LBS vs UCL vs Imperial for IB
I have been fortunate enough to receive offers from all 3 (MiM at LBS and UCL and Wealth & Investment Management at Imperial) and need to quickly decide where is best. I want to go into investment banking. I hope to start an internship in Beijing China next week, having already received an offer but the timing might be an issue since the earliest programme begins in late August. I desperately want to do this internship because my latest work experience was in summer 2017 and this might be deemed too distant for some banks/firms.
Both UCL and Imperial are often talked about as 'targets' and almost everybody talks about LBS's prestige, even at the MSc level, so it is very hard for me to make any choice based simply on reputation. If there is a distinct difference, then please do let me know. The main pro of each option is as follows:
Imperial: Course is more directly related to Finance.
UCL: Starts in September and so grants me more time to do my M&A internship.
LBS: Has an optional 4th term which apparently allows students to apply, not only for grad schemes but also for summer analyst positions.
The question I want to ask is: what is more important for someone looking to go into Investment Banking:
a) Studying a pure finance course?
b) Possessing very recent, solid M&A experience which can be detailed and written about?
c) The chance to complete an optional 4th term and so apply for easier (?) summer internship positions rather than grad schemes?
I am in a bit of a tight spot and any and all help is much appreciated. Regarding the optional 4th term at LBS, if anybody with personal experience can offer advice, I will be very grateful.
Where do you want to work?
If in the UK, LBS>ICL>UCL
Europe/UK Does it make a difference?
I echo this, LBS > ICL > UCL
LBS wins hands down, no brainer mate
I would say even more so for continental Europe where LBS is seen as the 2nd best business school in Europe(after INSEAD) due to MBA rankings
Indeed mate but over than this the school has the best career service in the city
Does it really makes a difference for non-MBA students? Most students going there have a return offer from their summer internship or have such an impressive background that they can do what ever they want.
I dont have a return offer haha
Wait is your summer internship already finished?
I did my last summer internship in the asset management division of a Chinese bank in summer/autumn 2017. I have been offered another small 'internship' for 4 weeks in the M&A division of a large-ish Chinese company called 'SkyOcean' (天洋). But, if i choose LBS, then i wont have time to do this internship anyway. Only by accepting the UCL offer will i have the time to get it done. I do prefer to go to LBS and am currently frantically contacting the Chinese company to try and persuade them to shift the dates to Dec/Jan, where i have a 7 weeks Christmas break and can comfortably fit it in. But application season is in Sept/Oct...so I am not quite sure how "No 2018 experience but doing an internship over xmas" might look on my CV
Of course, the LBS optional 4th term would, apparently, allow me to apply as a penultimate year student and so apply to summer analyst internship positions too but im not quite sure how that would even work. None of the alumni that i know who took the MiM opted for the 4th term.
Oh well I was talking for people applying to London IB.
I have no clue how it works in China if you ever want to go back and work there.I guess you will be fine however the career centre wont be of any help (or very little).
You can apply as a Penultimate Year Internship Applicant for SA positions in IB NO MATTER WHICH M.SC. PROGRAM YOU ARE PURSUING: it all comes down to disclosing a different (Y+1) graduating year when registering using the company's/bank's application software.
Many M.Sc. students in Continental Europe use this trick. Many of them have already graduated the previous year.
So don't make this 4th LBS term such a huge deal in making your decision. You could apply as a SA coming from any M.Sc. program, 4th term or not. This is really just a detail.
Wrong. Majority of admitted students at LBS early-career M.Sc. have no "return offer" yet from a previous internship. Many are first-timers in the IB game and the program allows them to break in.
"impressive background" (I assume great undergraduate school) not relevant anymore once they miss the very rigid recruiting cycle.
Thank you for the reply. I know that LBS has a great reputation, but i thought that they all had good reputations. Suprised to hear that ICL and UCL are less renowned. I had assumed that the LBS's prestige only applied to its MBA programme.
I went to LBS can highly recommend it. Especially if you want to work in London.
Great to hear from you. Did you do the MBA or an MSc programme? If the latter, then did you do take the 4th term?
I did the Master part time. 4th term is only for the fulltime students. Pm me if you want more info.
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