LSE Finance vs. Cornell AEM
Hello WSO,
I got admitted to BSc LSE Finance as well as Cornell AEM at Dyson (including a prestigious scholarship, top 0,1%). My goal is to recruit at a BB investment bank. However, I am concerned that I won't be receiving an H1B-visa (13% success rate in FY 2022) and/or be discriminated against as an international student anyway.
Would you even bother going to the US, if it is that likely to be dinged in recruitment in the future? I heard that less and less BBs even consider int. students for SA or A1 recruitment. If I managed to get a full-time offer and did 3 years of OPT STEM extension employment, would I be transferred to a European office and then be brought back on a L1-Visa if my H1B application is unsuccessful?
Or should I attend LSE and optimize my shot in Europe from the start, as recruiting in the USA might be doomed anyway? This is a very big decision for me and I would be very grateful, if you guys could help me out. Thank you very much!
Congrats on the two offers.
Would you mind me asking what date you got the LSE offer?
Funny, I was in the exact same position as you years ago, the exact courses you described too. First thing to note is that Dyson isn’t a stem major (cornell reclassified regular econ into stem, but not aem), meaning that if you want the STEM OPT, you would need to double major, which is fairly doable if you plan your classes well. Also check to see if your country has an agreement with the US for special visa statuses.
Another thing I’d consider is the fact that cornell is on the list of colleges eligible for the new high potential individual visa the UK has, giving you the flexibility to work in the UK should you choose to do so. This high potential individual visa for some reason, does not apply to international graduates of the UK’s own top programs such as LSE, Oxford, Cambridge, etc, those universities are not on the list (might be a moot point since student visas now allow for a couple years to work after graduation).
The converse, however, is not true - going to LSE would make it very hard to apply for roles in the US since there is no dedicated visa for international graduates and companies in the US who sponsor typically take candidates already on F1 OPT (US international students instead of international applicants)
For what its worth, I ended up going with dyson and know many other international students, myself included headed to BBs/EBs for the summer. Congrats on the acceptances, this is a good dilemma to have - both are excellent schools. Ultimately, your choice should be made based on where you want to work.
Thank you for the very informative reply! Do you know which common double majors qualify for STEM OPT? Which banks do most intl. students receive offers from? Have you heard about L1-sponsorship for Cornell alumni, if the H1B-process turns out to be unsuccessful?
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