University for Undergrad Econ
The universities I'm considering:
UK: LSE, UCL, Warwick
Europe: Bocconi, SSE, CBS, RSM
Australia: Group of 8
Canada: UBC, UofT, York, Alberta, SFU
USA: T20 targets
For context, I need a full-ride to attend and these are the only ones which offer 100% merit based/need based scholarships.
I'm an Indian with a 4.0 and a 1550 SAT.
I'm applying to Bocconi early session and will know whether I've gotten in before I even apply to most universities.
Bocconi only cares about the SAT so I feel like I have a very strong chance of getting in (hopefully).
Haven't been outside India so don't know which country is better.
Which unis/countries should I not even bother applying to or are not good in general?
Depends where you want to work.
If UK/EU, then LSE is my two cents.
agreed
I get that, but how do I decide where I wanna end up working. Which country has a better industry to work in?
In terms of salary the general agreement is:
US>U.K.>Europe (except for Switzerland).
In terms of everything else I would suggest you do your own research because there are just too many factors involved for someone to write out.
in Europe the best city to work in for deal flow is LDN, but even if you go outside the uk for school and you land an IB job in that country you can also ask to be transferred where you want(as long as your performance is good)
Got it! For a job in London, will it matter what uni I go to in my list of European unis. Or is a university like Bocconi way better than the others?
In terms of London recruiting, the UK unis you listed (LSE, UCL, Warwick), as well as Bocconi all have strong representation, with LSE being the most targeted I'd argue. You should check out Pan European Monkey's top 20 questions about ldn recruiting for more info.
Although you might see people who studied at SSE, CBS & RSM in London, the Scandi/Benelux unis are undoubtedly not on the same tier as the other unis on your list. However, given the fact that you'd be needing a full ride, you might as apply to these anyway.
Test it out for yourself too. Go onto a random BB/EB on linkedin and filter for the various unis to gauge respective representation
Cool, thanks!
which city are you from if you dont mind?
Also apply to McGill, Ivey (UWO) and Queens in Canada. Ivey and Queens are 1 and 2 in Canada and will give you a good shot for US recruiting as they have very strong pipelines with BB/EB banks and elite PE firms. McGill is 3rd best for Canada. Then it goes Waterloo/Laurier/UofT Rotman/York etc. UBC is probably in that group if not for their Portfolio Management Fund (PMF) program that places at or better than the best Ivey/Queens outcome (think NY KKR analyst/elite EB/BB opportunities every year). But there’s only 6 kids in that program each year and it starts after 1st year. Laurier and Waterloo co-op is honestly very solid as you can rack up 3-5 internships by the time u graduate, so is definitely look at applying there. Also if you’re capable enough quantitatively, applying to Waterloo for math/cs/eng/quant finance will open many opportunities in the tech/quant finance world. Very very very strong pipelines to MM HF as well as other quant research roles at banks and the such. Waterloo is viewed as the Stanford of Canada for tech and it shows (check linkedin).
I would also apply to HKU, HKUST and CUHK for HK. While it’s a difficult market to break into as a non chinese speaker, it’s not impossible in S&T roles as well as the large amount of AM/HF in the region. Worth applying to.
If you truly want to maximize every market, look into if UTokyo has a bachelor program in english as well as NUS in Singapore. But I think the language/cultural barriers here make it more challenging than the previous locations (ie. visa situation in Singapore)
Mcgill, Ivey, Queens, Waterloo etc don't give any aid to intls so I can't apply. Do you think going to UBC is worth it solely depending on PMF then? Also, how do you think Bocconi compares to the Canadian unis on the list?
PMF is very hard to bank on getting into. 6-10 spots a year will be a challenge and I would imagine that politics would play a considerable role, but its a gamble and of course it could pay off. Bocconi places well in London respective to the other EU targets, if you can learn Italian/another European language it will help you both in London and the EU. Bocconi is a solid option.
UofT Rotman (excluding UBC's PMF situation) is maybe the only program you originally posted that comes close in that there are decent pipelines/placements with Canadian Big 5/6 banks in Toronto, as well as decent MM firms in Toronto/Vancovuer. Benefit of UofT would be that you are able to recruit within the local market vs. that of Bocconi, as without close to fluency in Italian it will be a near impossible mission to work in Milan (S&T maybe, but prob not IB). Canada is similar to the US in that Toronto is a heavily networking-positive culture, which imo, is a good thing for you being that studying and living in Toronto will allow you to network your way into roles locally that is otherwise not possible and/or just not what goes down in Europe. Look on LinkedIn to see for yourself- I know many UofT/Canadian Semi-Targets who did the Search Fund -> MM/Boutique IB -> Big 5 IB route through heavy networking and Toronto's culture rewards those at the junior level who are ambitious enough to do so. HOWEVER, it is very important to note that Canada's IB/PE/HF/Everything space is very very small compared to the talent pool- probably more so than Europe and the even the US. There are just simply not a lot of seats in Toronto (and an even smaller amount in Van/Mtl/Calgary) vs. the growing amount of graduates from Ivey, Queens, McGill, UofT's etc business programs, being that these programs inflate every year in size and many of the students are motivated to pursue a career in high finance, resulting in insane competition. If you go to UofT, you can make it in Toronto/Canada in general, but you need to be on your shit from day 1 or you're really going to struggle finding opportunities.
