What do Finance employers think of City university?

I understand that it is an ex polytechnic university but do employers look down on that even though I heard from a couple of people that it's a finance type university therefore employers may like that?

If you went to the Banking & Finance fair today you would have been able to see firsthand what finance employers think of City. There were loads of respectable employers there, from ACCA, Bloomberg, Barclays Capital, KPMG, Nomura, , PwC, Credit Suisse, Watson Wyatt and loads more

Wow, top employers there! Is the Banking and finance fair open to everyone at City including cass students. Also are you at cass?

Yes, I'm at Cass doing IFRM. The fair was open to all City students, and if you go to http://www.city.ac.uk/careers/events/ you can see the list of other fairs and events in the future.

Nice, yes Im confused on wether to apply for a course at Cass or not. I'm puting City as my insurance as they only need ABB. But as for Cass, I feel as if their courses are too specialised, I think I may apply for it at MSc level as I'm not sure I want to go into Banking/finance straight away, want to maybe further study Economics/Development Econ and Economic History/International Relations.

I had the exact same problem as OP, either City or Queen Mary, even though QM is Uni of London, I don't think it counts for a lot, the employers are impressed by UCL/LSE and to some extent Kings, but Queen Mary/Royal Holloway aren't exactly going to give the same effect as LSE/UCL. Plus QM's employment rates aren't the greatest, and I have to put up with Mile end.

How's your experience of City been? I've been on a tour/open day etc and heard from two or three students. It's not brillianty ranked but I think that's due to student satisfaction and the A level entry requirements aren't very high but they are getting higher, plus courses are becoming more popular. At the end of the day, it's graduates do brilliantly in the Job market and postgrad study is excellent as well with Cass/UCL/LSE nearby. Do you know how many people go to LSE/UCL/Oxbridge for postgrad from City.

It depends on what you want to do after you graduate, tbh if you want to go into banking/finance you dont really have to do a finance related degree, just do a numerate degree like maths, physics, economics etc (the more difficult the better), but I wouldnt do Econ at City, there are much better places to do econ. Cass's undergraduate and postgrad programmes are held in high repute by employers, but it's the postgrad that get's the real attention. I myself thought Cass's degrees were too specialised, but then I figured if I did economics I would still probably end up working in business/finance anyway.



Trust me, in terms of reputation and employer opinion, a specialised degree from Cass will look much better than a broader degree from QM/RH. Especially considering that alot of business/finance employers target Cass for new graduates, whereas QM/RH dont receive half as much attention from business employers as Cass does.



Cass is becoming more exclusive, I think the entry requirements for Actuarial Science and Accounting & Finance are AAA (higher than LSE), and all the rest are AAB, and I read something a while back about Cass being the best place in the country for Actuarial Science. In terms of teaching City doesnt offer the best (I mean it doesnt have the academic talent on offer at the likes of LSE/Oxbridge), but it's sufficient. In terms of what's on offer socially, it's not the best but there are lots of societies and extra-curricular things for you to do and there's always something different for you to do every week. One of City's strong points though is its Careers Service, it does have like the most graduate employees in the country and the careers services are always holding events and other things with employers in practically all degrees/disciplines, as well the other service they offer like mock interviews, CV help, professional placements, they help you find internships, and lots more.

Hmm... fair points, especially the one regarding Cass degrees being too finance orientated. Thats the thing though, I can't envisage me working in finance, accountancy is just too boring for me, same with banking, like consultancy and further study more lol

How is City for Economics, I know its not the creme de la creme, it doesn't come near UCL/LSE for reputation, they are UCL/LSE lol but I think they come just after the top 15, after the likes of Loughborough, York, Southampton, Birmingham, Manchester, (I would put City here), Queen Mary, Reading, East Anglia, Brunel etc... so a middle of the road Uni, but as you said it's one of the best for graduate employment, and all the Economics students I've talked to at City have gotten very good jobs, my friend just graduated, he was working at DB Mid Office and is now at a hedge fund, another is doing an MSc in Finance or International Relations at LSE, can't remember which, few went to Cass as they got a 15% discount or something off their MSc.

City Econ is my insurance anyway, but am I right in saying that you would put City Econ above Queen Mary Econ? City Econ wasn't in clearing at all, neither was Cass I belive, Queen Mary straight Econ was in clearing for 1-2 days and some variant courses were in clearing for quite a few days, I think the Econ and Geog/Econ and International development.

Let me flat out say if you dont want to work in business/finance dont go to Cass undergraduate, but if you want to work in consultancy the Cass postgrad offers a more varied range of courses than the undergrad programme, not to mention that Cass postgrad programme is one of the best in Europe.



Your rankings are pretty much on the dot. If it's a successful career you want, you will go much further with a Cass degree than City econ degree, but seeing as you're not really into business/finance I would go somewhere with a better overall reputation (like Manchester or Birmingham).



what's your firm? In terms of ranking, it would go: 1. any Cass degree, 2.City Econ, 3.QM Econ, but like I said if you want to do econ there are much better places to do it than City.