LSE or Bocconi
Hi, I have been admitted to Bocconi in the program Bachelor of International Economics and Finance, and also to LSE in BSc Finance. My reservations for LSE are that, unlike in Milan, I don't know anyone in London. Furthermore, since UK exited EU, LSE and life in London is much more expensive than at Bocconi, where I have been offered a scholarship. Also, I am wondering whether after Brexit London provides the same career opportunities since it is not the European financial capital anymore. In recent years Bocconi has been progressing and rising in the universities rankings. Moreover, a lot of my friends will be attending Bocconi. I hope to pursue a career in consultancy or investment banking in the future and am wondering which university would be more beneficial. I hope you can help me answer the question whether LSE is worth the x3 or x4 the money that otherwise would be spent at Bocconi, Milan. Thank you in advance!
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Thanks for the answer! I am from Bulgaria, so both options would mean moving abroad.
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Hey, even tough it is true that it is way harder now to find a job in London I would go for it. Finding a job in Italy is even harder if you do not speak Italian. Worst case LSE is better than Bocconi in your home country. Good luck
Sounds like you want to go to bocconi. You can do your undergrad at bocconi and maybe do a masters at LSE if you really need to
LSE>Bocconi for prestige (if that matters to you)
I looked at the Bocconi program and it looks solid, plus you have the option to choose Finance or Econ for your major if your undecided at this point. You have a base of friends which is great moving to a new country and also have exchange options in several countries at strong schools. Since Italy is already a new country, and the cost is much less, I think Bocconi would provide you a great experience both socially and academically as it is well respected in Europe. If you decide London is the place you want to end up then keep your GPA up and do a UK masters after Bocconi rather than taking on any debt (assuming you would) to study at LSE. This also gives you time to see how London opportunities end up given Brexit. Note, If you choose Bocconi start your Italian language training now.
Agree with sentiments of others on the thread, but do note that Italian UG > UK PG is extremely difficult if you want to do a UK MSc. The top UK universities have an extremely harsh grading conversion for Italian undergraduates, which in practice means that you have to be top 10% or so to get a look in at most competitive UK MScs.
Well… that applies to any other uni I guess. LSE MSc Finance takes ~100 students per year from +1500 applicants. You need to be a top applicant regardless of where you come from.
Also besides UG grade there is the GMAT, which is the same for everyone.
Nah, it's pretty specific to Italian universities. There are a few threads on here about it and I have heard the same from Italians studying in the UK. You can look at the entry requirements for Italians to any of the top London/Oxbridge unis, they're massively above what is required for UK or US applicants - consider that about 30-40% get firsts now in G5 universities, and c. 90% a 2:1, and then look at what LSE etc. demand for Italian applicants.
E.g. for MSc Finance LSE want a minimum 2:1 and ideally a first. Italian entry requirements are:
To be considered for admission to a taught master's programme (upper second class equivalent), we would normally require the laurea with marks of at least 106/110.
To be considered for admission to a taught master's programme (first-class equivalent), we would normally require the laurea with marks of at least 110/110.
Far less than 30-40% of students at Bocconi are going to get 110/110.
Bocconi is very good. Probably the second continental Europe school for finance besides HEC. If you’re really scared about money you can use your scholarship there (but given you’ll be making £110-140k first year I would not stress, you can essentially pay student debt with your first bonus if you want to and work in IB).
LSE is otherwise better in every sense. Better network, location, prestige, opportunities. A bit nerdy though but you get to live in London.
Opportunities in IB/PE are essentially the same than pre Brexit. Yes some large banks shifted a bit to paris and Frankfurt but mostly it stayed in London. Btw London IS the financial capital of Europe and second biggest financial center in the world. Look at the amount of hedge fund / PE money in London vs. Paris / Frankfurt lol.
The small caveat is that if you plan on working in London, you could experience Milan as well and become fluent in Italian which is pretty cool. But personally would go for LSE (did my MSc there)
lol
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Having worked in London for the last couple of years, I can say that I am negatively surprised at the low level from LSE interns/analysts. I have heard that quality is going down, so maybe before it was not the case.
The most competent people I have met are mostly former Oxbridge, HEC and Bocconi students. Sharp and very competitive.
Beat me to it. Exactly. The LSE students I've met just lacked ability to think independently, seemed very "mechanical" with the way they do things, and they also have zero (like literally zero) cultural knowledge.
People from Bocconi (or any of the 'Medieval' schools in Italy even more so, eg Bologna/ Padua) seem to be much better in this regard.
Also as mentioned, LSE seems to have become very left wing (and that's probably also spread through to the admissions department with slipping standards there...)
Yeah agree on the last point too… LSE has been historically quite left leaning (Soros found a lot of inspiration there), so I guess that now that every education institution in Europe and America has embraced wokeism, LSE probably was one of the first to do so and/or one of the most extremist. And the results are there.
I haven’t seen any difference between the LSE and Oxbridge guys. Both are equally academically (well maybe Oxbridge folks have more culture).
The best new joiners by far are the European MSc folks as they are older, generally well rounded, and have previous experience. Also speak EU languages
My experience might be biased by small sample size from Oxbridge. Some of them were science students that got into finance (buyside) and were really sharp but might not be representative.
Based off personal experienecs, I'd say Bocconi actually seems better and I'd think a bit better of someone who studied there than LSE.
LSE has gone all batshit woke in recent years and people aren't particularly 'sharp'. My own personal rankings (amongst European universities) is 1. Oxford and Cambridge, 2. European top schools (eg ENA before wokery took that over too...) (Bocconi sort of within that too). 3. LSE/ UCL all of that stuff.
I don't know how visas and so on work and whether you can get a London role without a UK degree so that's a big consideration probably. That said, if it means saving £100k or so in fees over the three years, I'd go with Bocconi (& you can always do a Masters at Oxford/ Cambridge/ LSE after with the money saved if you need to).
I am the poster above you, we basically posted the same thing seconds apart lol
Haha indeed saw that. I'm sure there are good people at LSE too but my own experiences have been not great.
To second (or third) above posters, LSE is slowly losing its reputation. The people there are either absolute hardos or radical leftists (I got asked if I’m applying to any spring weeks by a COMPLETE STRANGER on my FIRST WEEK there).
Both will get you into top roles you want. But let's not pretend for a second that bocconi is opening any doors with its brand anywhere outside of Italy (maybe) that lse isn't. Totally agree with sentiments around lse grads not being rounded btw but notwithstanding
Unsure about the above posts about LSE students. Sounds like very sweeping generalisations from a small sample size. Given the number of LSE students entering the industry, there are bound to be LSE students of all abilities. I would say the two LSE UGs in my previous team were the sharpest analysts I had worked with and both have strong PE offers lined up.
How is this even a Question? Of course LSE
Agreed, comparing Bocconi to LSE is wild. clearly go to LSE especially if you are not fluent in Itilian (and even then) ;)
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