Undegrad rankings of semi targets in the UK
Hello, I'm an international student looking to study an economics or finance related degree in the UK. I am also looking to hopefully, later on break into IB, AM or CO. My question is regarding the ranking of semi-targets in the UK, from what i've gathered they seem to be: Bath, Exeter, Bristol, Durham, Edinburgh, KCL, Nottingham, St. Andrew and Bayes business school (also formely known as Cass). I would like to know how you would rank these semi-targets from best to worst solely on there ability to help you break into IB and later on maybe lateral to other types of finance. Also please don't take into account culture or overall experience. Thank you very much.
Preface: My comment is not meant to sway you towards any school but I’m just sharing my experience as a student currently studying in one of the semis. I don’t know enough to rank them but I will share what I think might be things helpful to consider when you make your decision. It would be helpful to have other people respond to my sharing, helpful even more so if someone could object my views.
I’m an international student at Exeter and concurrently working for a boutique based in London. I struck out on spring weeks and SA.
There are differences between the schools to consider which I’ll get into later but my view is that no one semi-target school will give you a leg up in terms of candidacy compared to being in another semi-target. What’s more important is that you can distinguish yourself among the applicant pool, no matter which uni you’re coming from.
Now the differences:
Alumni presence in London. This can be a proxy to likeliness of success breaking into the roles in London, or proxy for how favorable recruiters view your uni. Simple search will give you WSO threads about this or go on the company LinkedIn and see how many employees came from x school. Also can scour threads if there is information about whether the uni business clubs feed into the finance roles. Another one is networking, but it seems like people don’t really network to recruit in UK; I do it regardless. But you still need to distinguish yourself.
Placement year. I personally did not do placement. But I’ve seen threads discussing that given few schools provide placement programs, it is less competitive to get into roles via placement. Something to consider. But you still need to distinguish yourself.
Location. Being in London you can more easily attend events e.g. SEO workshops, insight events held in London. Forget about it if you’re studying at Edinburgh or Andrews. For me personally, I could work in the office if I studied in London, but that might be irrelevant because very few intern during the semester. But you still need to distinguish yourself.
There might be other considerations I’ve missed. You can optimize for all of this with the school of your choice, but you still need to distinguish yourself.
This bit is less relevant, but if I had to choose a uni out of the semi-target universe, I would just pick a school I would enjoy living and studying there for the entirety of three years. Because tbh chances from semis are against you, no matter which semi uni. So you can be happier at least when you are going through recruiting and job searching which itself could be a long and unpleasant journey. If you have the luxury to visit, then do so.
All the best!
Thanks you very much !
I am the poster from above. Just adding I would pick KCL
I was going to but both their offer rate and entry requirements are mad. Might as well go for a target at that point.
If you haven’t already completed exams. Try your best to score and go from there. There’s no point making comparisons now.
KCL over Durham; Nottingham/Bath/Bristol???? Are you stupid?
Adding my $0.02 as a previous semi-student, regarding all the people I've met at both internships/full-time, and in-person interviews through the years.
I'd say they are all pretty equal. I know many people will disagree, but whilst some of them have cons, they have benefits which I'll list below. Receiving the CV with one name over the other isn't going to make a HUGE difference here. If you want to be granular, regardless of degree costs, Durham/Nottingham/Bath have been the most prevalent in my experience.
The main edge semi-targets have is the offer of a placement year, as the other member suggested above. Most, if not all the BB's do a placement year, if you google the common ones are UBS AM, Morgan Stanley S&T, Citi IB/Markets, Goldman AM/WM etc.
Now for the placement year, these semi-targets effectively become the target schools. Other than Warwick (which most students actually just take a year out to do a placement/off-cycle), you will only be competing with those students who go to semi-targets. That's how most people have broken in.
If you do a quick search on linkedin of those firms listen above and the universities they went to, you will see what I mean.
My suggestion would be KCL, purely because should you choose not to do a placement, being in London is exponentially better. Access to bank networking events, case studies etc are all ways to break-in / get your name out to these firms. If cost is a problem, all of these will be fine if you want to break in.
If you're coming to uni and applying for Spring Weeks, bank's care ALOT more about your high school grades and any extra curriculars. As you've barely just started university when you are applying.
Thanks, a bunch for sharing your thoughts on the matter.
??
Bath is by far the best school for placements. Banks offer exclusive placement opportunities to Bath, e.g., Citi which aren't available elsewhere. This is a well known fact ....
Best school for placements is Warwick... search on Linkedin especially for AM and smaller PE shops. WW opens alot more doors since alum have sucessfully moved to Buy-side.
Regardless, not everyone wants to do a placement. It's an extra year of student debt / delayed graduation may influence one's decision. Durham and Nottingham place very well into Summer Analyst programs.
Instead of focusing on KCL, try your best to secure Warwick.
Yea warwick would be better than any of these on the list
KCL or Nottingham
1. Durham - if you do Econ/Stem/History there you'll be more than set. Strong University and History, be aware of the student stereotypes
2. Nottingham - punches above it's weight, very sociable and modern campus - very strong links with certain Banks for a non-London uni
3. Edinburgh - again like Durham, strong history and reputation
4. St Andrews - not as highly ranked as some Uni rankings suggest it's on par with Oxbridge. Much smaller Uni so smaller placement but still a good place to be at if you dont mind being in the middle of nowhere in a town filled with posh Brits, Lacrosse-playing Americans and international kids.
5. Bristol - similar to Notts
6. Bath - very strong for industrial placement/year in industry
7. KCL - decent Uni, large finance societies but because it's in London, it lags behind LSE, Imperial and UCL
8. Exeter
9. Bayes
thanks alot for your comment. How about finance, accounting or finance and accounting at Durham, are they also strong.
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