Investment Banking - PWC Accountancy course vs Economics. Help much appreciated

*Long*
*Confused young student warning *


Sooooo, results day came.
A* - Chem
A - Maths and Econ

I have been accepted into my firm choice - Nottingham.
I am doing the Accountancy course. It is special because it is a 4yr course partnered with PWC. For my first year, I study as a normal student. For my 2nd and 3rd year, I am doing 4-month audit placements (Sept-Dec) in a PWC office of my choice in the UK. (Aberdeen, Charing Cross (London), Birmingham etc). The same happens in the 4th year except the placement is from January to May.

Some info:

These placements are paid and I put what I have learned into practice. I may have clients abroad and do get to travel.
PWC will also subsidise some of my living costs.
You also get 12/15 accounting exemptions from the course and can become chartered quickly after you graduate.
Oh, and if you graduate with a 2:1 or higher, PWC offers you a job at a level above a normal graduate, but of course I want to go into IB.

There are other smaller details about the course but those are the main ones.
Here is the brochure if I missed anything:
https://www.pwc.co.uk/careers/documents/brochure-nottingham-flying-start.pdf
So as you can tell, the course is quite good in the sense that I get paid and get experience in the industry (not quite IB industry, but still the financial sector) with some network to PWC. This is opposed to a normal 3-year Economics course. Nottingham is also a top Russel university so I think that should also boost me.

So finally, a few questions:
Is this Accountancy course (and banking placements that I will do in summer) good enough to get me into top IB jobs?

People will probably say Econ but is Econ that much better that I should leave this unique and new course?

Or is my course good enough given that there is no "Investment Banking" subject at uni and people can get into it with degrees of all sorts (philosophy, law etc) ?

Economics is also very common for these jobs, so could this course and placement experience (alongside banking placements I will do in summer) give some edge?


Thank you so much if you read this far and I really appreciate advice from anybody knowledgeable on this topic!!

*Long*
*Confused young student warning *


Sooooo, results day came.
A* - Chem
A - Maths and Econ

I have been accepted into my firm choice - Nottingham.
I am doing the Accountancy course. It is special because it is a 4yr course partnered with PWC. For my first year, I study as a normal student. For my 2nd and 3rd year, I am doing 4-month audit placements (Sept-Dec) in a PWC office of my choice in the UK. (Aberdeen, Charing Cross (London), Birmingham etc). The same happens in the 4th year except the placement is from January to May.

Some info:

These placements are paid and I put what I have learned into practice. I may have clients abroad and do get to travel.
PWC will also subsidise some of my living costs.
You also get 12/15 accounting exemptions from the course and can become chartered quickly after you graduate.
Oh, and if you graduate with a 2:1 or higher, PWC offers you a job at a level above a normal graduate, but of course I want to go into IB.

There are other smaller details about the course but those are the main ones.
Here is the brochure if I missed anything:
https://www.pwc.co.uk/careers/documents/brochure-nottingham-flying-start.pdf
So as you can tell, the course is quite good in the sense that I get paid and get experience in the industry (not quite IB industry, but still the financial sector) with some network to PWC. This is opposed to a normal 3-year Economics course. Nottingham is also a top Russel university so I think that should also boost me.

So finally, a few questions:
Is this Accountancy course (and banking placements that I will do in summer) good enough to get me into top IB jobs?

People will probably say Econ but is Econ that much better that I should leave this unique and new course?

Or is my course good enough given that there is no "Investment Banking" subject at uni and people can get into it with degrees of all sorts (philosophy, law etc) ?

Economics is also very common for these jobs, so could this course and placement experience (alongside banking placements I will do in summer) give some edge?


Thank you so much if you read this far and I really appreciate advice from anybody knowledgeable on this topic!!

