Why is SOAS so under rated?

those places with a significant number of international students take a heavy penalty as work abroad reflects badly due to differences in purchasing power parity between countries.

Surely a high proportion of international students, like at SOAS, is irrelevant since the figures are likely to be weighted as a result. If 50% of students find work abroad, it won't affect the starting average salary of the remaining UK employees, since it is just an average.

Also, surely work abroad will reflect well becasue the PPP in other countries allows them to buy more for their money, thus their real incomes are actually quite good. Or maybe i'm misunderstanding your point....

Having said that, however, i think the statistical bias is apparent with regards to SOAS, primarily because there is a relatively higher percentage of post-grad students who are able to command higher starting salaries.

Reply 42

Johan C

BovineBeast

Besides, personally, I'm going to Uni to learn, not to get a job.

Really ? I mean, I can easily understand what you're saying since my hesitation between France and LSE is due to the fact that I don't just want to go to uni to get a job. But still, I have difficulty believing it's so unimportant to you.

Reply 43

shady lane

16

BTW both Goldman Sachs and Deloitte visited SOAS last term, according to the career services website. Quite a waste of effort if you don't intend to consider applicants from the uni.

Reply 44

shady lane

BTW both Goldman Sachs and Deloitte visited SOAS last term, according to the career services website. Quite a waste of effort if you don't intend to consider applicants from the uni.

Some companies do have university lists. A university is the people in it wiith a bunch of buildings. Saying the undergrads in Oxbridge/LSE are the only reason they are better doesn't say very much.

Destinations scores are just based off a blind 6 month 'after graduating survey' that few people complete. PPP is not considered for those who work abroad. ie. you might earning megabucks in say, China, but if it converts into minimum wage in the UK, the uni graduate earnings score gets a kick in the gonads.

Deloitte visit every tom, dick, harry of a uni. You should realise that the biggest undergrad employers in the UK need to literally visit every uni to fill their vacanies they have so many. Deloitte are not what I would call a hugely prestigous employer. As for Goldman, they visit UCL just over the road, it's hardly a big burn of their time to cross and sit one of their HR (in fact, the UCL HR person, one Miss Hillard) over at yours.

I know five people on my course doing internships at Goldman this summer among many others doing IB (including me). How many are doing it from SOAS? Are Goldman recruiting front office staff from SOAS? I didn't think so either.

Reply 45

Johan C

Generally, it's down to this : SOAS is just not as prestigious as either UCL, SOAS, Imperial, LSE or of course Oxbridge. It's great at what it does, but it doesn't "do" much financial/accounting/banking/dollaring stuff.

Reply 46

You should realise that the biggest undergrad employers in the UK need to literally visit every uni to fill their vacanies they have so many

Or perhaps it's to do with the realisation that emerging markets can actually make them money, thus they need people familiar with with how the developing economies work, not to mention language and culture. Could explain why both Goldmans and Morgan Stanley held presentations for soas students- the latter at their Docklands headquarters...

Reply 47

Klinsmannic

Or perhaps it's to do with the realisation that emerging markets can actually make them money, thus they need people familiar with with how the developing economies work, not to mention language and culture. Could explain why both Goldmans and Morgan Stanley held presentations for soas students- the latter at their Docklands headquarters...

MS only do presentations at their docklands hq and their events are for any tom, dick, harry Univeristy of London student they can fit.

Meanwhile, how many SOAS students are getting employed with these companies that you know of? Is it common? SOAS is not the kind of place to go if you're planning to hit the lucrative investment banking world compared to Oxbridge, the other London colleges and several other universities.

As for accounting, local hires are a significantly better option for emerging markets. Few UK hires, if any, get shipped off elsewhere to start their accounting qualis.

Reply 48

BovineBeast

Johan C

Really ? I mean, I can easily understand what you're saying since my hesitation between France and LSE is due to the fact that I don't just want to go to uni to get a job. But still, I have difficulty believing it's so unimportant to you.

Well, I chose the course because it was something I was interested in, and I'd hate to do a job outside what I was interested in. But it wasn't the main thing that caused me to choose SOAS, no. I mostly chose SOAS because of its frankly incredible academic status when it comes to Asian/African things.

