Hello WSO readers,
I am a second-year undergraduate in studying in Washington DC and have a question. For background, I am studying both finance and international relations; our business school is nothing special but our IR program is top-10 worldwide. I would love to work in banking after graduating/while pursuing a MBA if need-be, and am especially interested in IB and Equity Research. Since I do not attend a target business school, I have been considering trying to transfer to a more desirable business school (Georgetown, NYU, Northwestern) in an attempt to connect more with big name employers.
However, I also have the option to study abroad all of next year at the London School of Economics. I know LSE is a very highly rated school, and I feel that such an opportunity would be invaluable, especially with connecting with large banks and hedge funds in the City. I also have close family in London who could help me with visas and work permits if I tried to work/intern in London.
Right now, I am in the middle of pursuing both avenues (transferring and going to LSE), but if both are possible, I would appreciate guidance on which would be more desirable. Should I try to transfer to another school in the US and spend my final 2 years of undergrad there, or study abroad at LSE and finish my final year at my current university? Any help is much appreciated.
Thank you!
GWU it seems. Try to transfer in the US, I think people tend to overrate study abroad experiences. While a bank may be impressed that you studied at LSE for the year, at the end of the day you're still a non-target applicant.
If you transfer to a top US school that is a target, you will have superior opportunities for two reasons. 1) OCR, which makes the process much easier and gives you extra exposure that non-targets don't have 2) Established Wall St alumni networks. Targets all have these, and if you network effectively, you can land a great role.
You can go to LSE and stick it out in DC, but it does make SA/FT recruiting tougher. That being said, if you can get a role at a top bank/HF in london while you're abroad, and that is where you want to work FT, then that would arguably be more valuable.
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