which university to choose MSc Finance/ Accounting &amp; Finance

Consider Henley Business school at Reading as well for finance. Their MSc for finance is #5 in the UK and have a dedicated building just for finance, the ICMA center, that’s separate from the business school building. It’s also close to London so lots of opportunities without the cost of London.

Reply 5

OP

Original post by BenRyan99

You have to remember that the grades stated by universities are the very very minimum they'll accept someone and that most applicants exceed those requirements by varying degrees. As such, I think it's unlikely they'll accept someone who doesn't meet their requirements when they already have 10% acceptance rates for those that are above these minimum requirements.

In terms of other unis, the next one I'd be looking at is definitely Warwick, it's the only other target uni in the UK for finance outside of the ones you mentioned. Beyond that, focus on Manchester, Cass and maybe Edinburgh.

Thank you so much for your reply. I knew that acceptance is unlikely if the minimum requirements are not met, I think I just needed to hear it from someone else before I got my hopes up. Thanks for the suggesting other Universities. Will definitely consider those.

Reply 6

OP

Original post by University of Sheffield Alumni

Hi @staruniverse,

I would definitely recommend you consider studying at Sheffield - the Management School is triple crown accredited, placing it in the global elite of business schools. As part of your course, you'll also have access to a dedicated employability hub and careers programme, called Futures First. Top graduate employers and global corporations also regularly visit the management school to host talks and workshops with our students.

You can read more about the MSc Accounting, Governance and Financial Management course in the online postgraduate prospectus, alongside the full range of MSc courses at Sheffield Management School.

Any further questions, just let me know!

- Ben :smile:

Sheffield Graduate
BSc Molecular Biology, MSc Human and Molecular Genetics

Thank you so much for your reply. I will definitely consider the Sheffield Management School. :smile:

Reply 7

OP

Original post by Loughborough Postgraduate Study

Hi @staruniverse :hello:

I noticed that you mentioned Loughborough and thought I would provide you with some more information in-case it's useful!

We have a range of Finance programmes available, and you can find more information about our programmes, including entry and language requirements, programme content and how to apply, on our website.

Our School of Business and Economics is triple-accredited (AACBS, EQUIS, AMBA). These prestigious international accreditations validate the quality of education offered, from teaching and research to student support and facilities. We also ranked 5th in the UK for Accounting and Finance in The Guardian University Guide 2021. On top of all this, we are a top 10 university in every national league table! But it's not all about rankings - why not take a look at some independent, honest reviews from our students on StudentCrowd to see what they think, or read through our student stories!

We have a range of accommodation available in Loughborough, either on or a short walk from campus. You can also find out more about the student support services we have available, as well as student life in Loughborough. Furthermore, our Loughborough campus is one of the largest in the UK, at 440 acres with everything you need on a single site. Find out more on our website, which includes our campus tour video!

For more reasons to study a master's at Loughborough, check out our website.

If you do decide that you'd like to apply, you can find lots more information on our website too.

I hope this helps!

All the best,
-Dan :smile:

Hi Dan,
Thanks for suggesting Loughborough University. I've already received an Unconditional offer.

Reply 8

OP

Hi John,
Thanks for your honest opinion and suggesting some options abroad. I am looking at a few Universities in Stockholm and Paris. Hope everything goes well.

Reply 9

OP

Original post by Andrew0409

Consider Henley Business school at Reading as well for finance. Their MSc for finance is #5 in the UK and have a dedicated building just for finance, the ICMA center, that’s separate from the business school building. It’s also close to London so lots of opportunities without the cost of London.

Hi Andrew,
Thanks for your email. I will definitely consider Henley Business School. :smile:

Original post by staruniverse

Thank you so much for your reply. I knew that acceptance is unlikely if the minimum requirements are not met, I think I just needed to hear it from someone else before I got my hopes up. Thanks for the suggesting other Universities. Will definitely consider those.

What I was trying to say is that acceptance to the top unis is very unlikely even if you greatly exceed the minimum entry requirements, therefore to not even meet the minimum means there's basically zero chance, it's just reality.

Some general advice, don't look at places like Loughborough, Sheffield or Henley until you've heard back from much better places like Warwick, Stockholm School of Economics and Edinburgh. Those initial 3 unis are 3rd tier at best and that's just in the UK, there are plenty in the UK and rest of Europe that are better (probs about 20-30 unis).

Reply 11

Original post by BenRyan99

What I was trying to say is that acceptance to the top unis is very unlikely even if you greatly exceed the minimum entry requirements, therefore to not even meet the minimum means there's basically zero chance, it's just reality.

Some general advice, don't look at places like Loughborough, Sheffield or Henley until you've heard back from much better places like Warwick, Stockholm School of Economics and Edinburgh. Those initial 3 unis are 3rd tier at best and that's just in the UK, there are plenty in the UK and rest of Europe that are better (probs about 20-30 unis).

