Dream uni , chances of getting in?

My dream is to be an investment banker and I have done some research and have concluded that I will study Statistics and Finance at LSE which requires AAA at a-level- now what i'm enquiring is whether this is enough to get accepted into this extremely competitive uni. If i meet the grade requirements and have 6-7 A*s for my GCSEs, what are my chances of getting accepted?

Reply 1

post-grad-u-ate

Original post by ihatehannah

LSE would definitely be looking for a bredth of talent at GCSE so you are looking strong there.

They state AAA but the reality is more A*A*A* so aim to get 1 or 2 A*'s minimum. They expect someone who is forward in knowing what they want and goes after it. So work experience at A-level for definite. It is possible to do this. If not in investment banking then possibly in a business environment.

This guy, Haydn Pole seems to be on the ball and I found out about him because he was mentioned for gaining work experience places and then going back to banks he would rather work at and ended up with a lot of offers. LSE is now more than ever competitive internationally so you'd be going up against the best in the world for a place and honestly you can find other alternatives that are just as good.. KCL (King's College London) and QMUL (Queen Mary, University of London) both offer programmes in financial mathematics.

Additionally, studying computer science and then specialising in computational finance at masters and Ph.D is a possible option. Required subjects at AS/2 would be: Mathematics, Further Mathematics.. Economics and increasingly Computing would be the four I would aim for. Further mathematics over physics also.

Combining an interest in mathematics with economics and finance is possible like this:

QMUL M.Sci. Financial Mathematics then over to possibly LSE, Imperial or UCL for doctoral training in financial computing and analytics. Gaining work experience in a gap year before uni, summer placement 1, industrial placement for 1 year*, summer placement 2 and then Ph.D. placements - possibly working on larger scale projects like at the Bank of England - monetary economics, macro-finance, econometrics, international finance.

*I think you could talk the programme leader into letting you work in the City for a year!

QMUL is one short bus journey to the Bank of England and the heart of the City and again over to Canary Wharf.

Looks like QMUL have Erasmus opportunites in Italy and Spain, both taught in english, concentrating on finance though. Bocconi in Milan, which is highly rated european university and Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona which is an amazing place to live let alone study!

Internationally, you can possible study at UPenn which would be a mix of mathematics and economics and at University of California at their various colleges - possibly Berkeley!

Getting experience in other countries is always great for yourself and your CV!

If you didn't know the M.Sci. is a masters integrated with bachelors programme so is covered by student loans although that doesn't matter as much now because of the government backed student loans.

Financial mathematics, i.e being a 'quant' you would be looking at the bulge bracket banks like JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank initially but then you could move on to the hedge funds which are much more fun :biggrin:

Studying on an exchange might not work so well for this QMUL programme but say you did an industrial placement year and went on to work for somewhere like Citi in Canary Wharf in London and then on with international transfers to New York and Asia etc.

(edited 7 years ago)

London School of Economics

London

Reply 2

Jamie S

The guy above me is completely wrong.If you apply, I can guarantee you will receive an offer. I am a student, I have friends doing your course and most of them received AAA. LSE is leaves above what this guy is talking about, but very possible with your grades - they are better than mine and I am a student at LSE!

Dream uni , chances of getting in?

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