Deferring FT offer to do a Masters?

TL/DR: Is it possible to ask your firm to push back your FT start after your SA by 1 year? Want to do a Masters and start FT after.

I'm an incoming SA at an American BB in London, and will hopefully convert into a FT position (fingers crossed), but I have received a full scholarship from my birth country's government to do any Masters I want and I'm pretty confident I could get into Oxford's MSc Financial Economics or LSE's MSc Finance. If I get in it would be something I'd want to do, but I don't know how I feel about "giving up" the FT offer if I get it - would a bank allow you to start 1 year later if it's because you're doing a top ranked Masters?

10 Comments
 

Lmfao in your exact situation except the opposite. Incoming SA at American BB, have an offer from both of those schools but am just praying for an auto ft offer so I can just travel the world for a year.

 

Yes that’s right, it’s very common in the UK to do this cause uni is only 3 years here and doing a masters degree doesn’t have the same ‘commitment to academia’ type vibe as it might in the US

 

Why put yourself trough a draining and dry degree like Oxford, while paying 45K in tuition fees and missing out on a year worth of income as well if you already have an SA secured at a US BB? I thought conversion rates to FT were very high.

 

Isn't the point of those Masters degree to help improve chances of landing a full time IB role? Why put yourself through the stress of studying again, especially a gruelling degree like Oxford's FE for no gain? Don't let the prestige chase and allure of having a nice name on your resume make you waste your time and energy, think deeply about what you have to gain

 

I have to disagree with you here - one point of a Masters degree is landing a job, but I also think studying one of these programs brings a ton of value in terms of learning (both academic and having more life experiences), in terms of widening your network, and possibly even from a CV standpoint for the future. Also, keep in mind it would be on a full scholarship.

 

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