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poll for most prestigious - Warwick, UCL or Bristol ?

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Reply 60
Original post by member910132

Also, not sure about this but would UCL's career department be stronger and more supporting simply because they are in London and might have stronger networks ?


I'm doubtful that being in London gives you a vast amount of meaningful 'connections' If you're not good enough, you won't make it in. The majority of internship opportunities are open to all universities, being in London doesn't provide you with an exclusive set of dates.


Original post by Moiraclaire
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There is pretty much nothing in it between Warwick and UCL in regards to getting into a bulge bracket bank. A quick search of Linkedin will show you that both sets of graduates occupy leading positions in finance. Warwick is a big player in IB, along with UCL and the other top universities. Going to one over the other won't really give you an advantage other the other. You're best of choosing the university, which is most suited to you, since career wise there really is nothing in it.

EDIT: A poll probably wasn't the best criteria to use, since a sizeable amount of voters will have a bias to one of the three universities or no knowledge of the subject at hand.
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by Mirey
I definately didn't just vote Bristol because I go there :tongue:

I think ultimately this ranking doesn't matter. At our employer fairs there are all the top banks, law firms and consultancy firms, and I'm sure the same is true UCL and Warwick (Though I cba to look)

It really doesn't matter where you go/went. If you have a 2.1 and get an interview, the only thing that matters is how well you can answer their questions.

They're not gonna be thinking "Dave was great, but he only went to Bristol! However Frank was a complete tool but goes to Cambridge, lets take him!"


Yes, at interview there are so many factors to judge candidates on that university doesn't matter; however, you have to get to the interview first. UCL and Warwick get a higher number of students to the interview stage at the top investment banking firms than Bristol; they then get a higher number into the internships.

Get inside a top investment bank, look around at the ratio of universities and then you'll see that the top 6 get a higher number of students in.
Original post by member910132
But wouldn't Warwick and UCL have a higher quantity and quality of employers on in their fair then Bristol ?
Also, not sure about this but would UCL's career department be stronger and more supporting simply because they are in London and might have stronger networks ?


The strongest banking networks at UCL are with the EFS and Investment Society. Both have 2 or 3 banks visiting the university each week. The connections are strong mainly because the alumni of each society are holding top positions within banks in the city; banks want more of that from UCL and hence they are involved with the societies to attract more talent.
Reply 63
Original post by Junaid16

EDIT: A poll probably wasn't the best criteria to use, since a sizeable amount of voters will have a bias to one of the three universities or no knowledge of the subject at hand.



The people who are likely to know little have voted in much the same way.
I think if we did a hypothesis test, It would be significant that UCL have had around 70% of the vote since the start of my poll :L

UCL~B(221,0.5)

Ho: P=0.5
H1: P>0.5 one tailed. 5%

P(UCL>= 147) = 0, too small a number for my calculator :L
Reply 64
Original post by Investment Banker
UCL is not quite well known for econ ??? Are you for real ?? UCL have the second best rated economics research centre in UK , slightly behind LSE , and yet some A level kid is lecturing rubbish on here , oh perhaps you are one of those ignorant 17-18 year old TSR applicants who think they know everything yet you know jerk . Do you even know how many economics graduates get into IB each year from UCL econ ? This uni that , this uni that bla bla bla ...yet you have never spoken to a single employer regarding the reputations of unis , or be at any top uni for even a visit but you lecture us about who is best for what . TSR never stops amaze me with nonsensical ideas posted here .


You have a nasty attitude :s-smilie:
Reply 65
UCL is the most prestigious, but there is too slight a difference between it and Warwick for that to be the criterion that you base your decision on.

You say you want to stay in catered accommodation, which Warwick don't offer, and also that you like London. Warwick's location is VERY different from London.

So it seems to me that UCL is the place for you! :smile:

PS. I have no bias toward UCL, I've actually firmed Warwick!
Reply 66
Original post by member910132
But wouldn't Warwick and UCL have a higher quantity and quality of employers on in their fair then Bristol ?
Also, not sure about this but would UCL's career department be stronger and more supporting simply because they are in London and might have stronger networks ?


Maybe, but I can't think of anyone who is missing.

We get all the big 4, All IB's I care to think of (Barclays, DB, JPM, RBS, BoAML, GS, CS, MS, etc), all major consultancy firms and few not so big ones. Engineering we get a whole range of people from the national grid to BAE and google (Bristol is pretty great at engineering).
Linklaters sponsor our sports teams, as do deloitte. Allen & Overy show up to fairs, though I've not paid so much attention to law.

