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University of Liverpool or Queen Mary University ?

I have received offers from both for postgraduate. Liverpool is for MSc. Finance and Queen Mary's offer is for MSc. Economics. I am having a hard time choosing between them considering both have given me a decent scholarship. What would you recommend? Thank you.
Original post by Arya_99
I have received offers from both for postgraduate. Liverpool is for MSc. Finance and Queen Mary's offer is for MSc. Economics. I am having a hard time choosing between them considering both have given me a decent scholarship. What would you recommend? Thank you.

What do you intend to do after your master's?
It would probably determine which of the 2 would be more suitable.

Btw, Liverpool is cheap, but Queen Mary won't be.
QMUL is much stronger at postgrad level, Liverpool uni is barely on the map, nobody talks about it. I've basically never met anyone who went there and I've done multiple internships in economics and finance (like I've legitimately never met a single person who studied economics or finance there, maybe that's because I've only worked in London?). This is not to say the teaching is bad or anything, I've got no info on that, I just know QMUL is a much stronger overall department.

Thing is though, economics and finance are pretty different subjects so surely your decision is partly conditional on what you want to study? In terms of grad prospects, I think it's pretty likely that QMUL's Econ master's would place better in both Econ and finance jobs compared to Liverpool's finance course.
(edited 3 years ago)
Reply 3
Original post by MindMax2000
What do you intend to do after your master's?
It would probably determine which of the 2 would be more suitable.

Btw, Liverpool is cheap, but Queen Mary won't be.

I am planning for an Analyst position after my Master's.

Yes, I agree. Liverpool is considerably cheaper to live in. I am worried about the job prospects after graduation and general career enhancement.
Thank you for replying!
Reply 4
Original post by BenRyan99
QMUL is much stronger at postgrad level, Liverpool uni is barely on the map, nobody talks about it. I've basically never met anyone who went there and I've done multiple internships in economics and finance (like I've legitimately never met a single person who studied economics or finance there, maybe that's because I've only worked in London?). This is not to say the teaching is bad or anything, I've got no info on that, I just know QMUL is a much stronger overall department.

Thing is though, economics and finance are pretty different subjects so surely your decision is partly conditional on what you want to study? In terms of grad prospects, I think it's pretty likely that QMUL's Econ master's would place better in both Econ and finance jobs compared to Liverpool's finance course.

Yes, I understand that. My first choice was actually QMUL but considering general costs, I am a bit hesitant. I am an international student so I have to pay a lot more.

I haven't been able to decide what subject I would prefer. I did my undergraduate in Economics with a concentration in Finance and I like both of them.
I have to consider the grad prospects though. Thank you for your reply! It has been extremely helpful.
Original post by Arya_99
I am planning for an Analyst position after my Master's.

Yes, I agree. Liverpool is considerably cheaper to live in. I am worried about the job prospects after graduation and general career enhancement.
Thank you for replying!

If you're referring to a position as a financial analyst, then I would recommend QMUL then do a CFA after that.

Doing a master's in finance to my knowledge does not help you with getting the necessary qualification for the analyst position. The master's in finance would only be beneficial as far as I know if you want to do research in finance as well as economics at PhD level.
Having said that, a master's in economics doesn't help you with a role in becoming a financial analyst, but it will hold value if you want to become an economist or do research in economics.

The entry requirement to do the CFA would be an undergrad degree, which you would likely to have by the end of the academic year.

QMUL is also a lot closer to the financial district in London, than Liverpool is to that in Manchester or Edinburgh. It would also be a lot easier to network that way, although you can easily do the same after you graduate.

If you intend to work as a financial analyst for manufacturers (I'm almost sure you don't mean this), then it's not the same sort of analyst role. The typical qualification they would ask for is a CIMA, which you don't really need a degree to get into. This sort of financial analyst role will focus more on analysing how to improve the company as opposed to whether the company is suitable to invest in.
Reply 6
Original post by MindMax2000
If you're referring to a position as a financial analyst, then I would recommend QMUL then do a CFA after that.

Doing a master's in finance to my knowledge does not help you with getting the necessary qualification for the analyst position. The master's in finance would only be beneficial as far as I know if you want to do research in finance as well as economics at PhD level.
Having said that, a master's in economics doesn't help you with a role in becoming a financial analyst, but it will hold value if you want to become an economist or do research in economics.

The entry requirement to do the CFA would be an undergrad degree, which you would likely to have by the end of the academic year.

QMUL is also a lot closer to the financial district in London, than Liverpool is to that in Manchester or Edinburgh. It would also be a lot easier to network that way, although you can easily do the same after you graduate.

If you intend to work as a financial analyst for manufacturers (I'm almost sure you don't mean this), then it's not the same sort of analyst role. The typical qualification they would ask for is a CIMA, which you don't really need a degree to get into. This sort of financial analyst role will focus more on analysing how to improve the company as opposed to whether the company is suitable to invest in.

