With recruitment for internships and full-time recruitment beginning to pick up the pace, I thought I would mention the fellow British monkeys!
Target Schools:
1. University of Cambridge
1. Oxford University
3. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
4. Imperial College London
4. University College London (UCL)
6. Warwick University
7. Cass Business School
8. University of St Andrews
9. Durham University
Honourable Mentions
1. University of Leeds
2. University of York
3. University of Bristol
4. University of Manchester
Why this ranking?
I think all of us Brits, can agree that Oxbridge is the top of the top for IB, closely followed by their frenemies at LSE. Then we have the London universities who have the advantage of location over their peers and are able to give access to networking events, and seminars to the BBs, MMs, and EBs! Then we have the Northern Universities and Business Schools. Cass is known to be a top feeder for IB, and the Warwick, Durham band of universities are well-regarded too! Lastly, we have Scotland's most tough university to get into - St Andrews. If they were closer to London, they would probably be 4th on this list.
Lastly, I feel that if you are a student in the UK is going to 1 of the 24 Russell group universities then you are in a favourable position. (Russell =/= Ivy, Russell is based on research output, not necessarily prestige).
I genuinely feel that the Northern powerhouse commonly talked about by British politicians is starting to become a reality, with universities pioneering the effort, Leeds, York, and Manchester are best positioned... York specialises in Biology, Chemistry, and Law (They would be 5th if this was MagicCircleOasis!) they were recently sponsored by Morgan Stanley, with many students getting gigs at Citi, Lazard, Coutts (RBS), and JPM. Leeds is well positioned, with a nearby Rothschild regional office, and intense appreciation from BBs such as Barclays, Citi etc. Being in a bigger city gives them the advantage of a bigger pool of candidates for banks. Manchester is known for Brian Cox (that physics dude who makes BBC documentaries about the planet who isn't David Attenborough) - again, more STEM-oriented like York. Bristol is always seen as a decent uni, and some would argue that it should be in the target column, but I feel it just misses out - mainly from the location. A general all-rounder in subjects and deserves a spot on the list.
Thoughts and comments are appreciated as I want to know what everyone else's thoughts are!
EDIT: OMG I can't believe that Patrick himself linked this thread on his twitter! THANK YOU!
LBS?
For undergraduate,
Target: Cambridge Oxford LSE Imperial UCL
Inbetween: Warwick
Semi-target: Nottingham Manchester Kings Cass Bristol
The gap between the actual targets and semi-targets are so so far apart imo. At my BB I don't even see anyone from semi-targets, perhaps 1-2 for my entire Analyst class
Warwick is a target
from what I have seen:
Targets (in no particular order): Cambridge Oxford LSE UCL Imperial Warwick LBS
Strong semi - you will get a spot if you put some effort (in no particular order): Edinburgh Bristol Kings Notts Durham St Andrews
Lower Semi (in no particular order): Manchester Bath Exeter Leeds York Cass
What do you think about Bath? I think it is a strong semi target as well but might be wrong.
normal semi - will add it
Definitely regional strong semi-target
spot on.. except bath should be bumped.
Holistically, Warwick is definitely not a target or at least not in the same echelon as LBS LSE Oxbridge.
By and large, previous posts on this thread are accurate. For the sake of adding my 2¢, I'd say the following: UCL is a good school, however it's very much a secondary option to LSE or Imperial. This is for the simple fact that, if you want to study economics / social science / humanities, you apply to the LSE; if you want to study anything scientific or otherwise quantitatively focused, you apply to Imperial; if you fail to get into either of those, you go to UCL.
this is soo inaccurate UCL is not a "second choice" to the other two. It would've made more sense if you said KCL
Very few people would choose UCL over LSE/Imperial, except for perhaps the university experience issues of LSE being incredibly career-orientated and Imperial having a ridiculous workload. Some do, no doubt, and there are some courses where UCL is genuinely better (medicine related subjects are pretty close between UCL and Imperial). There are also some courses that UCL is pretty strong at that the other two don't offer (e.g. architecture). But for those who don't mind the social life issues of LSE/Imperial, the majority will choose them over UCL; much like the majority of those admitted to Oxford or Cambridge will choose them over LSE/Imperial.
