Is the difference actually detrimental to an application in finance? If so, what it is a about the target that explains the difference? Is it just the brand or are their more recruitment opps etc..
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Yes it's detrimental. It doesn't really matter what the difference is. It's probably everything you're thinking it is and more - brand, opps, the culture, the fact there's fewer fit girls to be distracted with. But it doesn't matter. The output is that significantly more target kids get into high finance jobs than semi or non target kids.
Yep, pretty simple
Trackr just released a great report on this specific to London:
https://lnkd.in/ed95B7Np
I’d take that with a grain of salt tbh. The students who answered that survey is most those with offers so like top top students non-targets and semi targets + middle/top students targets, which is why it seems like the offer rate between targets/others is not significantly different.
The truth is the UK process is already so randomised that you really need the uni brand name (+ other shit) to differentiate for the hr
"Specifically, candidates with return offers received over twice as many interviews"
"spring weeks appear to be the critical factor on a CV!"
"Oddly, candidates with past internships have lower interview and offer rates, possibly due to applying for more competitive roles."
I call bullshit.
For someone who's (thankfully) found a 2025 SA, it does have some weighting from firm-to-firm.
Where I did an AC, the majority of students were either from a target or a high semi-target e.g. Nottingham. One or two students would be from QMUL for example but a lot of successful offers went to students from Camb, Oxf, UCL, Imp.
My understanding of it is two-fold:
Make of this what you will.
Yeah makes a big difference.agreed with what has been said so far but to add on usually semi-target and even more so targets have a good finance culture and therefore you get to have close connections with likeminded individuals. Using Nottingham as a example from someone earlier in this thread, their finance society seems to have a lot of attention from many firms and they definitely seem to have a great finance culture that pushes their students further. Then if you compare with LSE, they have fantastic links to the industry with a huge number of alumni.
The SA process in the UK is unfortunately quite random so having a good brand name uni will put you in better steed.
Bump
Yes it matters. Banks have preferred universities that they hire from. It doesn't really matter why. Try to get into a prestigious university.
Can someone from Bayes Business School still get into EBs?
Of course, if your dad is an MD at Lazard
Bayes used to be better way back in the day (when it was Cass). In all the banks I've had ACs for I never met anyone from Bayes (I have met a number from QMUL), so from my experience I wouldn't call it a semi-target anymore. With Bayes you have to take the MSc Finance route to get better chances
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