Is the value of being at a target in the UK diminishing every year?
Hi all,
At a target (LSE/UCL/Imperial) and have a BB offer. I’m Scottish and turned down going to university for free (had offers from Edinburgh and St Andrews, both allegedly “semi-targets”) in the hopes of the IB dream.
Incredibly grateful for the offer and glad everything went according to plan BUT I have a lot of friends at Edi/St Andrews and some northern semi-targets like Durham. These guys this year have done incredibly well in recruiting - can’t keep count of how many BB/EB offers I know of across these unis (Roths, Laz, Jef, GS, Citi, Ares, just to name those I know personally).
At my university placement has also been very good (as expected) but there are definitely lots who have struggled to get offers.
Is the siloed ideology of “target” and “semi-target” accurate at all anymore? My perception is that if you have a good profile at a semi-target then you have almost an equally good chance to break into BB/EB role than someone with a similar profile at a target.
Obviously noted that some firms are super uni-exclusive with hiring, particularly with off-cycles, but for the vast majority of people applying for spring/summer/grad programmes, I see a lot of success amongst non-targets.
Any thoughts?
the distinction is more about your interests/sports/extracurriculars (have you done things the bankers like, playing golf, running a charity, being a cadet etc) and having a long-running interest in finance/ib (did you do work experience in year12-13, any other insights and good work experience ), are you an active member of your university's investing programme/m&a programme. and most importantly, have you got what it takes to smash out a really good application?
At target as listed above.
In my ACs, I did see a disproportionate number of non-targets e.g. Durham, QMUL etc. Still saw a lot of LSE, Imperial, UCL type people though.
I feel that as the previous poster mentioned, the activities that you do matters. I find however that previous work experience is much more of a driving force than before. In no AC did I find anyone who hadn't had previous work experiences. Nonetheless, the level of technical questions this year was very high compared to previous years (where it was purely behavioural) so there has definitely been a shift in the hiring landscape for internships.
Does it matter?
IMO yes - Scottish students would have to forego free tuition up north and effectively pay 30k + interest to break in - some other students might just prefer a collegiate uni like Durham or the location of Exeter but would choose to overlook these places in favour of London for the purpose of breaking in. Not a big deal but I guess the picture I’m seeing is that it’s not black-and-white.
I don't know, you should ask giveadvicepls
Just be good at sports. That’s it.
At my bank (GS/MS/JP), there is still an incredibly disproportionate amount of target school students in IBD. Still matters a lot.
However, mark my words, DEI recruiting will shift away from race and towards socioeconomic status very soon and that means giving non-targets more shots. So what I'm saying could change.
Also for what it's worth Edi/St Andrews have pretty incredible alumni networks compared to other semis like Notts/Bath or something.
Still very much the case for European students. You always see the same unis Bocconi, HEC, ESCP, HSG, etc. Think UK is more diverse now, but still at my mid BB there was a very high amount of LSE students and quite a lot of Oxbridge
Interesting. Thx for the insight
At a non-target myself and have landed a full-time BB role. Here's my two cents:
1. Being at a target will always put you at an advantage ONLY if you have the right work experience and show proactiveness as with all cases
2. I am the only non-target I know with a full-time offer and believe me, I had to work my ass off for it and had way less opportunities because people viewed my uni as a non-target and I did not get put through to a lot of final stages
3. If I could go back in time, i would 100% work my ass off to get into a target but now that I am here, I do not regret it. It helped build a lot of my character and mindset coming in as the underdog.
Interesting, congrats on the offer. I think there is still a huge gap between target/semi-target and non-target in the UK which probably won’t go away for the foreseeable
in my AC's for summers IBD (only EB's and Boutiques as I didn't get any BB interviews) there were a disproportionate number of targets compared to semi's and non-targets. Firms such as Gleacher Shacklock and Centerview Partners like to focus on hiring from LSE and Oxbridge.
Think Gleacher is shifting away slightly to other unis.
Any info on their comp?
Lol OP here - agreed. I was in the process for CVP this year and they said they’ve decided recently to start interviewing from Imperial/UCL/LSE for “diversity” which just puts into perspective how crazy exclusive they are. They’re still very much predominantly oxbridge/HEC/LBS
Cvp has always interviewed and taken from LSE - what are you on about chief
Do they mean DEI or variety of universities themselves?
So they consider LBS MFA a target?
Do you know if they have on campus recruiting? Or if they circulate links to the application portal there?
This is happening globally but especially in the UK and US market. WSO, BIWS 400, and information not being so hidden have caused it. Before random state, school kids wouldn't know how to crack IB and couldn't network as easily. It's starting to impact some of the ivy kids who got into the Ivy League via prep schools grooming them. But their family doesn't have enough influence to get them a nepo job. Slots that would have gone to those kids are going to non target hardos who crawled over broken glass for the job. (Obviously, a good thing) targets will always have an edge, but the gap is narrowing.
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