Durham, Bristol or Notts for Investment Banking.

Hey!

I have received offers from Durham (Finance - AAB), Bristol (Finance - AAA), and Notts (Fin, Acc & Man - AAB). I like all these unis for different reasons and am really confused about which one to choose. I know all these are Semi-Target Unis, and there isn't much difference between which uni is given more weight in terms of recruiting.

BUT is there one you would rec out of the 3 (and why!).

Thank you!

There's not much in it tbh. You could argue that Durham wins in terms of placement however I think
maybe pick based on other factors. I think from any of these unis, you stand a chance.

Durham and Notts are campus unis, Bristol is a city uni. They all have quite different reputations as universities that largely hold true tbh.

Hey Thomas,
I don't know much about the Finance course but in terms of the unis you mentioned in general, I have some thoughts.
The 3 unis you've mentioned are all very different in terms of how they're set up - Durham has a collegiate system, where you live in a college and there's attachment to that college throughout your time at uni, Bristol is a city uni with uni buildings dotted around, and Nottingham is a campus uni, there's a huge main campus with teaching buildings, sports facilities, libraries, accommodation etc about 20 mins from the city centre. I think each of them is suited to a different type of person so it's worth working out what your preferences are.
I'm at UoN and for me the campus is perfect, I love having everything to do with uni in one place and it's such a beautiful place to study. If you have any questions about campus unis or UoN then I'm happy to answer those.
Lucy

Thank you for your replies!

I am an international student from Sydney, Aus, and am not really sure about what the actual local stereotypes and stuff are. That may well be the reason I am confused about which of these unis to choose.
Ik that Durham is quite cold being up North (but pretty sure all of the UK is), but I think the collegiate system is really cool and unique.
As for Bristol and Notts, I think they are in really good cities, and from what I've heard they have pretty good social scenes.

I like all the three unis for different reasons and therefore wanted to come down to IB reputation (even though they are incredibly similar in those as well)
I also received an offer from Lboro but ruled it out because they have the same requirements as Durham and Notts. And I am awaiting LSE, but I am not sure I want to live in London for uni as I have lived all my life in an incredibly large city as well.

Thank you for your input tho!

The North is far colder than the south in general. Far rainier too. Though honestly I don't think that should factor into your decision too much.

Do a bit more research on the reps of each uni. In my personal experience of each:
*Bristol - diverse, edgy, party drugs, but posh at the same time, great night life especially for electronic music
*Notts - down to earth, diverse, real mix of people here as its such a big uni, great and diverse nightlife
*Durham - posh, near to Newcastle which has great nightlife but Durham itself is kinda dead and )going to a different city for nightlife is not as easy as it sounds), posh (Idk much about durham)

The North is far colder than the south in general. Far rainier too. Though honestly I don't think that should factor into your decision too much.

Do a bit more research on the reps of each uni. In my personal experience of each:
*Bristol - diverse, edgy, party drugs, but posh at the same time, great night life especially for electronic music
*Notts - down to earth, diverse, real mix of people here as its such a big uni, great and diverse nightlife
*Durham - posh, near to Newcastle which has great nightlife but Durham itself is kinda dead and )going to a different city for nightlife is not as easy as it sounds), posh (Idk much about durham)

Yes, the poshness about Durham needs to be emphasised. A lot of private/boarding school educated students there. I've read it's very elitist.

Just out of curiosity then, wouldn't Durham be an ideal IB recruiting uni as other target unis are quite 'posh' as well?

TBH other target unis aren’t that posh, ucl/imperial/lse are just stock full of international students who may come from money but their being foreign means they’re not really posh/elitist. Oxbridge are now almost 60-70% state school educated and this number varies drastically between colleges so it’s more college specific; Durham definitely is a cut above other uk unis in terms of poshness. The academic pedigree required to get in and general intelligence of its grads is what makes it a low target/high semi target university. I’m gonna go ahead and firm that going to Durham instead of UCL or Warwick or imperial bears no disadvantage. I know some shops tend to value oxbridge and to some extent LSE a lot more highly than other universities.

"the academic pedigree required to get in and general intelligence of its grads" - LMAO

It's a decent uni that takes above-average students who like to pretend they're at Oxbridge. We're talking about a university that regularly gives offers to 80% of applicants ffs. OP, I'd go with Durham in this case but make no mistake, If you had warwick/ucl/icl, you go for them without a second thought if you want to get into IB. They have much stronger alumni links to top banks and stronger international reputations which Durham has yet to develop.

Also, it's not a "target uni".

