UCL or Cornell
Should I go to UCL or Cornell if I'm interested in a career in investment banking? Was accepted to a physical science at UCL - at Cornell I could change to whatever I wanted. I'm an American - similar costs. I don't mind studying abroad if it is better.
They're both borderline targets in their respective countries. If you were British I'd say go to America where the opportunity set is higher as it would be near impossible for a British kid with no us work authorisation to break into the us high finance market straight out of uk undergrad. Considering you are American this obviously would not be to your disadvantage so genuinely just pick whichever one you think will have a more enjoyable experience. Basically, if you want a chance to fuck about for 3 years straight in Europe before starting full time then ucl is obviously the place to be and you probably won't regret it.
It's also worth noting that even though UCL ranks slightly higher in QS rankings that's purely due to research, Cornell and other Ivy's still clear UCL in prestige and alumni success. The only UK Schools that are really comparable to Ivy's a.re Oxbridge, LSE (Purely due to their inherent similarities to Wharton), and Imperial (Comparable to Stanford/MIT, both of which are comparable to Ivy's so..).
I feel like UCL falls slightly short of LSE and imperial in London, and oxbridge if we're looking at all of the UK. Cornell is also not a super target but it is still an ivy league school so I would go with it because the US market has more spots with more opportunities for someone from a school like cornell vs the UK for someone from a UCL. As someone recruiting in London from LSE with a lot of friends recruiting in the US, I've noticed that unless you land an internship at a big bank it becomes fairly difficult to find firms that would offer you a sustainable well paying path outside of the bigger firms. In the US, however, I've noticed that a lot of smaller shops pay comparable pay in line with big bank standards, or slightly short of. There's just more opportunity there and I don't think the UK haircut is worth it especially if you are American anyway. If you're interested in getting a different experience you can always just do a year abroad (have a friend at Cornell doing this).
PS: i am pretty biased because I'm trying to get out of the UK and move to the US via a master's degree
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