UK - Seeking Careers Advice - Offer and scholarship from LSE MSc Finance, 1yr ETF Sales WkExp

Hi all,

Looking for some careers advice, happy to help others with UK queries etc.

A quick background:

Undergraduate degree in Economics, Top 10 Uni, Grade: 1st (British grades: 3rd, 2:2, 2:1, 1st).

Fairly quantitative degree, advanced calculus, linear algebra, stats, lots of econometrics, bit of BS model and Ito's lemma. Highest mark in year in derivatives module.

Been working at a bank in ETF Sales, Asset Management approx 1yr (contract), picked up Bloomberg, bit of VBA.

I now hold an offer to do an MSc Finance at LSE and a scholarship.

I haven't actually paid the deposit yet, but I almost certainly will as I am very pleased to be offered a scholarship.

It would be great to receive some general advice/comments on my situation as there are jobs on the bank internal board I consider applying for.

More specifically though, I am wondering is if I could apply to FT positions in Structuring/trading (my areas of interest) or whether I would need to apply for internships after the programme finishes?

I was wondering if, from experience, people know whether the work experience needs to be directly in the field one applies for to bypass the internship, or if the experience I have would be sufficient?

My great fear is that I complete the degree, complete a summer internship, then do not receive a full time offer.

Sorry for the long post, a more general question: Is structuring a better long-term career than trading with the advent of computerised trading, perhaps greatly reducing the vacancies for traders in the future?

Any thoughts greatly appreciated!

-Emderman

1 Comments
 

Quisquam nobis excepturi deserunt inventore. Architecto architecto doloribus magnam deserunt et aspernatur. Quis voluptas natus voluptatibus occaecati provident magni eos. Recusandae natus inventore perferendis eum perspiciatis repellendus. Vitae nobis ut itaque quae ut. Nulla ut possimus est impedit ea aut.

Molestiae voluptatem ut ipsam sequi iusto. Repellat quia itaque omnis sint voluptatem alias aliquid facilis. Sunt quae officiis et aut natus.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.9%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (57) $264
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (28) $184
  • Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”