HEC Lausanne or University of Zurich
Hey mokeys
Before sharing the pros and cons of both universities let's start with some premises in order to make you understand my situation:
I'd like to work in Zurich because:
1) The workload in the financial environment isn't as maddening as in London or NY.
2) Even if Zurich is crazy expensive with CHF 100k per year, which is a entry level salary in finance, you live very well.
3) Why not Geneva? Zurich has more and better opportunities.
In addition:
3) I don't know a single word in German but from Linkedin I see a lot of people like me that don't know it too covering good positions in Zurich.
4) I would be best suited to learn French.
5) I have very good grades and CV, I'm pretty sure I would be accepted in both.
6) I'm Italian.
7) I want to attend a MSc with major in corporate finance.
8) Moving to Rome to attend LUISS of Rome would be too expensive, I'm also applying for Bocconi but if they don't award me with a scolarship I'm going to Switzerland because I don't like their course in Finance.
9) Not applying for St.Gallen because I don't have time for the GMAT
Now ... the question is: University of Zurich or HEC Lausanne?
I see that on Linkedin many people move to Zurich after HEC Lausanne without knowing German but most of the positions are filled up by the University of Zurich (and St. Gallen obv). So why the hell am I considering Lausanne? Because if I ever get tired of Switzerland maybe Lausanne is better accepted internationally. The problem is that I don't see that on Linkedin, they just look the same for international opportunities. However the HEC is ranked about 50 (continuously decreasing) by the Financial Times and University of Zurich is ranked 96. Also, getting in touch with a local student, I came to know that most of students aim for Lausanne or St. Gallen. What am I missing? Does my reasoning make sense to you?What's the best choice in your opinion?
In addition is the difference between the 50th position and 96th position really relevant? I mean ... after the 20th position the employment possibilities don't change much do they
Hey matteocordini, I'm the WSO Monkey Bot and I'm here since nobody responded to your thread! Bummer...could just be time of day or unlucky (or the question/topci is too vague or too specific). Maybe one of these topics will help:
More suggestions...
Fingers crossed that one of those helps you.
In Switzerland the global school ranking doesn't matter, all swiss universities are highly prioritized (ofc HSG & UZH best for Zurich). I would say that HEC Lausanne is on par with those, it's just lacking the proximity.
Thing here is most banking/finance degree are on par, everyone knows it. What will make the cut is your experience, grades, polish and ethnics. Swiss employers prefer to hire Swiss people.It also depends where you cant to work in Finance.
For Zurich, all roles where you have to interact with businesses or clients require you to speak (Swiss) German. You can get through with no German if you aim at Trading & BO roles, but front office is going to be more challenging.
Now keep in mind that most internationals (non-German speaking folks) working in Zurich are here because of their network. Lots of them never applied to the job, or simply got booted there because they knew some dudes.
Focus on connections (really) and go for UZH, you will be able to attend career events and have access to a bigger pool of finance professionals nearby to network.
Also, Switzerland is rather small and there are not many job offers compared to Paris/London.
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