Yes, I am referring to a financial analyst position. I did some research and found that I do have to do a CFA in both cases - whether I choose Finance or Economics.

I understand. I guess having an Economics degree will open up more avenues for me as opposed to a Finance degree. I do not want to go into research after my Master's.

Yes, I have to do a CFA anyway so might as well choose the degree which would hold a bit more value.

The ultimate step to have a thriving career is through networking and that's a point I was perplexed about as well. Since Liverpool is comparably a smaller place and not a "financial" hub per se, I do see your point.

No, I do not want to be a financial analyst for manufactures. As you said, it's an entirely different role but it is an interesting field.

Thank you so much for your reply. This has been really insightful.
Hi,I have got offer letter from both the university QMUL for MS in Data Science and Liverpool University for MS in Advancr Computer Science but now I'm confused which one to select. Which will be best as both the courses are good.Kindly help me to select one.Thank you
Original post by szaveri99
Hi,I have got offer letter from both the university QMUL for MS in Data Science and Liverpool University for MS in Advancr Computer Science but now I'm confused which one to select. Which will be best as both the courses are good.Kindly help me to select one.Thank you


It depends on what you want to do afterwards.

Personally, neither subjects are required at degree level to get into their respective fields, so I don't see the point in the master's.

However, if I were to pick either one, I would go for the Advanced Computer Science.
Data science involves relatively basic programming using R and Python, but uses quite a bit of maths. Advanced computer science will give you more advanced computer science material that will further your computer knowledge.
Should you wish, you can read up about either subjects before and after your master's. There are online certificate courses that you can take on data science as well as in programming. Some are free, some are not, but all are definitely cheaper than a master's (you will have to do 5-40 of these courses to make up the cost of 1 master's).
There are opinions out there about bootcamps in data science and programming, but they're usually priced in the £5k-15 range, which can potentially be cheaper than a master's if you self funded it.

I prefer QMUL over Liverpool personally, but the cost of living is significantly higher there compared to Liverpool. QMUL is closer to London, so it's great for networking, and it's higher up in the league tables generally (I think it's higher up for computing). That's not to say Liverpool is a bad university though.
Reply 9
Original post by MindMax2000
It depends on what you want to do afterwards.

Personally, neither subjects are required at degree level to get into their respective fields, so I don't see the point in the master's.

However, if I were to pick either one, I would go for the Advanced Computer Science.
Data science involves relatively basic programming using R and Python, but uses quite a bit of maths. Advanced computer science will give you more advanced computer science material that will further your computer knowledge.
Should you wish, you can read up about either subjects before and after your master's. There are online certificate courses that you can take on data science as well as in programming. Some are free, some are not, but all are definitely cheaper than a master's (you will have to do 5-40 of these courses to make up the cost of 1 master's).
There are opinions out there about bootcamps in data science and programming, but they're usually priced in the £5k-15 range, which can potentially be cheaper than a master's if you self funded it.

I prefer QMUL over Liverpool personally, but the cost of living is significantly higher there compared to Liverpool. QMUL is closer to London, so it's great for networking, and it's higher up in the league tables generally (I think it's higher up for computing). That's not to say Liverpool is a bad university though.


I have offers from the following universities
Msc financial management- Birmingham university
Msc finance and investment- Liverpool University
Msc finance and investment Bristol university
Msc finance and accounting- Sheffield university
Msc finance Exeter university
Msc finance strathclyde university

Could someone please help me choose which one would be best to land a job in finance sector? Which has the best employers?
I am scared about getting a job afterwards
i plan ob preparing for cfa as well
Original post by Sadhvi123
I have offers from the following universities
Msc financial management- Birmingham university
Msc finance and investment- Liverpool University
Msc finance and investment Bristol university
Msc finance and accounting- Sheffield university
Msc finance Exeter university
Msc finance strathclyde university

Could someone please help me choose which one would be best to land a job in finance sector? Which has the best employers?
I am scared about getting a job afterwards
i plan ob preparing for cfa as well


I feel like a broken record.

These degrees are similar in subject matter (except possibly for Sheffield where the maths might be a bit easier because it's accounting). As previously mentioned, finance degrees are not required to get into the finance sector. If you do the CFA, you will quickly notice that a good portion of the material in your degrees will be repeated in the qualification.
You don't need a degree in finance to do the CFA, You just need a bachelor's and apply within 23 months upon graduation i.e. enroll immediately after graduating. See: https://help.cfainstitute.org/s/article/CFA-Program-Enrollment-Requirements

The best university is the one with the strongest network to employers in the finance sector. I am not entirely sure which uni this is, but I am guessing either Bristol or Exeter.

It also really depends on what specific role in finance you want; all roles in finance are different, and all have different requirements. Once you land a role in finance, it's usually very difficult to switch to another role. Think carefully about this one, and consider what you actually want to do.

If you're purely going into finance to make money, then know that there's more than one way to make money - it doesn't necessarily need to be through finance. People who go into finance needs more than just a drive to make money. If you don't have that, you're not going to get very far in the field.

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