Masters in Finance chances (engineering student)

Hi, I'm looking for some advice.

I'm an engineering student looking to get into a pre-experience Masters in Finance in order to work in IB. I'm mostly looking at masters programs in the EU, because they are cheaper than in the US (I can't afford to spend more than ~CAD 80K for the year).

Some programs I'm considering:

  • Oxford MSc Financial Economics
  • LSE MSc in Finance
  • LBS Masters in Financial Analysis
  • HEC Paris MSc in International Finance

Profile: Canadian citizen, 24 years old (started university late), Caucasian Bachelor in Chemical Engineering at a top Canadian target for BB (GPA: 3.80/4.00), graduating in April 2017 GMAT: 780 (Q51 V48 IR8 AWA6.0) Experience: oil and gas (16 mo internship), pharma (4 mo internship), academic research (8 mo) ECs: several student groups that provide consulting services, student investment fund (starting this fall)

My plan:

1) Get accepted into a Masters in Finance 2) Leverage current school's target status to get an SA IBD position 3) Complete the Masters degree and get a full-time IBD position (location: London, Toronto, or New York)

My questions for you:

1) Can I realistically get into these programs (given that I don't have any finance experience)? 2) Is it possible to get a full-time position in London (given that I don't have UK/EU citizenship)? Will banks sponsor an expat?

Thank you in advance for your responses!

3 Comments
 

North America will be tough. You will have unlimited opportunities in London though. I wouldn't apply to HEC because of the brexit and stringent labor policy. Consider Imperial. Great solid program. All of them are great programs. Oxford and LBS's are academically better though. Also, forget about SA while at Oxford or Imperial . Both programs are very demanding and Oxford don't let you live outside of Oxford during the program, let alone work. Why don't you try to land non paid IB internship at boutique before the program? Much better than having no Internship

 

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