M.Litt Finanace and Management (St.Andrews) vs MSc Corporate Finance (Cass)

I studied for my Bachelors in Business Management in London and graduated last year and two friends of mine are now at St. Andrews, one is on the Mlitt Finance and another on the Mlitt International Business and we all went to the open evenings for the Cass MSc's and another friend is on the M.Sc. Energy, Trade & Finance.

Cass Business School is really good for placements which is crucial (Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, UBS, etc..) and London offers plenty of opportunities, though I could never understand how they quite justify tuition fees 100% more than 95% of the other Business Schools.

The M.Sc. Energy, Shipping, Trade & Finance courses are £23,000 this year!

The Cass Business School is a separate entity to City campus and there is an incredible atmosphere there with free copies of the FT to pick up every morning and specialist Bloomberg Terminals etc.

Both schools are highly revered, and attract a high calibre of international students from many countries, so the network is going to be similar, personal opinion - I believe Cass will offer the better networking opportunity - especially if you are really proactive about it.

St. Andrews is called the 'bubble' for a reason but everyone there is incredibly focused but it really is out in the sticks!

I would say the end result is going to be similar - employers do understand what Cass is trying to do in churning out 'City' industry professionals and I see on Linkedin more graduates from Cass working in the City, if that is what you are ultimately aiming for, which studying finance I assume is.

I don't think St Andrews is going to be a real hindrance or disadvantage.

£14,000 though! that's another M.Sc.!

If you've got that extra 14,000 you could consider Zicklin School of Business in New York (My My friend did an exchange year at CUNY and got a placement with UBS, and needed to prove she had 13,000 in her account to support herself) http://zicklin.baruch.cuny.edu/programs/graduate/ms and here are the tuition fees http://zicklin.baruch.cuny.edu/admissions/grad/tuition.html but, I don't know, if you're a home or international student, for internationalising your CV, which you might be doing by studying in London.

It's been difficult to answer this! I think I would go for cost if it were me, purely on the fact that Cass is expensive, but it is London!

If both courses were the same price - Cass, no questions.

It does come down to cost doesn't it?! I feel your pain! I think Cass is confident it can charge that much because it will deliver.

I hope it helps you get a step further.

Thanks for your advice.

Currently, I’ve just been told at rather short notice to attend an interview at Cass for the MSc in Energy, Trading and Finance.

I was wondering if you could share some tips on what to expect from this interview. I tried using the search function but not a lot of totally relevant stuff came up.

Any help would be very much appreciated

I interviewed over the phone, but I don't think it should be that different. None of the questions should surprise you. If you're an international student, they'll probably try to get a sense of your English proficiency. Otherwise, they'll just need to understand how comfortable you are with quantitative subjects, your current experience, how you can enrich class discussions and possibly your goals for the future. Relax, ask questions if you have any (maybe ask them to justify the fees! ). It's no job interview. They'll only try to determine whether or not you're a good fit for the class, and you should go in there to find out the same.

Good luck.

Thanks for your reply , have you got the offer already ?

These questions just made my hair curl



Scared, very scared, but thank you for your well wishes.