LSE MSc Finance or LBS MFA

Hi all,

Background: - UG in Management from semi-target in UK (High 2:1) - Experience at BB in investment management - Secured SA offer at a BB for summer 2019 - GMAT: 700

Which programme would you say is better from an academic point of view?

Having been lucky enough to get a summer internship out of undergrad I am not looking to do a master's to get my foot into the industry, i.e. the careers services offered are not important to me. I am really just looking for an intellectual challenge.

Thanks in advance!

23 Comments
 

Since you're looking for an academic challenge, I would highly recommend going for the LSE programme. Depending on how serious you really are about going into depth, you might want to take a closer look at the LSE MSc Finance and Economics.

LBS programmes can generally more be seen as very applied and less theoretic whereas LSE always aims to have a focus on the theoretical foundations (although the LSE MSc Finance also has a significant portion of more applied content)

 

Many thanks for your reply!

I guess what I was trying to say is that I am primarily looking to learn vs get a job.

The F&E programme looks really interesting. Unfortunately, it is unlikely I will be considered by the admissions committee as I didn't study a quantitative subject in my UG.

 
Most Helpful

Also last time I checked you needed a first to be eligible for the Finance and eco programme, correct if my wrong though

In your case, I would suggest you to go to LSE, much more ‘intellectual’ and academic oriented than LBS. LBS is a great school that opens many doors and give you access to top tier 1 companies and jobs. LSE also gives you this but it is more aimed at developing PhD candidates than LBS if you want to pursue that path it’s easier at LSE. This is my opinion, and it’s based on what you say you want to do, if I had 2 offers from those programmes I would go to LBS because of the exit opps in IB

 

I think the two institutions, LSE and LBS, are somewhat similar in terms of prestige (for a career in finance, in academia LSE wins no doubt). For the two programmes, I'd lean towards LSE MSc Finance though, because it's LSE's flagship programme (for finance) and it has been around for a long time, whereas LBS' flagship programme is the MBA.

 

I'd say that LBS, under the academic/PhD/faculty point of view for the MFA is the best choice.

But mate, if you want better exposure to global markets, though I would advice you to take a look at LSE's MSc Risk and Finance (former Risk and Stochastic), Oxford's Financial Math, Imperial's Financial Engineering and RM, UCL's MSc in Computational Finance or Cass's Math Trading and Finance... Definitely better academic experience than the plain vanilla finance courses!

Ngl, I met a few ppl at AC coming from plain vanilla finance courses and they didn't even know how to program (and I'm not talking about Matlab, but classic VBA) or how to compute basic log norm return, to say few

 

Dolores provident in dolor non. Repudiandae dolore nobis reiciendis vitae est fugit. Quisquam quis assumenda eum harum tempora alias odit. Quaerat voluptates cumque consectetur eius.

Temporibus fugiat ut aut quaerat aut. Praesentium est ullam neque sequi dolore. Et molestiae eum et reiciendis velit mollitia. Inventore autem quo ea corporis possimus sunt.

In quas consectetur beatae incidunt. Dolor consequatur consequuntur molestias quidem. Eligendi libero sequi non id quisquam voluptatem qui. Asperiores consequuntur doloribus dolores. Nulla consequuntur quae ut perspiciatis nobis rem omnis. Sunt numquam et velit veritatis quaerat. Voluptate quasi velit voluptatem enim eligendi assumenda.

Qui est quisquam iusto dolores. Consequatur est atque rem consequatur in ut voluptate.

Career Advancement Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.9%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (56) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (28) $184
  • Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
  • 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

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...”