CFA level 1 or Masters in Finance
Hi,
I am currently in my penultimate year of an Ancient History degree at King's College London, and do not have an internship this summer because of a family crisis, and I am looking at a career in investment banking when I graduate.
In order to secure an internship and a graduate scheme in investment banking I was thinking of taking a Masters, but I cannot think of a relevant field that does not require a quantitative undergrad. Is this the best route to take, or would it be better to take a humanities masters and study for the CFA level 1 at the same time?
My final idea was to secure an internship or graduate scheme with an accounting firm in advisory, and then change careers after a few years, and perhaps take an MBA?
Any and all suggestions are very welcome, as I'm rather confused at the moment!
Don't get a masters in anything non-business, that's a waste. I would try to change your undergraduate major to something business or mathematical (preferably finance or accounting) if possible which would give you another year for recruiting. I know that sucks but if you really want a career in Investment Banking or finance in general, history is not the way to go since you haven't had any prior internships. People can pull this off at Harvard but they either have insane connections or start with internships freshman year. Then get involved on campus with student investment funds and anything you can try to get responsibility in. Take IB prep courses and network as much as possible.
Now the accounting firm is not a bad idea especially if their one of the BIG 4. You should be careful about what kind of advisory you go into though.Thank you. Its not really possible to change majors in the UK without restarting the entire undergrad. In terms of a business masters, is it more important that the masters is in finance or that it is from a more prestigious university? Would learning how to trade FOREX help, if I do it in my spare time, to show that I am interested in the financial sector?
In regards to the BIG 4, what type of advisory would you recommend/ avoid?
">MBA. I believe the MSF is more popular outside the US though so I may be biased. But from my experience (I'm in the US), all the MSF really does is give you an extra year for recruitment and usually a better shot if attending a more prestigious school. You should consider this if you can get a good internship senior year doing some modeling at the very least. You need to start understanding the material. If I were you, I would start with BIWS interview prep or something like that to understand the general concepts and networking this summer. If you are able to intern this summer still, I would try to contact anything involved with analyzing companies to do unpaid work. This at least gives you something to put on your resume. Start with alumni on Linkedin and cold email and set times to talk on the phone up. You'd be surprised how many responses you get.
Now the <abbr title="Chartered Financial Analyst">CFA doesn't really help with investment banking, It would be more involved with if you wanted a career in portfolio management or Hedge Fund. Although it does help show your interest in finance so couldn't hurt. The bottom line is there are tons of ways to break in. Start doing research, WSO is a good resource. AND start to learn the material like today and make sure this is really what you want to do.
As for BIG 4, I would avoid anything like IT or other bs like that. Anything analyzing companies (TAS if possible but competitive). Learn the material and you'll know what to avoid.Why don't you just go for a two year master program, e.g. Bocconi, St. Gallen? They usually require less finance/math classes as you will spend more time doing your MIF. Try do do electives/majors in finance or other business classes because you need to show some basic understanding of the material. The two year program would give you a great opportunity to to an internship after the first year which you (hopefully) convert to full time.
The only two-year Masters I could find in London was at the LSE, I haven't found any others. Would the CFA level 1 whilst I take a Masters in Finance at a lesser-known university (I'm thinking of SOAS) help, if I secure an internship at the end of my Final undergrad year?
Or is the status of the university more important?
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