Non Finance/Unrelated Master's from Oxbridge
Hello WSO,
I am in a predicament. I read Politics/History/Geography at a semi-target (Kings/Durham/St. Andrews/Bristol) and learned about finance career opportunities just as my 2nd year ended (did a 4-year degree due to study abroad/integrated masters). I did a very small boutique IB internship this past summer and equity research at a small outfit the summer prior. I also recently did an in-semester internship at a small PE fund based in Europe (remotely). I have another small boutique IB M&A internship set for this upcoming summer, but i've been told there is a no path to a FT position (very small headcount).
I applied to a non-Finance/Econ related Master's course at Oxford/Cambridge a while back and recently received acceptance. The domain of subject is somewhat similar to my degree (ex. International Relations/Political Science etc.), and I have received external funding that covers around 60% of tuition. Am paying International tuition rates but don’t need work visa sponsorship (long story). I have not taken the GMAT and didn't consider Master's in Finance this cycle, as I had decided that I would do a year of applying to off-cycles/other stuff before diving into a more finance related course.
Strongly considering the course as I don't have a FT job lined up and the IB internship I have upcoming will not convert, and I didn't apply to any Master's of Finance degrees at target universities in time (and for those that are still open, I haven't taken the GMAT which I would assume I need to be competitive being from a non-STEM/Finance/Econ course). The brand of Oxbridge is a clear step above my undergraduate institution, and I could probably score quite highly in the course as i'm deeply familiar with it and enjoy the topic.
My goal is to break into anywhere in finance, meaning IB, AM, S&T, Credit etc. My question is, will attending this course be worth it, assuming nothing else in the pipeline comes through? I have not bad experience, and the course is an Oxbridge one, but a) not related to finance and b) not quantitative. What are my potential career outcomes from here?
Absolutely , I don’t see what you would lose out on by going.
I guess the concern would be that if I do the program and don’t recruit well because of its irrelevancy to finance, then I have to do another Master’s in a Finance course to break in. Don’t know how that looks in respect to profile and while the funding I got covers just over half of the tuition, there would be some minor debt with this course (not overly stressed about it, but it does exist)
Are you usually an indecisive person? I see almost no reason why you wouldn't do this given that you have most of it funded, you enjoy the topic, it's Oxbridge, and your next-best alternative is literally unemployment.
Your course choice is far less important for finance recruitment (at least IB) than the university itself and everything else about your application (past experience, etc.). Go and apply for everything (although if your dream job is "anything in finance" you may want to refine or at least prioritise)
Appreciate it. In terms of the course choice being less important than uni/exp for IB recruitment, I was under the impression that this only holds true at the undergraduate level. Am I wrong in that assumption?
Not sure how much value you should take from comments above. Almost never seen a person with non-finance/business/econ/quant masters doing IB from Cambridge. Undergrad fine but not for masters
Any other career paths in IB-adjacent roles from courses like the one i’m looking at? Like cap markets, research, AM etc?
Bumping for visibility
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You're fine, you just need to put in the effort to network. Tons of people who did a US undergrad and then an unrelated masters at Oxbridge through some international fellowship (nowhere near Rhodes/Marshall level) who land IB/MBB. Oxbridge is a powerful name but you have to put in the work to use it.
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