Not to name drop, but I'm really not sure who else you want :P
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 67
Original post by Industrious Orca
Yes, at interview there are so many factors to judge candidates on that university doesn't matter; however, you have to get to the interview first. UCL and Warwick get a higher number of students to the interview stage at the top investment banking firms than Bristol; they then get a higher number into the internships.

Get inside a top investment bank, look around at the ratio of universities and then you'll see that the top 6 get a higher number of students in.


Who cares about on average? If you're a good candidate at one uni you should be just as good at another. Just don't **** up when writing your CV, get a 2.1/first and some good ECs and you'll be fine.

If you're worried about what uni you're going to making you a bad candidate, you're being silly (within reason).
Go to Warwick or UCL.. From what I hear being a student in London really isn't all that rosey.:dontknow:
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 69
Original post by Tsunami2011
Go to Warwick or UCL.. From what I hear being a student in London really isn't all that rosey.:dontknow:


Expand.I hate country side, everyone is too friendly and talkative for my liking :L
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by Mirey
Who cares about on average? If you're a good candidate at one uni you should be just as good at another. Just don't **** up when writing your CV, get a 2.1/first and some good ECs and you'll be fine.

If you're worried about what uni you're going to making you a bad candidate, you're being silly (within reason).


Clearly the average student who will make it from UCL or Warwick but won't from Bristol.

University DOES matter; i'm sorry, i know you want to defend your university and make out that it's on the same level as Oxford, UCL, Warwick, Imperial etc, but the basic truth is, in IB the banks do have a preference towards their 6 main targets; hence you get more graduates from these universities inside the banks than from the likes of Bristol. Not to say an exceptional student from Bristol won't make it in, because they do; but why would you make it harder for yourself by going to Bristol when you could go to a university that is more targeted and gets a higher number of graduates into the industry you want to pursue a career in.
Original post by Moiraclaire
Expand.I hate country side, everyone is too friendly and talkative for my liking :L


Just from the people I know at either UCL or LSE, it seems like, the expenses of London means that you can't really afford to go out to the places in the surronding area unless you're quite well off ofc. London isn't student friendly like other cities, so you're not going to have many bars/clubs in the area around UCL having student offers on drinks/entry. Harder to make 'very good' friends' since lots of people are commuters and the accomdation is spread out. Lots of internationals( mainly LSE, which doesn't concern you). I live around the area of UCL and feel like TSR overly hypes up the 'thrill of living in London' a couple of the UCL sites are literally by the roadside, my bus passes it every morning, and I used to think 'Is that really UCL? :unsure: London is cool if you've never experienced it, but the novelty will wear off, and you seem to want to be a banker, so you've got your whole life to live in london. You don't seem to mind the expense of London, which is good, considering how expensive it will be, especially minor things like travel. Lots of my friends who went to London universities seem to have just kept their odd circle of friends by large and just have associates at university, this may just be my perception though. Also, I'm not sure if UCL provide subsided housing for the second/third years, but bear in mind that house prices in London are insanely high, so if you're sharing a 3/4 bedroom house in or around central London be prepared to shell out 200 or more on monthly rent, whilst non-london universities are often less than 100 per month.

I know lots of people who love it there though or just aren't bothered by the social aspects of london unis, so it just depends on the individual.
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 72
Original post by Tsunami2011
Just from the people I know at either UCL or LSE, it seems like, the expenses of London means that you can't really afford to go out. London isn't student friendly like other cities, so you're not going to have many bars/clubs in the area around UCL having student offers on drinks. Harder to make 'very good' friends' since lots of people are commuters and the accomdation is spread out. Lots of internationals( mainly LSE, which doesn't concern you).


Never experienced any of those issues. Plenty of good and cheap places with student offers. I interestingly rarely see lots of undergraduates there. Even then, its not that much more expensive than most other towns. If you go to a chain, you get pretty much the same prices as elsewhere.
Not sure how the spread out accommodation is an issue, esp. as most halls are in central. Maybe you should make friends with people who own an oyster card.
Well ok, theres lots of internationals, just at any good university and not sure how thats a negative point unless you're a racist, in which case you'll have big problems working in IB, as it tends to be even more of a cultural mix than uni.
Reply 73
i wish i was OP. i feel so stupid now
Original post by pooo
i wish i was OP. i feel so stupid now


You're at Edinburgh :unsure:
Reply 75
Original post by Tsunami2011
You're at Edinburgh :unsure:


by the skin of my teeth, with great gratitude and humble feelings of inferiority am I here. But to be in a position where you can discriminate against top unis matched with unrivalled ambition and graduate plans...my academics pale in comparison to this.

i'm the type of guy people on tsr will hate because i only got into uni with minimum entry grades and my only extra curric was football. i was expelled from school and part of a special scheme for children who come from violent, substance abusing, non academic families. i do not fit into university. but i'm sticking in because there is nothing else i could really be doing right now.

so basically i'm super grateful.
Reply 76
Original post by Industrious Orca
Clearly the average student who will make it from UCL or Warwick but won't from Bristol.