Iirc most of Durham’s academic courses require AAB or higher which is better than what the vast majority of A-level takers will achieve. That is a very positive illustration of their academic pedigree and is all any investment bank will ever ask for. Academic pedigree need not equate to 5 x A*. There is a gap between those schools and Durham, but it’s not as significant to warrant picking one over the other, other factors such as course and which you wanna go to will come into play. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1n1vLYhVzGB_g7_eJKCebn21C8dyb7x5r/htmlview# Durham has recently begun to place really well, considerably closer to schools like Warwick and ICL then somewhere like Bath. It’s a semi target.

Fwiw Warwick gives out offers to 72% of its undergrads and I don’t think international rep is as big a factor. WW international reputation isn’t as strong as a place like KCL but is a target and the latter is not.

Hey!

I have received offers from Durham (Finance - AAB), Bristol (Finance - AAA), and Notts (Fin, Acc & Man - AAB). I like all these unis for different reasons and am really confused about which one to choose. I know all these are Semi-Target Unis, and there isn't much difference between which uni is given more weight in terms of recruiting.

BUT is there one you would rec out of the 3 (and why!).

Thank you!

If you end up getting an offer from LSE, and if your primary selection criteria is reputation with IB, then I would recommend LSE. Between Durham and Bristol, there is really not much in it regarding reputation/ranking etc, so you should go with whichever one looks more appealing to you in terms of course, social life, city etc.

Just out of curiosity then, wouldn't Durham be an ideal IB recruiting uni as other target unis are quite 'posh' as well?

Thank you very much for all the replies - hopefully, I can decide which uni out of the 3, I can see myself at the most.

Hey!

I have received offers from Durham (Finance - AAB), Bristol (Finance - AAA), and Notts (Fin, Acc & Man - AAB). I like all these unis for different reasons and am really confused about which one to choose. I know all these are Semi-Target Unis, and there isn't much difference between which uni is given more weight in terms of recruiting.

BUT is there one you would rec out of the 3 (and why!).

Thank you!

An extra factor to consider is that the course you've mentioned at Nottingham is considered weak there. Most of their students who are successful in IB recruiting come from their economics degree programs, not their business school subjects (industrial economics does okay but not as strong as straight Econ or its variants). Lovely uni and campus tho, just think the specific course you mentioned is a fair bit weaker than those at Bristol and Durham.

If it was me I would go with Durham personally. Their business school is definitely better than Bristol's equivalent for finance subjects (excluding economics where I think Bristol > Durham but that's kinda irrelevant here). Whilst Durham is a bit of a small boring city, the college system is good and it's got a pretty good rep too. Compared to Bristol, it's either similar or Durham edges it imo.

Feel like the main difference between the two, aside from location and cities, is that Durham students tend to play up to being posh whereas Bristol students tend to try to play down how posh they are relative to Durham (big generalisation tho I know, just my personal experience). Either way, both are great and there will be a tonne of very normal state school students at both so I wouldn't let the presence of slightly more posh people at one influence your decision too much.

Instead, I'd recommend going through the modules that Bristol and Durham offer for their BSc Finance courses, especially the latter year optional modules. See which you think suit your personal interests more closely and go from there.

An extra factor to consider is that the course you've mentioned at Nottingham is considered weak there. Most of their students who are successful in IB recruiting come from their economics degree programs, not their business school subjects (industrial economics does okay but not as strong as straight Econ or its variants). Lovely uni and campus tho, just think the specific course you mentioned is a fair bit weaker than those at Bristol and Durham.

If it was me I would go with Durham personally. Their business school is definitely better than Bristol's equivalent for finance subjects (excluding economics where I think Bristol > Durham but that's kinda irrelevant here). Whilst Durham is a bit of a small boring city, the college system is good and it's got a pretty good rep too. Compared to Bristol, it's either similar or Durham edges it imo.

Feel like the main difference between the two, aside from location and cities, is that Durham students tend to play up to being posh whereas Bristol students tend to try to play down how posh they are relative to Durham (big generalisation tho I know, just my personal experience). Either way, both are great and there will be a tonne of very normal state school students at both so I wouldn't let the presence of slightly more posh people at one influence your decision too much.

Instead, I'd recommend going through the modules that Bristol and Durham offer for their BSc Finance courses, especially the latter year optional modules. See which you think suit your personal interests more closely and go from there.

Lol, why is it weaker? I'm applying for the course and I love the modules. Plus, I've checked on LinkedIn and there are quite a lot of people in IB w/ this course however, most of the graduates go on to do accounting.