How to use the summer

Hi all, I will be applying for several 'finance' or 'financial economics' postgrad courses in 2010/11, for example Cambridge MPhil Finance.

I was wondering how to best spend the summer to strengthen my application. Firstly, is this something I'd even mention while applying to these courses, or does this topic really matter very little?

Assuming it matters, here are a few options I've considered [and would still consider without planning for postgrad applications]:

- Summer school, eg the LSE summer school, studying finance or economics
- A French course abroad (I'm monolingual, but a beginner in French)
- Work in the UK, preferably in a finance-related field... But I have no specific opportunity in this area at the moment
- Volunteering abroad, eg with BUNAC

Could anyone recommend which option to take? Any suggestions/advice/information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Reply 1

fankan

I suppose summer school / finance-related work would be a better choice than volunteering & French course - only in terms of boosting your application, of course.

You're a beginner in French so even after the short course, you won't be very fluent in the language - not that they care about this that much AFAIK when considering masters applications? Same case for non-finance-related volunteering, I suppose.

And what do you do for your undergrad degree? Are you sure the summer school courses will suit your needs?

Reply 2

MegaJames

My undergrad degree is Single Hons Economics. Having glanced at the courses available at the LSE, many courses look quite specialised, so I've no doubt that I'd be covering something new to me - but whether or not it directly complements my current course is uncertain.

I am genuinely interested in finance as a subject, though, so I'd enjoy it anyway and I guessed it could act to demonstrate my interest in the subject.

Valid point regarding the French. I suspect you're right that they wouldn't care, although my small hope was that this could stick out as showing a general desire to learn. Volunteering, though, I really can't think of being of much use in this sense - I may cross that one off in terms of usefulness for these apps.

Thanks for the help fankan.