European Masters Ranking | 2020
Hey guys,
As I've spotted an increasing number of questions related to European master's degree programs for IB, PE, and MBB placement, I've decided to prepare a ranking that would guide potential candidates. I am open to your comments, and after a discussion, I will make a final update of the classification.
Tier 0: (academic): Cambridge, Oxford, LSE
Tier 0: (practical): HEC Paris, LBS, Bocconi
Tier 1: Imperial, HSG, UCL
Tier 2: ESCP, IE, Warwick, ESSEC, ESADE
Tier 3: RSM, SSE, EDHEC, WHU, Cass, EMLyon, Paris Dauphine, IMD
I am looking forward to your comments and suggestions for improvements :)
Hate to be this guy, but you need to provide some more context on how you got to some of these. You can find plenty of rankings from sources like QS or FT. You can also look at LinkedIn. But I'll bite and based on your rankings here are some broad comments:
For London, in what world is MIT on par with the others in the first bucket? Yes, MIT is great but by no means places as well or even similarly to the others in London IB.
Not sure if you realize the size and quality of the Bocconi network in London. It is miles ahead of HSG and UCL and quite a bit ahead of ICL. Would put it with LBS and HEC
No offence to our Norther European friends, but SSE and RSM need to either be in a tier of their own or one below. Not comparable to the others you have in Tier 2
WTF is IMD? Googled it but honestly never heard of it before. No offence again, but would not put it in Tier 2 and am struggling to make it fit in Tier 3 too. Find me LinkedIn proof that says otherwise
These rankings rarely make sense in terms of tiers and usually made by people who attended one school and base the rest on hearsay. In any case, as I was once faced with the decision myself, I will give my (probably biased, because we all are) input, in case someone in doubt should find this thread. The below is based on placement, because in the end that is what matters to most people on this forum (and thus not whether you enjoy London life or academics).
-Cambridge doesn't make sense on this list, they don't have any "career-focused" master within finance, the Mphil Finance is targeted people who want to do research. The Finance & Economics Master is also a relatively small programme.
-Oxford MFE arguably the top choice in Europe with LBS MFA and LSE MSc Finance (& Private Equity) following just behind.
-I see MIT was removed, but top candidates are usually deciding between MIT and Oxford, definitely possible to recruit for Europe with the MIT Master in Finance, and it's a highly regarded programme. Only downside is the extra cost and you can't do a summer internship the year before as it starts quite early.
-Bocconi only on par with the others for Italians.
UCL might be pretty good for undergrad but their Master's degree doesn't compete with the rest of tier 1. Drop one, perhaps two tiers
Here is how I perceive the different European schools for London:
Tier 1: Oxford > LBS, LSE Tier 1.5: HEC, Bocconi, Imperial, Cambridge Tier 2: HSG, IE, SSE, ESCP, ESSEC, ESADE Tier 3: CBS, RSM, Warwick, Cass, WHO
Could potentially put Oxford in a tier of its own, and left MIT out since it’s not European.
There is no way you can generalize a Master's at Oxford to be superior to LSE or LBS...
The only course at Oxford that rivals the two is the MFE.
It's also widely known that Master's students at Oxbridge are not as highly regarded as the undergraduates, especially when you go beyond the MFE (due to the fact that undergraduate courses are much more competitive than postgraduate). I think it would be misleading to imply that it is the number one Master's school on its' own, as your ranking suggests.
Naturally you would focus on the top programmes targeted IB for these rankings, I think that is implicit in the ranking. Otherwise you delve into a mass of programmes not relevant to banking (I don't think anyone would argue that LSE's ranking here should be based on how good its MSc Marketing is for getting you into banking).
Not sure where this "Master's students at Oxbridge are not as highly regarded as the undergraduates" comes from. Master's students at Oxbridge have entirely different goals compared to undergrads (many continue on to a Dphil), and I think it is a bit weird to claim they are less valuable when their purpose is entirely different compared to that of a Master at LSE or LBS.
Basing on the MFE therefore appears accurate (which is arguably a stronger programme than LBS/LSE although those are also solid programmes).
I think this thread by Pan European Monkey is the best one to gauge how good the courses are;
https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/european-masters-rankings
You'll have a good chance at BB and EB's with A&F at LSE!
Cheers for the plug mate. Was about to say that this thread is a goldmine already
HEC, Bocconi, and Cambridge should not be in tier 0, and I agree that SSE and RSM should be higher.
Tier 1: Oxford (MFE), LBS (MFA), LSE(MFin) Tier 2: Bocconi (MFin), HEC Paris (MIF), Imperial (MFin) Tier 3: ESCP, ESSEC, Warwick, ESADE, IE, HSG, RSM TIer 4: SSE, Cass, WHU, EDHEC
oxfords masters are wildly overrated because its 'oxford,' and the people that hype it up are usually not from the UK. LBS post-experience Masters in Finance is no 1 on many rankings
LBS (MFA) = Oxford (MFE) > LSE (MSc Finance)