Level of Competition at UK Econ Masters

I'm an undergraduate student at a top 20 American liberal arts college. I'm graduating next year with a degree in applied math and economics. I'm quite interested in pursuing an additional degree at a UK-based economics masters program and my dream programs are LSE and Oxford. However, I know it's quite competitive and am curious of the extent of the competition and what the benchmarks are and have traditionally been for highly successful applicants.

If anybody has thoughts on my specific situation, I have a 3.97 GPA, I'm a winner of an economics departmental award (contributions to the department), in roughly the top 5% of my overall class (college-wide), interning at a top (AG, Cornerstone) Econ consulting firm, currently leading a research project with a professor that I hope to pursue publishing my senior year, and have a long history of being a teachers assistant in the mathematics department (most recently on the proofs-based mathematical reasoning course). I haven't officially taken the GRE but anticipate scoring in the 95+ percentile (based roughly on a 99th percentile SAT score).

I do have some weak spots too. My leadership in extracurriculars is minimal, and in part my GPA is propped up by A+s in courses (mostly econ); I have a roughly even mix of As and A-s in my math courses and got an A- in microeconomic theory and Econometrics (and, annoyingly, an intro stats course). Does anybody have a clue what the benchmarks are for a competitive application and what would likely make the cut?

1 Comments
 

Quo est nisi natus iure et non ut. Excepturi dolorum vero eveniet ut vel dolores necessitatibus. Repellat consequatur fuga consequatur nihil voluptates sint. Rerum ea aut quia ut dolores est nostrum. Et quia illo et praesentium debitis cupiditate voluptate.

Tempora sunt eum ut sit in. Ea error quia tenetur sit cupiditate dolores. Ex unde earum ut sapiente sit. Velit magni nam possimus et. Placeat qui quis dolorem et voluptates amet repellat maxime.

Placeat ipsum sint porro nisi iste excepturi. Et est illum totam repellendus repellat sunt molestiae.

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

Career Advancement Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 03 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (51) $260
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (26) $182
  • Intern/Summer Associate (15) $159
  • 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
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
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...”