Reply 49

Johan C

Fielder123

Re-read what you say.

What ?

Reply 50

Originally Posted by President Ben
Meanwhile, how many SOAS students are getting employed with these companies that you know of? Is it common? SOAS is not the kind of place to go if you're planning to hit the lucrative investment banking world compared to Oxbridge, the other London colleges and several other universities.

Im not disputing the fact that other universities may be prioritised, but you say that SOAS students stand no chance of securing employment with 'prestigious' employers, which I disagree with. I know of a few people that have secured internships and full time employment with IBs, excluding SEO, and not only 'back office' positions. 'Big-four' prospects are obviously significantly higher than banking.

Having said that, there aren't too many students willing to consider a career in finance at SOAS relative to more Development-orientated career paths, which could explain why employers are reluctant to seriously sell-themselves here as opposed to the Tom, Dick n Harry theory. As an example the Goldmans presentation a few weeks ago was probably about half full, with those attending coming mainly from the Investment Soc.

Reply 51

Klinsmannic

Im not disputing the fact that other universities may be prioritised, but you say that SOAS students stand no chance of securing employment with 'prestigious' employers, which I disagree with. I know of a few people that have secured internships and full time employment with IBs, excluding SEO, and not only 'back office' positions. 'Big-four' prospects are obviously significantly higher than banking.

Having said that, there aren't too many students willing to consider a career in finance at SOAS relative to more Development-orientated career paths, which could explain why employers are reluctant to seriously sell-themselves here as opposed to the Tom, Dick n Harry theory. As an example the Goldmans presentation a few weeks ago was probably about half full, with those attending coming mainly from the Investment Soc.

Numbers please. In order for SOAS to realistically be considered 'a prospect', it has to beat the average contention ratio.

Reply 52

lorrybeep

Klinsmannic

If I'm not mistaken, after NGOs and Charities, PWC is the third largest employer of soas grads.

what is this based on? you must be mistaken

Reply 53

Originally posted bt President_Ben
Numbers please. In order for SOAS to realistically be considered 'a prospect', it has to beat the average contention ratio.

Being in my first year, i don't know too many 2nd years as it is let alone 2nd year econ students...but I know of three people who will be interning this summer, and somebody who interned at Goldmans last year.

I e-mailed the careers service asking how many people they estimated went into IB after graduating, but they weren't too helpful...having said that, it was a piece of their literature which stated PWC as the 3rd largest employer of SOAS grads, in answer to your question graduate_kc.

Reply 54

Klinsmannic

Being in my first year, i don't know too many 2nd years as it is let alone 2nd year econ students...but I know of three people who will be interning this summer, and somebody who interned at Goldmans last year.

I e-mailed the careers service asking how many people they estimated went into IB after graduating, but they weren't too helpful...having said that, it was a piece of their literature which stated PWC as the 3rd largest employer of SOAS grads, in answer to your question graduate_kc.

SEOed it or direct application? Front or back office? Full-time offer or not?

As you can imagine, it's not good getting the whole of SOAS to intern if no one gets a job offer... and the quality of internship does matter.

A back office role with RBS for example, is considered to be significantly lower in prestige to a front office at Goldman. Of course, you could well argue that a front office at RBS is better than a back office at Goldman.

And SEO is just cheeky (and this is coming from someone who is able to apply to it). I wouldn't "oppose" them - but I wouldn't back it.

Reply 55

I'm pretty sure that a larger number of SOAS interns have gone through SEO, but as i've said, i also know of some who chose not to or aren't elegible. The person i mentioned earlier was in IBD at Goldmans last year...not sure about the others, but i know one of them is interning at it Citi. Back to SEO, i suspect that places like UCL are putting people through it.

Not sure about this contention rate business, you said on another thread that its only uselful when there's a significant number of applicants, which i don't believe there to be here.

Reply 56

Last year, UCL put seven people through SEO although some of them did have offers already at banks. They only used SEO as a way of getting their 'preferred bank'.

(if familiar with SEO, you probably know 'the strategy')

Reply 57

Realist101

excuse my ignorance but what is SEO. can anyone list careers soas grads have gone onto after degree

Reply 58