Target univerties over-exagerated in the UK ?
I got hyperfixated on the target university aspect when applying, as everyone told me I wouldn't get a graduate role otherwise. The only other way to break in meant years of asskissing/ladderclimbing via accounting/consulting, which you could skip if u got a graduate role at uni.
I chose a moderately competitive course at a target, knowing I'd get in. However, I was not entirely interested in the degree as I wanted to do something STEM-focused. But those degrees at places like Imperial LSE, etc, are the most competitive ones they have.
Currently in first year, I managed to get a spring at Barings, an internship at an international student-run consultancy, a tech startup, and a small PE style acquisition firm led by an ex-banker-MBA where I do sales deal sourcing work (this is the only one where I'm getting paid).
Other than the spring, I had to proactively find myself the rest of the experience. Even now, with springs, I see plenty of non-targets getting them as well.
Now, come summer, I know things drastically change, with most people with offers coming from Target (I only see non-targets get roles in sales or real estate, etc) . But is this because they auto reject non targets from the initial stages, or rather some confirmation bias ie the people at these targets have much more knowledge regarding IB applications and therefore have much more experience on cv whereas people at non targets by this time are only starting to get grips on what this industry is. Like to what degree or stage do recruiters really care, if ever, abt targets these days.
If anyone here who knows what recruitment is like now, could get some insight on what the environment is CURRENTLY regarding Targets and recruitment, it would help me decide whether I should transfer to a lower-ranking university to do a course I like vs staying at a target doing a course I semi like. I am unsure if the experience I have managed to garner (and now know how to get) will still make me competitive for apps if I transfer unis.
''a small PE style acquisition firm led by an ex-banker-MBA'' you mean a search fund?
Great thanks for leaking the sauce.
You think search fund is some secret sauce?
Search-fund, 180 degrees consulting (or something like that) and Barings spring week seems like a median outcome. Most students who try hard even at semi target could achieve that
Simple answer:
Sounds like you are at a UCL / Warwick (not a LSE or Oxbridge) doing a social science degree like HPE / Eastern Business Economics or GSD and are currently unsatisfied.
If you can move up to do STEM at a target ie. Imperial or Oxbridge then go for it, but I would not move down to a semi like Bristol or Notts - lots of reasons why I wouldn't but they are all personal, so they may not apply to you
The comment I made is that people from semi targets don't try that hard usually, because they arent in an environment to know what "trying" actually would look like, as compared to someone who is in a target and is aware of the opportunities and competition.
You said that you wouldn't downgrade to a lower tier university, but that's all due to personal experiences. So would you then say that considering what I currently have in place in terms of experience ,then me going to a semi from a target wouldn't no impair me in terms of summer application.
As the point I was making was that firms don't autoreject non targets as people say they do, its just that people at targets usually have more experience and knowledge.
DEL
Also, how did you pinpoint the exact scenario I was in, is this like a common thing?
The reason why I wouldn't do it is not because of my experience, but because I personally value university brand name and I am not too fussed about doing a weaker degree. For you it may be the opposite. You will be honestly fine doing STEM at a semi compared to the humanities at Target. You may miss out on better facilities / network.
I pinpointed the scenario based on the information given, I have also helped some students with strategically planning their career and students often go for weak degrees at targets so yeah its a pretty common scenario
Yes, being at a target still matters. Sounds like you're a first year so only have one year of spring week applications as data. There's a large degree of randomness in recruiting, but applying for summers, grad roles, and even experienced roles will be noticeably easier if you went to a target. If you're really not having a good time at the moment then of course you should transfer, but don't let a lack of some "prestigious" spring week be the reason you do.
First of all I think you make a very good point that the reason that a lot of hires are from targets is because those are the top universities that have selected strong students a lot of whom want to apply to banking etc, with places like LSE a prime example. It is a good university, located in London and a very large number of people there apply to jobs in the City.
Second, I would think of it from the hiring companies point of view: how would they put together some kind of scoring system to decide who to interview? They would score the "target" universities higher, but they would NOT eliminate non-targets automatically, you would just get a lower score for this. Then if you change to a STEM degree I would expect that you would score higher for that aspect.
Third, I think it is useful to remember that of course whatever you end up doing there is no guarantee that you get that dream job, so I would generally recommend studying what you are actually interested in as you will enjoy your uni time more.
False IMO, we’ve never hired a non-target intern (PE)
But is this because they were specifically from non targets, but was it just because the target students had more things under their belt and were most competent as a result?
Do they actually score STEM as higher,, I thought they had no partiality to degrees?
Disclaimer: I am almost certainly biased as I have always worked in quite quantitative areas such as derivatives trading and risk management.
There candidates with STEM would be considered and ones with say Humanities would not. For most if not all roles I think though that one of the key skills is problem-solving which you will learn much more I think in STEM than other degrees. But in roles where these skills are less important maybe the degree indeed does not matter at all, and then I could also see that in those areas hiring can just focus only on target unis as there will be plenty of candidates just from those unis.
I guess what I am saying is that there might well be areas where degree does not matter, but I do still think there are areas where it does and STEM is valued. In the end it is just my opinion but I would suggest if STEM is what you like then I would study that and then focus on areas where problem-solving etc is more important and hence a STEM degree would be valued.
Difference between target and semi target is getting blurred but target still has an edge. Also spring recruiting is quite random for example at my bank it was mostly diversity and most were awful summer interns. You’ll probably fine
Probably be fine for summer if I go to a semi?
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