Perhaps, but then I'd also have to take out the word "good"
Why are you guys so uncertain about how Warwick places? I know...my name makes me biased but from the alum I know we place pretty well.
Although Exeter and Bath may only just about scrape onto a semi-target list, they can't be written off, both get very strong representation on placements and grad all over IB in the UK. Especially regarding bath, it's like a career uni, courses are not that spectacular, but the connections are.
Yes, I agree with this... Courses are respectable but nothing to scream and fight over, but the connections is what makes the difference!
Bath is a strong semi target if you ask me. Rothschild, RBC, Lazard, Jefferies recruit a lot from there
Think there’s a big misunderstanding of Bath here. Guys doing economics / business there are way higher up the list than Nottingham / Manchester / Bristol. The fact that everyone there does 1 year internships and they have guaranteed front office places at big shops like Citi, UBS etc as well as boutiques like Piper and Houlihan Lokey. I know a load of guys from there who are now at Goldman, Evercore, JP.
Russel Group FTW. Just got in after a foundation year at a definitely not Russel Group School.
A bit late to this, but if we define “target” as it is defined in the US forum, then anything below Warwick isn’t a target. Certainly not Cass, Durham, and St Andrew’s
What really grinds my gears is that you have a shot into banking from comparatively lesser unis like Cass/Bath/Kings whereas if you are from any other country you have to litterally be at a top 3 uni (in Italy only Bocconi for example) when population pools are similar or otherwise you have simply no shot. And no, the very few spots in FFM/Paris/Milan do not make up for it. Chalk it up to home bias or whatnot.
What country are you from?
CEE + but studied abroad, sorry for the salt
There is a LARGE gap between universities in Europe, at least when it comes to interviews, which is the first step to get into the role. Students from targets do usually perform much better as they have been prepared to do so, whereas non targets have to grind harder on their own to succeed and get that role, hence reducing their opportunities. (This doesnt imply quality of candidates)
In the UK interviews tend to be more behavioual which makes this barrier disappear, and also the overall quality and reputation from their universities is better, which attracts a large number of internationals.
I have one several 1st round interviews for SA, OC and FT , and I can literally anticipate how prepared are candidates based on their CV (University + Work experience), this may sound a cliche but there is a high correlation. Its a snowball, lets say employees prefer Bocconi as they are better prepared than Luiss, this helps them to get internships early-on, then they have those internships + bocconi brand, which differentiates them from the rest
Agreed that students outside top continental targets may not be aware of how things work and come off as less prepared, and there is not much that can be done to improve the system, this was just a rant. The only thing is that maybe banks could improve outreach to other European schools and start building a relationship with a broader set of them to diversify their talent pool. Would probably yield higher returns than fish at lower Russel unis as I imagine is currently the case. Then there is the problem of English fluency but in this day and age this should likely be ok at any schools even slightly lower than the top.
KCL should be an honorable mention imo
OP here, and I agree that is an oversight - KCL is a good university in absolute terms but is put down by many as it has more "impressive" neighbours like UCL, Imperial, and LSE.
I'd add that KCL seems to have a better reputation abroad than in the UK. You get a lot of very good international students (esp. from the Far East) that end up there at UG before going to Oxbridge/LSE for postgraduate study.
But yes, it's suprisingly poorly represented in finance and consulting. The quality of the domestic students is well below UCL in my opinion. KCL does well in law though - generally the third most represented uni after Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham.
I agree (and I'm at Warwick FWIW), but KCL > a number of honorable mentions.
take down durham bath and st andrews
What`s the best option for someone extremely proactive from a non-target? My grades are 1st, doing lots of extracurriculars and applying for spring weeks (without success) since day 1 of uni. I feel like I have improved a lot, but the fear of not getting a summer internship is always there. My plan B if nothing works out during uni is to get a masters at a target and go from there. Any thoughts?
dude I was in a similar situation to you. You just have to apply like crazy and make sure you get an internship that sticks during the summer just before your Masters then do the Masters and apply to FT again if you don’t want to accept the offer there. It’s a grind but you’ll get there!
dude I was in a similar situation to you. You just have to apply like crazy and make sure you get an internship that sticks during the summer just before your Masters then do the Masters and apply to FT again if you don’t want to accept the offer there. It’s a grind but you’ll get there!
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