BSc LSE vs University of St Gallen
Hi everyone,
I just began my first year of bachelor at the University of St Gallen in the B.A program. I chose this major to have a broader range of subjects to study before doing a master in finance. I would like to work later in the banking industry, if possible in London but I also consider working in Switzerland.
I know now that I am way more interesting in finance and accounting that in the other subject I am studying and I was wondering whether it was better for me to pursue my studies in St Gallen and to apply later for a master in finance or to apply directly to LSE for the bsc in Accounting & Finance before the january deadline.
In my opinion, LSE would be better than St Gallen if I decide to work in London but I do not know what are my chances of getting a job in London after studying in St Gallen.
Please let me know if you think I should apply to LSE. Even if competition is fierce, I think that I have good chances to receive an offer given my baccalaureate grades and my internships / extra curricular activities related to the subject.
Try to apply to LSE. IMO it is worth changing to LSE even for the bachelor. Although university of St. Gallen is pretty strong in management and general BA, LSE has at least afaik a much stronger reputation and tt belongs to the 1+ universities when it comes to Finance/Accounting/Economics.
Good luck
Make the switch. LSE places so much better than St Gallen in London. Don't get me wrong, St Gallen is a great school and you'd definitely have a good shot at London finance if you stay there but LSE places incredibly well in the City (even Blackstone recruites at LSE). If you can make the switch do it. London is also much more exciting than St Gallen as a city.
That's what I thought, I will begin to work on my application then. Thank you very much for your replies !
and do you think it will be a problem to get references from my current school ? (I don't know if they will like the fact that I want to switch to LSE even if it is to study another subject...)
Full disclosure: i did my b.a. at st. gallen, so I am inherently biased, but I am actually not sure that you should pick LSE just based on placement. Im in a BB in London and from what I have seen placement is really strong at HSG. Can't really think of any of my friends that wanted to do IB that didn't get it in in the end. All banks recruit on campus (that includes Blackstone, at least 2 years ago). Learning /knowing german has a ton of value when you are looking for a job, and the network in banks / MBB consulting is very strong. I know LSE at bachelor level places well, but I get the impression that its also more competitive with more people looking to break into finance. My friends told me that recruiting events at LSE are ridiculously overcrowded whereas in St. Gallen i found it really easy as swiss people generally are more shy in these events. The cost difference ( both tution and living cost) is quite significant as well. On the flip side the city of st. Gallen sucks and academically the program is less structured so most people take over 3 years to graduate which is a significant disadvantage in my view. Still, if you lose a year transferring to LSE its not really worth it in my view, but you cant really go wrong with either of them.
Thanks for sharing your experience, I agree that the banks coming to HSG for the banking days are quite impressive but I thought their offers were mainly in Switzerland... I would be glad to know a little bit more about your studies: Did you do a master at HSG as well or only the bachelor ? Did you find your job through the events of the university/ HSG careers or by applying on your own ? What grades did you have approximately ?
It is most definitely possible to go to London from HSG - apply to all the spring insight programs in London and hopefully you'll get a shot. Otherwise, get some experience at a bank in a German speaking country over the summer and apply to internships second year. If you have good grades and are involved at school, I believe there should be plenty of opportunities for you.
Remember to distinguish between LSE undergrad and master's when discussing placement. There are a lot more LSE alumni than HSG in the city, but at least recently a good number of those are out of the master's programs. Worst case, you could always get an internship in Frankfurt and then get a master from LSE/Oxford/HEC - you spend the same number of years so why not take the shot at HSG first?
I will try to get a spring/ insight program in London. The thing is that I am not fluent in german and that makes the application process way more difficult for me if I want to have a work experience in Germany or in the german speaking part of Switzerland... The banking recruiting events at HSG are really interesting if you speak german but not really if you don't. For now, I will work to improve my german skills and see if I can get an interesting spring/ summer internship. Thanks for your answer !
go to LSE if you dont speak German/have a realistic shot at being fluent in it (like doing deals in it) by the end of your studies
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