I agree with everything but with Henley being 3rd tier. The business school itself might be 3rd tier or lower 2nd, but they are known for finance in the industry. It's one of the best in the UK with an entire dedicated state of the art building just for finance. It's particularly strong in real estate finance and regarded as the best school for real estate finance. FT time ranks their MSc program for finance #5 in the UK. Is it as good as LSE, LBS, Cass, Imperial? Nope, but the school has really pushed their finance program to be world class. I would put their finance program 2nd tier.

Original post by Andrew0409

I agree with everything but with Henley being 3rd tier. The business school itself might be 3rd tier or lower 2nd, but they are known for finance in the industry. It's one of the best in the UK with an entire dedicated state of the art building just for finance. It's particularly strong in real estate finance and regarded as the best school for real estate finance. FT time ranks their MSc program for finance #5 in the UK. Is it as good as LSE, LBS, Cass, Imperial? Nope, but the school has really pushed their finance program to be world class. I would put their finance program 2nd tier.

Firstly, you should never pay almost £20,000 in just tution alone for something second tier. Secondly, your own source, the FT, ranks the course as 31st in Europe and I literally said there were 20-30 better courses in Europe....... Also, being 31st isn't as high as second tier. Just don't know why you'd go to somewhere like reading if you didn't want to specialise in Real Estate, outside of this asset class the uni and course has literally nothing going for it

Reply 13

Original post by BenRyan99

Firstly, you should never pay almost £20,000 in just tution alone for something second tier. Secondly, your own source, the FT, ranks the course as 31st in Europe and I literally said there were 20-30 better courses in Europe....... Also, being 31st isn't as high as second tier. Just don't know why you'd go to somewhere like reading if you didn't want to specialise in Real Estate, outside of this asset class the uni and course has literally nothing going for it

Tiers are pretty subjective. In what ranking would you put in 2nd tier?

I stand by the fact that it's considered 2nd tier in the UK. I would put anything 20-30ish in 2nd tier, being 31st in Europe is about there.

Reading is 25min by train to London, it's not a bad choice if you want the opportunity to network with London's finance industry without the cost of living in London and paying those kinds of tuition. The finance program itself is pretty much a separate entity from Henley with industry connections. UK banks often send their workers to train at the ICMA centre which is the Finance program at Henley. And it's clear the OP is looking at UK schools, I would def put Henley up as an option if schools like LSE, Warwick, Cass, Imperial are out of the question. It doesn't sound like OP has the grades for those schools anyways.

And the tuition isn't all that outrageous compared to other schools. The Investment management program also partners with the CFA, so most students are able to pass the CFA level 1 with ease by the time they graduate.

Besides, Oxbridge, Warwick, Cass, LSE, LBS, Imperia, UCL. Which schools are better? I can think of maybe Edinburgh as you said, but that's pretty much it. I think you're writing off the school a bit to much because Uni Reading and Henley are not the most reputable schools. The finance program is the only thing I would consider worthwhile going to.

(edited 3 years ago)

Original post by Andrew0409

Tiers are pretty subjective. In what ranking would you put in 2nd tier?

I stand by the fact that it's considered 2nd tier in the UK. I would put anything 20-30ish in 2nd tier, being 31st in Europe is about there.

Reading is 25min by train to London, it's not a bad choice if you want the opportunity to network with London's finance industry without the cost of living in London and paying those kinds of tuition. The finance program itself is pretty much a separate entity from Henley with industry connections. UK banks often send their workers to train at the ICMA centre which is the Finance program at Henley. And it's clear the OP is looking at UK schools, I would def put Henley up as an option if schools like LSE, Warwick, Cass, Imperial are out of the question. It doesn't sound like OP has the grades for those schools anyways.

And the tuition isn't all that outrageous compared to other schools. The Investment management program also partners with the CFA, so most students are able to pass the CFA level 1 with ease by the time they graduate.

Besides, Oxbridge, Warwick, Cass, LSE, LBS, Imperia, UCL. Which schools are better? I can think of maybe Edinburgh as you said, but that's pretty much it. I think you're writing off the school a bit to much because Uni Reading and Henley are not the most reputable schools. The finance program is the only thing I would consider worthwhile going to.

It's okay dude, I know you wanna rep the uni, it's only natural. It's just not great to give such biased advice to other people

Reply 15

Original post by BenRyan99

It's okay dude, I know you wanna rep the uni, it's only natural. It's just not great to give such biased advice to other people

I'm just stating facts. It's a good school for finance if the above top tier isn't available. You can't seem to list schools that are a better option in the UK from the ones I've put above it.

Original post by Andrew0409

I'm just stating facts. It's a good school for finance if the above top tier isn't available. You can't seem to list schools that are a better option in the UK from the ones I've put above it.