University DOES matter; i'm sorry, i know you want to defend your university and make out that it's on the same level as Oxford, UCL, Warwick, Imperial etc, but the basic truth is, in IB the banks do have a preference towards their 6 main targets; hence you get more graduates from these universities inside the banks than from the likes of Bristol. Not to say an exceptional student from Bristol won't make it in, because they do; but why would you make it harder for yourself by going to Bristol when you could go to a university that is more targeted and gets a higher number of graduates into the industry you want to pursue a career in.


Sure, I'm sure to some extent it matters, but if you're a good student and get good grades, then it doesn't really matter.

I'll say Bristol uni is good, and I know other unis are better than it. I really don't care about that though, I chose Bristol over Warwick because I preffered it, and I've got offered an internship. I wouldn't say I was exceptional - I've only averaged a 2.1. Sure, its not a graduate job but its the best I could hope for so far, and hopefully it will turn into one, but that won't depend on my university.

If the list of london summer interns on facebook is anything to go by, it seems warwick are beating UCL by about 2.5:1, though maybe they're just the type of people that like to advertise it.
Original post by Mirey
Sure, I'm sure to some extent it matters, but if you're a good student and get good grades, then it doesn't really matter.

I'll say Bristol uni is good, and I know other unis are better than it. I really don't care about that though, I chose Bristol over Warwick because I preffered it, and I've got offered an internship. I wouldn't say I was exceptional - I've only averaged a 2.1. Sure, its not a graduate job but its the best I could hope for so far, and hopefully it will turn into one, but that won't depend on my university.

If the list of london summer interns on facebook is anything to go by, it seems warwick are beating UCL by about 2.5:1, though maybe they're just the type of people that like to advertise it.


If you're the kind of student who will make it from Bristol, then it doesn't matter whether you're at Bristol or UCL or Warwick; but there are a lot of students who are more average than that, and would only make it from UCL or Warwick, and not from Bristol.

In that case you should have turned down Warwick. I turned down a better university than the one i'm at because i prefer it here too.

1st or 2.1 doesn't matter. It's more to do with ECs, W/E etc than whether you got 68 or 71 in your first year.

Yes, whether you convert or not will have nothing to do with your university. For a lot of average students though, having Warwick on their CV rather than Bristol will have got them that first stage interview, and getting that interview is the crucial thing.

I expect Warwick to get more in than UCL. They have a business school, UCL doesn't; they offer accounting and finance, UCL doesn't; both will feed a lot of students into IB; UCL just has the economics department, and maths department that feed graduates into IB in any large quantity (Warwick matches this with it's own economics and maths departments). I think it's a pretty widely known fact that Warwick usually get a higher number of graduates in than either UCL or Imperial; doesn't mean Warwick is more targeted though; you have to look at these other factors.
Don't forget that Warwick is incredibly ugly.
Reply 79
Original post by Industrious Orca
If you're the kind of student who will make it from Bristol, then it doesn't matter whether you're at Bristol or UCL or Warwick; but there are a lot of students who are more average than that, and would only make it from UCL or Warwick, and not from Bristol.

In that case you should have turned down Warwick. I turned down a better university than the one i'm at because i prefer it here too.

1st or 2.1 doesn't matter. It's more to do with ECs, W/E etc than whether you got 68 or 71 in your first year.

Yes, whether you convert or not will have nothing to do with your university. For a lot of average students though, having Warwick on their CV rather than Bristol will have got them that first stage interview, and getting that interview is the crucial thing.

I expect Warwick to get more in than UCL. They have a business school, UCL doesn't; they offer accounting and finance, UCL doesn't; both will feed a lot of students into IB; UCL just has the economics department, and maths department that feed graduates into IB in any large quantity (Warwick matches this with it's own economics and maths departments). I think it's a pretty widely known fact that Warwick usually get a higher number of graduates in than either UCL or Imperial; doesn't mean Warwick is more targeted though; you have to look at these other factors.


Nail on the head.

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