Reconsidering IB in London as a grad Student. Any advice?

Hi everyone I'm at grad student in the UK at a target school school in London. I always thought about going into IB in London but lately I've been thinking about it again.

I enjoy python a lot and I got offered a position at a prop trading firm in Amsterdam. The salary is about 75k base first year. (125 including bonus and traveling comp). I'm also thinking about maybe applying for the buy-side directly from grad school.

I just don't know if IB is the right move right now. Banks are so overly regulated, salaries are not great and London is very expensive. I'm just afraid of shutting down exit options. (I also don't have a UK passport cos of Brexit.)

Any thoughts, recommendations. 

Thanks a lot!

6 Comments
 

I think that if you’re now starting to reconsider IB you’re pretty late.

Most full time positions and off-cycle internships are being filled (in London the process starts in early August) - if you’re in grad school then you’re not elegible for SA.

You can try the buy side but the pay will be the same as IB or even lower, and you’ll still have the same problem with the visa.

 

in what universe is buyside pay lower than IB? Assuming top shops. The platforms are paying 100k base out of undergrad...

 

Oh, I was talking about hedge funds... don't know anything about PE but HFs like Citadel pay grads 100k gbp base salaries. 

 

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