PwC flying start is notoriously tough to get into and also incredibly hard to pass. On average about 45 start and about 20 are left standing. Alot of people are kicked back down into normal accounting. I can't much comment on wether it would be top for investment banking as a career, but it would give you a unique qualification that is very sought after and much more rigourous than most undergrad degrees. Your also basically guaranteed a job offer with a prestigious employer. That being said i would only recommend the course if you really appreciate accounting. Most of the modules taken in the business school for the course can only be taken by flying start students. It's very unqiue but some feel boxed in and often are overwhelmed by the complexity of especially in year two. For example fail rates within NUBS generally follow a 10:50:20:10 pattern by grade divisions with 10 getting a first and then descending. However within accounting it's often more of a 10:40:30:20 pattern because of the complexity. You are required to take all of the most difficult accounting modules, from theory to practice. However, you then graduate with a ton of exemptions on route to becoming an account.. This however, has nothing to do with a level one CFA...

Accounting is also just alot of tricky basic calculations, not very much finance related material. In all honesty the best degree at Notts to actually prepare you for IB would likely be Finance, Accounting and Management, or Industrial Economics, where you actually learn economics from a pure business school perspective rather than the BsC economics.

Though obviously if you love accounting and want guaranteed reputable work experience, i would just stick with flying start.

But if you don't particularly love accounting look into switching into FAM, or Industrial Economics. You can discuss this with student services during welcome week.

I'm a 3rd Year in Management at Nottingham. So i have a pretty good knowledge of the business school and what courses require and are designed for. So feel free to PM if you have any further questions.

Is this Accountancy course (and banking placements that I will do in summer) good enough to get me into top IB jobs?
If I am right, you have no obligation to stick with PWC after your degree? And you have the chance to apply for spring week /internships whilst doing it?

I think Princepieman can provide the stock response to this - but I think if you are keen for a top 'IB' job it may be a longer term play either doing ACA or a Masters.

People will probably say Econ but is Econ that much better that I should leave this unique and new course?
No - unique is good, Econ is fine but the same old same old. Diversifying yourself by saying you're getting experience and studying (and in a way, already proved yourself by getting an offer from PwC via multiple placements) is basically like dangling an offer in the face of future employers. This degree is very good and the chance to accumulate months of placement experience is solid - stick with it.

Or is my course good enough given that there is no "Investment Banking" subject at uni and people can get into it with degrees of all sorts (philosophy, law etc) ?
Studying a course called Investment Banking, or Investment Management is a marketing con - they have no such 'advantage' in securing jobs.

Economics is also very common for these jobs, so could this course and placement experience (alongside banking placements I will do in summer) give some edge?

Yes definitely - your profile will stand out.

Hi,

I believe you received an answer to this post, but the responder created a new thread, rather than respond to your current thread. This is the thread if you want to check out the answer:

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6084644

Will write more shortly but I would try to contact people who are on the PWC course asap. You can probably find some on TSR by looking down previous threads. @Realitysreflexx is a Notts student who has mentioned knowing people on that course.

Thank you so much by the way.

It's not so much that I love accountancy though in regards to "Though obviously if you love accounting and want guaranteed reputable work experience, I would just stick with flying start" however I do like this course and Nottingham university and the opportunities it brings me in the future. Economics is my favored subject in terms of what intrigues me however I just feel like this specific course is good for what I want to do in terms of employment in years to come. I do definitely like the idea of accounting but my only fear is that when I actually do it, it won't interest me. Do you have any idea on whether Accountancy is interesting? Because we didn't have it in A-Level so I have never done it but the insight I have had has interested me. I also loved Economics but I just wasn't to keen on the Economics courses in uni hence why I picked this course.

In terms of IB, I know there are other courses that may give me better knowledge such as FAM or IE like you said, but in terms of having a unique CV and work experience by 21, could that be really beneficial? My main wish is that it is still possible for me to switch over to IB easily.

Again thanks a lot man, I got good A levels but I don't feel good because I don't even know if this is what I want to do anymore or if its even right for me.

Wow haha thanks !