LSE finance/econ vs Dartmouth econ
Am committed to LSE as a US citizen from california but going to boarding school on the east coast. Got a call from dartmouth this morning saying i got off their waitlist - which is better for me?
Some info:
-Want to go into finance, would be studying econ at darty and finance/econ at LSE
-Would much rather work in NYC but London would be ok (which is the main reason i am considering Darty)
-Looking for IB out of college (ofc if i can get a buyside offer I'd take that, but I know its not really realistic)
-Def would join a frat at dartmouth, and I am attracted to the "college" type of atmosphere
Lse
dartmouth no question
commenting twice to reiterate dartmouth or any US top school over top UK school not named Oxford/Cambridge (assuming you don’t have a strong preference for working in UK > US post grad)
Sounds like Dartmouth is the better fit for you. More natural recruiting for NYC and more traditional American college experience
if the US schl is held in similar regard to the UK schl, the US one always wins given u wanna live in the US n do finance, darty all the way baby
At LSE. Go Dartmouth without thinking.
As a foreigner, you won't be able to secure a job in the UK even with LSE/Oxbridge/Imperial on your CV. Currently, the number 1 question on every job application is whether you require Visa sponsorship or not. Given the anti-immigration stance of the UK government, it will be extremely difficult for you to compete against the UK citizens or those students with unrestricted work permit rights (EU nationals with Settled/Pre-Settled status, Hong Kong nationals with BNO passports, etc.). Many employers think long-term about their hiring needs, and hence, they don't want to deal with graduates who only hold temporary work permits (similar to OPT in the USA). Moreover, the UK job market is in complete shambles. It has become insanely hard to find any entry-level opportunities without prior work experience. The salaries are a joke. For example, I was shamelessly offered £25k/year pre-tax to work 60hrs/week for a start up in London. Similarly, I was offered £23.5k/year pre-tax to intern for an American oil&gas company for 12-months without any guarantees to convert the internship into a full-time role. I'm sure you can earn significantly more as a waiter in the USA than as a graduate in the UK. Therefore, many graduates either remain unemployed or choose to return back to their home countries with tremendous debt accumulated from tuition fees. Also, the fraternity/sorority culture is non-existent outside the USA. You will be much better off by going to an Ivy League school and growing your network in the USA. I'm sure if it wouldn't be for the tough work legislation in the USA (H1B visa lottery) many of the UK graduates would immediately flock to the USA for better job opportunities and higher salary levels. Please, bear in mind that you come from a place of great privilege (given the presented educational choices) and that many social/cultural norms that you got used to in the USA do not apply in the UK. Hence, your expectations of how education/networking/career development should function are totally biased towards the American norms, which do not coincide with the British/European norms. Nobody has cancelled the class system, especially the British/European one. I personally know people who got into prestigious finance jobs from low-ranked universities or below average grades just because their parents conduct business with the firm. Your background and the weight of your family name trumps meritocracy because "supposedly" you have the appropriate connections to expand the business for the bank. The requirement to speak additional European languages (beside English) to get a high-finance job in London is another caveat that we haven't even discussed yet.
*About myself: I hold a BEng Engineering degree from a Scottish university & an MSc Finance degree from Imperial but somehow still unemployed after I quit my private banking job. Currently, I'm considering applying for an MBA program in the USA to have a chance at IB/PE as I don't speak any of the Western European languages.
I imagine you're British, right? How did the rest of your MSc class fare in IB recruiting? I've heard British people ironically have it tougher than Europeans in London IB, as you have to be very posh/Oxbridge type to get into a UK coverage team.
Same experience on my end. Came to the UK to study and after A*A*A* A-Levels, 1:1 UG from a target uni, running a large finance society, volunteering roles, organizing campus events with firms, networking events and 'Insight Days', training programs, etc., I'm about to graduate with nothing. Of the interviews I had, my Student Visa status was met with an audible "oh..", followed by a swift rejection. And that's even with the caveat that I'm eligible for UK Citizenship at the end of this year. Have seen the exact same for almost all non-EU international students. Meanwhile, some of the most incompetent and unprofessional people I've met in my life are getting multiple offers as UK Citizens.
The recruiting pipeline here is crumbling. First-year students are targeting Spring Weeks, which are often DEI-exclusive. If you don't get one (or often, several) and convert, leftover summer analyst places for second-year students are pretty abysmal. If you end up applying to grad schemes and off cycles, many of these are then open to everyone and are swept up by some wizz kid named Federico from Bocconi/HEC who has done a masters and 4 off-cycles. Good luck. Even worse, having organized several campus events with firms' HR teams this year, a common theme is many BB/MM firms want to discontinue grad schemes and only hire from summer analyst cohorts, which will be extended to third-years and MSc students. Thus, you will now be competing with Federico for those leftover SA roles in second year as well now. Good luck.
If you cannot fit into the above pipeline somehow, then it is a serious uphill battle (made harder by how academically intense LSE is). Worst imaginable profile is a pre-experience, non-UK/EU, straight, white, male. Not to mention, London is spiraling down the drain in general at the moment. LSE is a great uni, but I would unequivocally say Dartmouth is the better choice in these circumstances at this time.
what abt if u wanna work in dubai after grad at lse?
Dartmouth stomps LSE hard
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