LBS and INSEAD for Asia finance jobs

For someone who's interested in finance jobs in hong kong/singapore (trading, macro hedge funds, macro research, etc.), how do LBS and INSEAD fare? I've heard that LBS has a pretty good reputation in london and hong kong, and although INSEAD is mostly a consulting school, it has a decent reputation in asia finance community as well.

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INSEAD's intake is huge. They take in two classes in an year, and the duration is only 10 months. That does make it easier to get in.

 
JamesHetfieldINSEAD's intake is huge. They take in two classes in an year, and the duration is only 10 months. That does make it easier to get in.

Yes, INSEAD's acceptance rate is a whopping 33% while LBS' is only 13%. Despite this, a lot of people say that INSEAD is the better brand and has a higher caliber of students.

 

INSEAD also places well within PE as far as I can tell. I think it's a good program if you are required to get an MBA or want to quickly reposition for lateraling between firms or getting into consulting.

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Best Response

I'm working at a British bank's ER department in HK and the majority of interns come from LBS/Oxford. They all speak Mandarin. I have met Insead graduates (M&A associates) at Nomura and Citi, who were also native Mandarin speakers.

I think your skills/abilities matter more than the school you attended.

- V
 

In general INSEAD is regarded as more prestigious and its alumni tend to be considered more interesting. Can't speak towards Asia though.

The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd.
 

I've got a couple of friends from LBS working in PE and at a SWF in Singapore. It's a pretty good brand name here. Can't say if that applies generally to jobs in finance tho. They probably still care about prior experience in finance.

 

To be honest, neither school is that great for what you want to do. INSEAD is a one-year program where most of the class is comprised of those who are being sponsored. For someone wanting to make a career switch, it's not ideal. Also INSEAD's strength is PE and consulting, not the areas you're interested in. As for LBS, they do pretty well with banking jobs in london and maybe hong kong. But having looked through linkedin profiles of traders at top banks and hedge funds in those two cities, most were either oxford/cambridge undergrad, LSE masters, or M7 MBA. There was almost no LBS represented.

 

I would also note that INSEAD has pretty strong alumni ties as far as I can tell. They really believe in that whole "take care of your own" mentality.

I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. See my Blog & AMA
 

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