International student here, with offers for both (Economics BSc at LSE and Economics BA at Cambridge).
LSE = PS 78,000 (3 years)
Cambridge = PS 103,000 (3 years)
Been reading that, ceteris paribus, Cambridge is the choice that 90% of cross admits go with, but is this the same for intl. students?
I.e., Is there a meaningful advantage (IB recruitment) to Cambridge Econ over LSE Econ to justify the price difference?
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No.
It’ll be hard to land a good IB spot from either, the price difference is probably justified by the fact that one is Cambridge and is one of the most renowned universities in the world and will probably have a better student experience.
Although, as an international student you might prefer LSE; I just know London uni life is worse for English kids than other British schools are
Depends what you're aiming for.....
For IBD it won't matter, both are good enough that you will pass CV screen and then its just up to you to have a personality and demonstrate interest to interviewers/HR. However, there is a meaningful difference in buy side recruitment for Cambridge compared to LSE, both HFs and MF PE as well as the prop shops are going to put a much higher weight on the Cambridge education.
“Much higher” seems a bit much. Most hedge funds recruit undergrads from a few schools; not sure about pe.
prop shops don’t tend to hire econ kids either so I wouldn’t worry about that
OP here - are you referring to buy-side recruitment straight out of undergrad or after the 2-year gig in IB?
Plan is to move into PE after 2 years in IB, so is there any advantage of Cambridge over LSE in that sense or is it just the bank rep + deals experience + languages for PE recruitment?
Im talking straight out of undergrad, after the two year stint I don't think there will be really any difference in outcome in placement between LSE and Cam. Im at Oxford now and have a number of mates at Cambridge and IF you put the effort in and you know what the aim is, then getting the UMM/MF internship during undergrad is completely reasonable (still difficult but have a better chance then basically any other situation). I do have to say though that I've always wanted to be on the HF side so this is all second hand anecdotes.
I attended a different UK target school, but have many friends from both schools. What I consistently hear is that while actual recruiting potential is probably slightly better at Cambridge, the infrastructure around recruiting at LSE is second to none. You will have every aspect of the process (application dates, every word of your cover letter, hirevues, ACs, etc.) down to a science as provided by the school and community.
Granted, this stuff isn't rocket science. If you are highly motivated and capable of using google you can be just as prepared at Cambridge, but many 1st year students at Oxbridge will underestimate the pace at which UK recruitment moves. I personally would go Cambridge only because that brand I value more than LSE, but you can't go wrong with either
Living in London will certainly shrink the difference in tuition costs. Really no justification to take LSE over Cambridge.
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