KCL vs Durham for IB
Hi all,
I’m currently doing a foundation year at INTO Manchester, and I’ve received offers from 4 out of my 5 UCAS choices (I got rejected from Warwick). I plan to attempt to get a job in Investment Banking or Consulting (yes I know none of these are targets, the G5 uni’s don’t recognise the NCUK foundation year - a story for another day). Essentially I am having trouble deciding which university to go to, because none of them are target universities and as far as I know, as semi-targets mostly offer the same opportunities even if they’re higher/lower semi-targets, please correct me if I am wrong.
I’ve visited KCL and I’ve walked around UOM and seen their facilities, I have never been to Durham or Bristol, just their online undergraduate seminars. I’ve heard from seniors in KCL that getting a job in finance is not hard since the university is established in the finance scene and being in London offers more networking events but I’ve read online that all of them offer equivalent opportunities, which made my initial decision of firming KCL harder. Currently I’m considering KCL/Durham for my firm, and Manchester/Bristol for my insurance.
Any advice would be appreciated since I am essentially at a crossroads with no clear direction to me.
Here is the list of offers that I have:
KCL - BA/BSc Political Economy (A* A* A)
Durham University - BA PPE (A* A A)
University of Bristol - BSc Economics with a year abroad (A A A)
University of Manchester - BSc Economics (A A A)
P.S. posted this on Reddit and TSR but I didn’t get any replies:(
order:
KCL
Bristol
Durham
Manneh
I see, thank you! Do you think that KCL has a more "finance" attitude and may be better for networking over Durham?
Durham
kcl and bristol should do the job; just join the finance societies, do part time work in m&a/consulting in first year at some no name shop; grind hard spring week apps and tecnhnicals. But would advise, lower your expectations so you don't get upset because you will be competing with the best of the best at LSE, Oxbridge, UCL etc. for IB/consulting
Thank you for your reply! I've seen some people place into EB's or in betweens like Nomura just out of KCL, obviously there may be other factors involved, where do you think would be like a tier to place right out of KCL (I'll apply everywhere but breaking into BB's is really hard from what I understand). Plus hopefully by that time we'll be in a more bullish market with more employment?
yeah it's true, lots of people at JPM IBD and some at boutiques from this year's graduating cohort. But you find that they are either connected/wealthy internationals or strong diversity, whereas from LSE/Oxbridge etc there's more merit involved if you grind (still a lot of connected people there, too). so there'e no limit, but make sure to compare yourself with people from YOUR background rather than making general comparisons.
Durham places best easily here. Comments above have to be trolling?
Would Durham's location be disadvantageous for interns and spring weeks and networking? Thank you for your reply btw!
all except manchester are good choices
think durham and bristol are better than kcl in this instance because of the course (bristol econ is the flagship programme, durham ppe is highly regarded. kcl political economy is not as rated as their ppe,econ, a&f and business courses) but all debateable.
those three are all good semi targets so would take which one you would enjoy the most
I see, thanks so much! I got really confused because someone from KCL told me they rejected LSE and UCL to go to KCL, and I was really confused. I know Bristol is a middle/higher tier semi, Durham as well. Do you think that KCL would outweigh them based on networking or is the alumni pool for Durham/Bristol just superior and recruitment is higher?
Would rank:
Durham>Bristol>>KCL>>>>>Manchester - for IB recruiting. Marginal differences between the first 3, highly likely it won't affect your recruiting. The pro for KCL is that it's in London and in an environment where people are more focussed on IB.
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