ESCP & IE undergraduate semi-target in EU & London?

I am currently a student at the University of Manchester, a non target planning to transfer to at the very least, a semi target university at an undergraduate level. The only options I have would be IE or ESCP. I've heard that these two have pretty mediocre bachelors programs which are only carried by the prestige of the postgraduate programs, but I am not too sure as to how reliable this claim is. I'm wondering whether these two universities, even at the undergraduate level, have a semi-target status/well-recognized status at the very least in London/EU (schengen) banking.

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Based on the most helpful WSO content, ESCP and IE are generally considered semi-targets for London and EU banking at the undergraduate level. However, their undergraduate programs are often perceived as less prestigious compared to their postgraduate offerings, which are more highly regarded.

For London, ESCP and IE are categorized as semi-targets, meaning they provide some access to opportunities in investment banking and finance, but they are not as strong as top-tier schools like Oxbridge, LSE, or HEC. In the EU (Schengen), their recognition is slightly better, especially in their home countries (France for ESCP and Spain for IE), but they still fall short of the top-tier schools like Bocconi, HEC, or St. Gallen.

If your goal is to transfer to a semi-target, both ESCP and IE could be viable options, but you should weigh this decision carefully. Their undergraduate programs may not carry the same weight as their postgraduate ones, so networking, internships, and strong academic performance will be crucial to maximize your chances in banking.

Sources: Msc Finance ranking Europe, UK Target Admissions?, 20 Most Frequently Asked Questions - London Edition, European target schools for London IBD, European Target Universities for IB/PE

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 

Can't speak for IE but for ESCP don't do the undergrad program. Same thing applies for other French BS such as ESSEC BBA (also really bad). Only "good" cases I've seen from these undergrad programs were the top 1% students who went to a semi-target/target postgrad program.

 

I see a lot of the critique against ESCP being in regards to its price/value. I'm an international student and basicallly every option has the same tuition fees. Price aside, is ESCP's bachelor still not worth taking over any other T80 university in the world? 

I've come to terms that either way, I would likely have to do a pre-experience finance masters anyway. So just looking at whether I can secure good internships, student experience/Involvement to set me up for this posgraduate study, is ESCP still not much of an advantage at an undergrad level

 

If you are okay with starting over (even better if you can transfer directly to year 2) I'd say graduating from IE or ESCP would give you a slight but more than marginal edge over Manchester which is a non target. Overall ESCP and IE are proper business schools even tough their Bachelors are not as prestigious as their postgrads ( I known BBA is unpopular at France, don't know much about Spain&IE) they have stronger brand perception than Manchester. If you were from a UK semi-target I wouldn't advise for you to make the move, I am from a high semi and have friends that had offers from places like ESCP for BBA but chose to attend Durham/Bath/Bristol/Kings etc. After that you can pursue a finance/management masters at places such as LSE,LBS,Imperial. 

 
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If your plan is master after anyway I would say go for it, make the switch. The bachelor is still a strong target in paris/London. Having two well known brands on the CV is a big boost, but more importantly, you'll have access to the same resources (network, career centres) as the masters at escp mif/mim for instance. So I'd say in terms of recruitment that's a big plus, regardless of which bachelor is more established etc. 

 

hi Eric, change your username to stay anonymous if you care

other than that, IE programme could be decent and can lead to a decent MSc down the road

ESCP is shit tbh. holds no value in France (if you want to go there) and you won't really be able to land a top MiM (as we do in France). the concept of a year in each city is also cool until you realise the campuses are rundown and in quite horrific areas 

would recommend sticking at Manchester and redoing UCAS or trying for Bocconi or IE at worst

 

To be honest, Bocconi is very difficult it seems like, especially with its system of weighing your gpa in your second to last year and third to last year. plus the GPA calculator is unweighted so people who take IB or AP and have difficult courses will lose out to people with 4.0 unweighted gpa without these IB or honor classes. 

Its also very dependent on the GPA score rather than the SAT, ive heard of people getting 1550+ on the SAT but had a mediocre unweighted gpa and didnt get it.. Im going to try to apply but it just seems like such a long shot that I need safer options like IE or ESCP undergrad

 

How come those are your only options? Are they the only ones that take transfer students?

Have you checked if Dauphine, Erasmus University, Mannheim or SSE do? All these would be better at undergrad level. 

 

As for RSM its difficult because I would have to enroll as a first year student and then ask for credits to be recognized therefore I would risk having to restart a whole year, while the year I studied in the UK and the costs assosciated with it go to waste.


For PSL (dauphine) I havent looked into it actually, but people are saying its one of (if not the only) bachelors in france that is actually prestigious and not just a money grab. But so far the website seems unclear, I will have to contact their office soon. same for mannheim and SSE

 

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