If you're interested in facts, have you actually looked at the methodology of the FT rankings you've used? They're pretty bizarre! Firstly, the pre-experience master's in finance rankings which is what the OP is asking about, it has a 35% response rate, hopefully I don't need to explain but basically only a third of people even fill out the form so trying to make statements using the rankings are an absolute mess.

Secondly, when you dive deeper into what they use to calculate the actual rankings and their respective weights, it's almost laughable. So 11% of the total ranking comes from how many women study and teach there.... Another 11% is from the diversity in citizenship of the students and faculty, they even allocate some of the weightings towards if people have an extra language. What have any of these actually got to do with the rigour of the program and how well it places..... Just the ones I've listed alone account for 25% of the total rankings.

You asked which schools I'd rank second tier, personally I'd rather go to the MSc finance/finance & investment courses at the unis like Bath, Durham, Bristol, Edinburgh and Nottingham. They're more academically rigourous, they actually do proper maths unlike a lot of the tier3 unis. Perhaps this is personal preference but I reckon most would rather go to these unis over Reading/Henley/ICMA if they're pursuing a non-real estate career. I wonder what the rankings would be like if you took the real estate part out of Henley. I just find it a bit weird to want to rep the uni you attend so much to others...

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 17

Original post by BenRyan99

If you're interested in facts, have you actually looked at the methodology of the FT rankings you've used? They're pretty bizarre! Firstly, the pre-experience master's in finance rankings which is what the OP is asking about, it has a 35% response rate, hopefully I don't need to explain but basically only a third of people even fill out the form so trying to make statements using the rankings are an absolute mess.

Secondly, when you dive deeper into what they use to calculate the actual rankings and their respective weights, it's almost laughable. So 11% of the total ranking comes from how many women study and teach there.... Another 11% is from the diversity in citizenship of the students and faculty, they even allocate some of the weightings towards if people have an extra language. What have any of these actually got to do with the rigour of the program and how well it places..... Just the ones I've listed alone account for 25% of the total rankings.

You asked which schools I'd rank second tier, personally I'd rather go to the MSc finance/finance & investment courses at the unis like Bath, Durham, Bristol, Edinburgh and Nottingham. They're more academically rigourous, they actually do proper maths unlike a lot of the tier3 unis. Perhaps this is personal preference but I reckon most would rather go to these unis over Reading/Henley/ICMA if they're pursuing a non-real estate career. I wonder what the rankings would be like if you took the real estate part out of Henley. I just find it a bit weird to want to rep the uni you attend so much to others...

I'm just giving the guy an option. And looking at salary post-graduation, only graduates from Edinburgh earns more out of the ones you've listed.

I also find what you say about these schools being more academically rigorous untrue, it's not as quant heavy as say Imperial, but it's still a major part of the study. I have a friend at Bath, and the level of difficulty is not that different from comparing with each other. He even acknowledges that Henley grads do earn more.

I've not presented the school as anything but what it is, not sure why you are getting so upset. ICMA centre is highly regarded in the industry in the UK. I find it weird you seem to now want to accept and fight it so hard.

(edited 3 years ago)

Original post by Andrew0409

I'm just giving the guy an option. And looking at salary post-graduation, only graduates from Edinburgh earns more out of the ones you've listed.

I also find what you say about these schools being more academically rigorous untrue, it's not as quant heavy as say Imperial, but it's still a major part of the study. I have a friend at Bath, and the level of difficulty is not that different from comparing with each other. He even acknowledges that Henley grads do earn more.

I've not presented the school as anything but what it is, not sure why you are getting so upset.

You're tone is quite petty saying things like "why are you getting so upset".... also there's not much point in stating the post graduation salaries if you don't want to go into real estate, basically all the high salaries come from students going into real estate investment firms.

But I've been looking through all the topics in the modules. Your friends course must be really un-quant based if yours is the same difficulty as his because the quant modules are okay but the content is practically all 2nd & 3rd year type maths and stats, not what you want from a 17k master's. The fact that stuff like OLS, hypothesis testing, linear regression and stationarity are the topics in the quant methods module is an absolute joke. Most Econ degrees cover that in 1st year, possibly 2nd yr.

Even the financial econometrics stuff is undergrad level. You even cover univariate time-series models, basic basic panel (fixed and random effects I assume?) You also do VAR, VECM and ARCH models which are just 3rd year topics on most Econ/finance degrees? You don't even do stuff like discrete choice models (logit, probit, Tobit, censoring and truncating), or bootstrapping, Markov chains or simulation methods like Monte Carlos, bootstrapping, jackknife, ridge regressions. But like a lot of undegrads cover GMM, IV, MLE and GARCH models so the fact that these aren't covered would personally worry me personally.

Reply 19