Warwick vs Oxbridge/Imperial for Quant - Gap Year Advice?
Hi everyone,
I'm a grade 13 student applying to UK universities and would greatly appreciate some advice from those of you with experience in quant trading or quantitative finance.
To give you some context, I’m predicted a 44/45 points in the IB with the following subjects:
- Maths HL: 7
- Business Management HL: 7
- English B HL: 7
- Physics SL: 7
- Chemistry SL: 6
- Spanish A SL: 7
I’m looking to pursue a career in quantitative trading (QT) and have recently applied through UCAS for several undergraduate programs at UK universities:
- Warwick: MMORSE (Maths, Operational Research, Statistics, and Economics)
- UCL: Mathematics and Statistical Science
- LSE: Financial Mathematics and Statistics
- LSE: Mathematics with Economics
- Edinburgh: Mathematics and Statistics
I didn't apply to Oxbridge because I unfortunately missed the deadline (I'm from mainland Europe and I didn't receive any support/guidance to apply to UK), and due to sickness + a bad day I bombed the TMUA, which made me non-eligible for any Imperial math course.
At first I thought that that wouldn't be a problem because of LSE strong position (I thought it was top tier for anything related to finance) but as i continue reading forums and messages from people in the quant industry, I see that LSE is not quite the target option. From my list, it seems that Warwick would be the best (as it is part of the COWI group) but I still feel that in normal conditions I would have had a chance to get into Oxbridge/Imperial, which are the truly renowned universities for quant finance.
My key questions are:
-
Warwick MORSE vs other options: From what I’ve read, Warwick's MORSE is highly regarded for quantitative finance. How does it compare to courses at LSE or UCL in terms of preparing for a career in QT or quant trading? Would it be worth it to take a gap year to reapply to Oxbridge/Imperial?
-
Gap Year Considerations: I am thinking about taking a gap year to reapply to Oxbridge/Imperial and study to get top scores in TMUA/STEP papers + address areas like coding (which I currently lack experience in) and improving my competition-level math skills. Do you think this is a wise decision for QT or should I dive into university and focus on gaining those skills there? Is the risk of being in the same situation (rejection from Oxbridge/Imperial when reapplying) worth it?
-
Oxbridge/Imperial vs Warwick for Long-term Career: If I don’t get into Oxbridge or Imperial or I decide to not take the gap year and end up at Warwick, what would be the long-term impact on my career prospects in QT? Would an MSc like the Oxford MCF make up for not attending Oxbridge/Imperial UG?
Any advice on these decisions, especially regarding whether a gap year will make a big difference, or insights into the best university paths for quantitative finance careers, would be hugely appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
Assuming you're ok financially (since you'd be paying international fees), you could also start at Warwick and re-apply in your first year. You'll get ahead on the courses and can apply for spring weeks twice if you start again at Oxbridge.
I already considered that option, which would be a very good one, the issue with it is that I can't do it without strong support from the other institution (Warwick) and they consider these type of applicants in very rare cases. look at what Oxford says in their webpage:
"If you are currently studying at a UK university and are thinking of applying to Oxford to start the first year of an undergraduate course, please note that normally we will only consider such applications in exceptional circumstances and you should make very clear in your application why you do not wish to continue on your current course. Please note we are not able to give examples of these exceptional circumstances as applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis. ... as well as a reference from your current tutor or equivalent. Please note that you must declare on your UCAS form whether you are currently studying at another university, and that failure to do so could result in Oxford withdrawing any offer made to you."
Would my case of dropping out and reapplying to be in a more prestigious university be justified? Probably not. It will be almost impossible to go down with this path.
It should be fine, a lot of ppl in UCL reapply to Oxbridge after yr1 and get in, I suppose Cambridge might be more lenient with those kinds of circumstances.
Are you studying in UCL? is there any support to do what you are saying?
Do not apply to two courses in LSE, do that for UCL
For LSE, your PS should be specifically focused for one course or you will get rejected regardless of how strong you are academically.
Ive seen IB 45s with OK PS got rejected while canadian diploma mill students with outsourced PS got in.
I guess I will be rejected from the one I'm least focused on (probably Math with Econ) and then receive regular consideration for the other course (Finmath + statistics) I did this bc I didn't know what to do with the UCAS options as I wasn't able to apply to Oxbridge (my school didn't sent the Predictive grades before the October deadline. It's not the best situation to be in for quantitative finance but I think that I could have the chance to apply for a MS in Oxbridge/Imperial
Assuming you get the grades, take the gap year if you’re left with only edinburgh/warwick
Lse unfortunately you can only be considered for one course so it’s going to get flagged by their system and a general admissions member of staff is going to automatically reject you from the course they think you are of least fit for out of the 2. They’ll then send the other course to the department of the course they’ve chosen for you. It’s a very niche policy of Lse and many people make the same mistake every year
Order of your unis that you should accept (if you get the offers)
1. LSE
2. Ucl
3. Warwick
4. Edinb
- Warwick & Ucl are close but ucl does win. 44/45 is crazy good so in my opinion it is worth taking the year out if you’re able to financially/occupationally
- I say dont take the gap year for ucl because of the international recognition that ucl gets, international masters programmes are infinitely easier (still hard) to get into from a london uni so that door is extremely open to you this way.
Final advice: Take what you can get, try and get a spring week under your belt then reapply to be a first year again for the next season. Yes you’re down a lot of money as an international student with UK fees but work experience (within uk) in my opinion is priceless so even if you get a spring week and maybe even a semi-related summer internship as a first year it would be absolutely worth it for applying to SWs and Summers at your new (hopefully better) university.
As far as I know, Oxbridge/Imperial do not usually accept students that have already studied a year in any other university:
Oxford:
"If you are currently studying at a university outside the UK and are thinking of applying to Oxford to start the first year of an undergraduate course, you should make very clear in your application why you do not wish to continue on your current course. This is important as we only consider such applications where there are strong reasons for moving university after the first year."
Cambridge:
"We normally do not consider applications from students enrolled on a degree course at another UK university.
We’ll only consider this if:
Imperial:
"Students who are already enrolled at another university – either in the UK or overseas – should either apply as a visiting student or should contact our admissions team about opportunities to transfer. Transfers are not common and are subject to availability."
So If I choose to go to one of my choices, I'll have to stick with it. Also, thanks for the recommendation of acceptance order, I exactly though about that order when applying (given that my school didn't send my predictive grades before the Oxbridge deadline) but after looking for advice in many other posts, I realized most of the people put Warwick above LSE/UCL for quantitative subjects and to break into Quant Finance, so I don't really know what should I do with that as it seems that only Oxbridge/Imperial are the true game changers for this particular area
Peopl from Warwick MORSE tend to be very sharp in my experience - slightly more mixed bag from Oxbridge
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