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HELP! Cass or LSE?

Hey guys,

I need some advice on what school to I should choose for my MSc. My career goal is to break into investment banking and from that perspective LSE has a better reputation.

Unfortunately, I didn't get into a finance/economics masters at LSE, instead I got admitted to MSc. in Economic History, which doesn't involve a lot of preparation for a banking career but I will be able to pick some optional courses that are leaning more towards that industry.

So that was my first choice. Secondly, I have also been admitted to MSc. in Corporate Finance at Cass Business School. It is of course ideal when it comes to the actual courses and learning - but like many has written in this forum before - it is not a target school.

So my dilemma is; choose the most appropriate programme for my career choice or the school with the best reputation around banks?
Also, bare in mind that if I were to go ahead with LSE I am not worried about not learning enough to prepare for a career in banking, as I have a genuine interest for finance and will devote much of my spare time to pratice valuation models etc.

Thanks so much for your help :smile:

Reply 1

LadyBugMery

Tough choice. LSE is obviously a better brand but economic history is not gonna get you into anything else than a phd in economic history. So I would recommend going for Cass, who in anyway has a decent reputation in the IB industry.

LSE, IMO.

Cass has a solid rep and you would be studying a more relevant course.

Reply 4

TheGuyReturns

Original post by James E Walker

Cass has a solid rep and you would be studying a more relevant course.

Cass student detected.

Go for LSE OP!

Reply 5

James E Walker

Original post by TheGuyReturns

Cass student detected.

Go for LSE OP!

Awkward moment when I study at Manchester.

Reply 6

TheGuyReturns

Original post by James E Walker

Awkward moment when I study at Manchester.

Well I still don't understand your recommendation. Banks don't care about what you've studied, so surely he may as well just chase prestige and the networking opportunities LSE would bring?

Reply 7

Nucleotide

Original post by TheGuyReturns

Well I still don't understand your recommendation. Banks don't care about what you've studied, so surely he may as well just chase prestige and the networking opportunities LSE would bring?

Agreed.

The LSE name and the fact LSE is a target uni for IB will help OP a lot.

Cass is only semi-target

Reply 8

vela1

LSE is breeding ground for banking.

Reply 9

James E Walker

Original post by TheGuyReturns

Well I still don't understand your recommendation. Banks don't care about what you've studied, so surely he may as well just chase prestige and the networking opportunities LSE would bring?

Alot of people forget we're talking about post-grad, for UK recruitment both MSc's make good on getting to interviews, after which it's down to techs at this stage where in this case Cass has the upper hand.

If you do a Masters what you study very much becomes important. It's quite difficult to sell yourself on having consecutively studied Econ when you're looking to buy-time for entering finance. All other masters student will be coming in with finance degrees, even at LSE.

http://news.efinancialcareers.com/gulf-en/203261/the-best-uk-schools-for-working-in-finance/

LSE has better international prospects but you can't go wrong with Cass if you're looking for a career in Finance in UK.

Either decision is good, OP congrats on getting those offers! That being said, Cass will very much limit you to Finance/Business in terms of reputational clout, so if you're undecided LSE is a no-brainer.

Btw, Economic History is a strong subject, I've always seen it as the relevant bits to economics, pure economics is just statistics which in actuality with regards to the depths it explores is pretty useless for a career in banking.