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Intenships (Finance sector)

Hi I have applied to different universities for Finance degrees, however at non target units such as Surrey and reading who have decent business schools in my area. I am predicted AAB. If I go to one of these unis, will I have a disadvantage in getting internships or grad roles post education?

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Depends on what you mean by "finance sector".

For investment banks then if it's not a target uni you probably will be at a disadvantage. Same for management consultancy.

For other roles e.g. actuarial, accountancy, generalist "management" grad schemes etc, I suspect it wouldn't matter.

Reply 2

MaxA06

Yeah, banking or asset/ wealth managing would be the sort of roles I’m looking to work in. Is there anything that I could do to improve my chances to gain an internship or grad scheme jn these?
Another thing I’ve just thought about is going into clearing and trying to get a foundation year/ role in a target/ semi target like Warwick to help?.. would this work?

Reply 3

AndyChow

You are looking at the most elitist, most lucrative jobs in the City. You need Oxbridge LSE to land a graduate role. Don't believe the poison you hear about 'Goldman Sachs hire liberal art students/ uni doesn't matter' nonsense, maybe 1 out of 50 hires are from low-down unis and that's because they have inclusivity quotas. Also it's not just the UK, you will be competing against top Ivy league candidates and we all know how a uni's reputation matters because that's the first stage of slimming down the CV pile from 10000 to 1000.

Here are your options:
1- Re-do another year of A-levels and get 3A* if you think you can (probably involves paying for a grammar school and private tutors)
2- Forget about uni and apply directly to a bank's apprenticeship program (my recommendation, eventually you will need to do a Business master's but you saved yourself 3 years and 50k debt + 3 years of earning power which is like £100k net)
3- Go to a mid uni and be the absolute best student there, then try to get a Masters at Said Business School
4- Give up your dream and find an alternative, less competitive career path

I work in Finance (not gonna tell you where) and the above are viable paths people chose. Lastly most kids like you only seen the money side of things and not aware of the crazy hours they work to and the amount of burnout. There's a good reason why they only hire from top schools. People who can't put in adequate effort at A-levels are not going to survive the brutality of IB.

(edited 4 months ago)

Reply 4

MaxA06

Thanks this has been really helpful… however I thought you had to be a university student to be eligible for an internship programme?

Reply 5

AndyChow

Original post by MaxA06

Thanks this has been really helpful… however I thought you had to be a university student to be eligible for an internship programme?

I meant apprenticeship, sorry. Something like this, which most FS corps are doing a lot these days
https://careers.jpmorgan.com/global/en/students/programs/financial-services-apprenticeship?search=&tags=location__EuropeMiddleEastandAfrica__UnitedKingdom

Reply 6

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by MaxA06

Warwick is a target university as far as I'm aware, not a semi-target?

In any case the way to maximise your chances is to just go to a target uni.

Doesn't matter what subject you do for general investment banking analyst roles - if you have AAB you could do viking and old norse studies at UCL or geography and economic history at LSE and you've ticked the "target university" box.