter what(partially why US has serious student debt issues). You clearly have the ambition and potential do that as evidenced by your Cambridge offer. Finally, commuting an hour a day to Edinburgh each way will seriously hinder your experience in every way some of which may hurt your chances at a summer internship (EX: potential lack of extracurricular activities)
Sidenote, if you could get cheap/free Edinburgh housing I would still go Cambridge for reasons above but definitely more of a toss up at that point.
Couple of thoughts:
Cambridge places better than Edinburgh, it's one of the top "targets" for London (admittedly not quite as clear cut as in the US) but the brand is definitely stronger than Edinburgh - which is still a semi-target but it'll be harder to get in to IB
If you make it in to IB, you'll be going in to the demographic earning enough post-graduation that you'll pay off student loan before it accrues a load of interest which is obviously not a bad position to be in - and also don't forget that the debt functions more like a bit of extra tax rather than a normal loan
I know a couple of people in IB who did "flying start"-type B4 programs where they pay for you to study at uni in return for working there for a bit post-graduation and you get an ACA, but haven't ever seen anyone do an apprenticeship at B4 and then lateral - doesn't mean it's impossible but going the apprenticeship route might limit your choices quicker than you hope.
Also bear in mind the life experience that going to uni provides - that isn't an experience you'll get as an apprentice (not that there's anything wrong with apprenticeships)
On the whole my advice would be go Cambridge if you are dead set on IB or Edinburgh if you want to enjoy your student experience more while not totally shutting the door to IB. Don't worry about the debt. Don't think the apprenticeship will serve you well unfortunately
Unless it’s HYP then no one cares.
The cambridge brand will stay with you your whole life
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Please go to Cambridge. £60k plus interest is nothing in the grand scheme of your career. IB is extremely competitive now so any edge you can get is worth it.
I have no bias here (I’m not originally from the UK). There are def more Edniburgh kids at the top banks than Cambridge. I can tell you categorically at a management level they are viewed exactly the same. Why is that and why does that no get with what younger people are saying.
This is just blatantly false information. I went to Edinburgh and the number of kids going into IB compared to Cambrdige is significantly less. Any actual data (I.e. linkedin alumni numbers in literally every bank) will tell you this. Not sure why you're supposedly an MD giving false information to kids.
IB Analyst from Edinburgh? Get in touch with me please bro, I gotta ask some questions
At a management level no one cares about your university but for summer analyst recruiting they are a world apart. You will be given looks by every bank as a Cambridge student but Edinburgh will be hit and miss.
Efinancialcareers ran the numbers a few years back and as you can see here, Edinburgh is absolutely nowhere...
The top universities for getting a front office investment banking job (efinancialcareers.com)
Having started on a B4 Apprenticeship program, I highly recommend Cambridge here especially if you want to break into IBD. It’s a real struggle to break into any FO position from these apprenticeships and took me forever (was preceded by going back to university at the postgrad level anyways).
Could you please please drop me a private message? I would love to talk about your experience in the b4 as an apprentice and how you pivoted your way out. It’s kind of all I’ve thought about for the past year and have found absolutely no one with this unique career path :)
PM’d you
Fellow offer holder here (for land economy). Take Cambridge.
There is an MD in the comments saying that he does not give a damn between Cambridge and Edinburgh. My advice - take it with a grain of salt. I have no reason to doubt what he says, and I tend to agree that senior people probably don't care about university (because they are senior - everyone around them is the same level regardless of university - but that does not mean that at your stage, different universities have the same odds of getting you to the same level - if that makes sense)
I have networked heavily. I have met associates involved with CV screening that do care about brand. Given that this was in APAC. But one person's opinion is not the industry norm or standard.
In fact, you may not get into IBD from Cambridge, nor from Edinburgh. But I know for a fact that Cambridge will always get your foot in the door. The odds of you landing an internship or being able to explore different industries are higher with the brand name backing.
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