The other schools you mentioned (SFU, Alberta, York) are a step below so imo not worth it. York can be not bad but its essentially UofT but .5 a tier down. Not sure what scholarship options are at UCalgary but would argue it is > UAlberta for Calgary recruiting- either one is NOT considered a target in Canada in general tho. SFU is 2nd best in Van so wouldn't recommend it vs that of UBC. They have a decent co-op style program but again, would take Sauder instead if you're set on the west coast Canadian uni route. It's too bad that Ivey/Queens/Waterloo/McGill and even Laurier don't offer the funding you need, as attending a school the top of that list would probably make this decision a lot easier for you.
if you want to end up in London your safest bets would be HEC or Bocconi,apart from obviously the UK targets.Beware that Bocconi does not care about SAT but requires either GMAT/GRE or their test
In the UK, Cambridge is great for Economics too. (I went to LSE).
Doesn't give aid tho :( . Even if I get in, won't be able to attend.
The universities in the UK, Australia and Canada do not offer full scholarships, let alone full ride. The top ranked American colleges are very hard to get in, they require a top notch SAT, ideally 3-5 APs with top grades, excellent record of leadership experience and extracurricular achievement outside school.
The cheapest and best way to achieve your dream is to attend the best university in your country and then study for a PhD at a target school in the UK/USA, or attend a top ranked university in China (including Hong Kong) before you get your PhD. China is probably your best bet, they do offer some undergraduate degree programs in English and they do offer full ride generously.
second this re HK
Also, look at Stipendium Hungaricum and the likes.
Bump
Have you looked at HSG's bachelor? HSG is a quality school and also has a good masters programme (MBF)
https://www.unisg.ch/en/studying/programmes/bachelor/
I did, but living in Switzerland seems very expensive. Almost 2.5x the total cost at the other EU unis
Living in Switzerland should be no more expensive than London, so if you had enough to go to LSE you should have enough to live in Switzerland, and I am sure that HSG's tuition is lower than UK Unis.
I would clearly go for LSE/UCL.
Banks tend to hire from continental Europe universities to feed their coverage teams so I don’t think going to these uni as an Indian will make you a Target for London.
If you are rejected from London unis, I would go Bocconi/RSM > CBS/SSE
Ahh, I didn't apply to LSE (doesn't give any aid) or UCL (only 20 scholarships) whereas at Bocconi, I could get a full ride. Should I still apply to UCL and LSE?
Also, why is SSE a tier below. Considering that their class size is only 300 a year, I thought they had pretty good placements no?
Yeah I think you should clearly aim for a UK uni. Bocconi & RSM are just better brand names than SSE in London, and I see more diversity in these unis.
Just want to say, if you do end up going to a European, non U.K. school, expect to do a Master's degree. Even Bocconi students take a graduate degree in Finance (usually Bocconi, but also LSE, HEC, ESSEC, SSE, etc.) before they work full-time. It's just how Europe works. There are some rare exceptions to this, but in Europe I have only seen consistent undergraduate placement from U.K. targets.
Went to one of the UK Unis you listed above. None of them do need-based aid, and it's extremely rare, almost impossible, for someone to get a full merit ride (there's probably some special scholarship which takes like 1 kid). UK Universities are known to charge intls more than 2x the amount a home student would pay. As for the US, It's a total crapshoot being international and needing full aid, so I'd recommend strategically using the ED rounds and not wasting them. You got good stats, just focus on your essays and hopefully you'll bag something. Bocconi is solid too, I don't the application process for that so I can't tell you much. Good luck bro!
yeah thanks! I got into Bocconi already. Idk if I'll get into any US uni tho cuz it is really a crapshoot. Let's see though!
Oh nice, good job! Bocconi has really strong placements in London. You're chilling my man.
Some generous US school with a significant advantage in ED rounds and really good placements (Experience as some of my secondary school friends got full ride there) would be Middlebury, CMC and Bowdoin. CMC is insane on the west coast and gave 2 of my friends a full ride with stats similar to yours.
how do these or LACs in general compare to Bocconi?
Depends on geography and where you see yourself in the long term. If US, then Midd is VERY strong. If you want to stay in London or EU, then Bocconi.
Got my BSc at SSE a couple of years ago when it still was taught in Swedish and the class was around 150 students, so I don't know how relevant this is today.. However, probably 10%-20% of my class did an internship in London at BB/EB sometime during the BSc. Around 50% of my class went on to do a masters immediately after graduating and a similar percentage of the MSc in Finance-class did an internship in London (solely based on my LinkedIn). Most of my classmates did consulting or IB internships in Stockholm (and almost everyone who now works fulltime have chosen Stockholm over London, regardless of BB ft-offers in London). Given that you end up in the top-percentage of the class (in terms of GPA) it shouldn't be a problem to land a London BB/EB internship. However if you do not manage to reach the top 10%-20% of the class, it could be difficult to find internships in Stockholm (assuming that you do not speak Swedish). Hope it helps :)
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