Best route to enter Europe (including UK) IB/PE from India?

Hi everyone,

Some background info on me : 

I am a final year undergrad from a target engineering university in India (IITs, BITS Pilani), majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Financial Economics. Expect to graduate with a GPA of around 8/10 (slightly above 8).  My grades in all my Finance courses are pretty strong: 9.5/10. I have an S&T internship at an Asian IB and have an internship lined up at a BB (think, MS/GS/JPM) in their IBD (MO role) before graduation. Aiming for a score around 730-760 in the GMATs (I gave the 1st GMAT official practice test to check my base level without any prep and scored a 650). Also planning to complete CFA L1 before graduation. I have also been learning French and German over the summer.

I wanted advice on the best ways to move into IB/PE in Europe via a Master's program. I aim to apply for the Master's programs starting in 2024 at HEC Paris, LBS MFA, Oxford MFE, and HSG MBF. My main criteria for selecting a program is the ease of securing an IB/PE FT opportunity post-graduation (in Europe/UK).

Considering my profile and everything else, I had the following queries:

1) Is my profile good enough to recruit for IB/PE SA roles straight away? If not, how can I improve it?

2) Which program will best position me to recruit for IB/PE roles in Europe/UK (not as decided on location right now, but I would love to work in continental Europe considering I should be at least at a B2 level in German/French when I join for Masters)?

3) Should I prefer a 2-year Masters(HEC MiM) over a 1-year Masters(HEC MiF, LBS MFA, etc.) considering the 6 months off-cycle internship opportunities in Europe?

4) How accepting is HEC or HSG for non-EU students like me? Will recruiting there be possible(in France or Switzerland)?

Any advice/opinion will be greatly appreciated.

1 Comments
 

Voluptatem in et sit quia. Beatae non illo voluptatem. Quia consectetur et praesentium dignissimos magnam. Sint architecto quia dignissimos et suscipit qui impedit. Eum et quas omnis magnam. Unde voluptates sed consequatur sint.

Placeat magni consequatur odit dolorem suscipit quam quia. Qui eligendi doloremque rerum aspernatur labore. Laudantium distinctio ut deserunt dolore.

Numquam ipsa eum harum nobis alias. Commodi iste nemo deserunt qui quisquam ut. Porro praesentium nihil sit deleniti aut recusandae architecto consequatur. Cupiditate dolorum dolor ea officia magnam. Culpa quae quo in sit commodi.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Guggenheim Partners 02 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 99.0%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 13 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (57) $264
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (28) $184
  • Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”