The Student Room Group
Reply 1
Manchester.
Reply 2
Original post by theseeker
What would be best to break into FO IB...Maths with Management and finance at Kings College or Economics at Manchester? :smile:


Take KCL. Reasons:

a) KCL is higher ranked & more targeted by most employers than Manchester. Rather fortunately or unfortunately for some, some employers choose which unis to visit simply by looking at a rankings list and picking the top 10 unis to visit say.

b) In KCL, you are in London which will give you an advantage in terms of networking and learning about the industry, as well as getting relevant experience.
Original post by theseeker
What would be best to break into FO IB...Maths with Management and finance at Kings College or Economics at Manchester? :smile:

BA or BSC?
Reply 4
Original post by CoolStoryBroo
BA or BSC?


Both Bsc.
Take King's. A lot of networking opportunities in London.
BSc Econ at Manchester is among their most rigorous courses. 300 do BAEcon, whilst only around 100 do the BSc, I'd say Manchester. Any networking ops in London would be limited. Let's face it, you're in the shadows of Imperial, UCL, LSE - majority of whom will be trying similar things to you and will have more chance of succeeding.

As for MAINE, that's BS, Manchester attracts more top employers and is more targeted than KCL. Third only to Warwick and Notts. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/student-life/9796679/Warwick-University-top-target-for-graduate-employers.html

Target by the banks are about equal for both universities and are both 'third tier' in the banking world.
Reply 7
Original post by Makebelieve15
BSc Econ at Manchester is among their most rigorous courses. 300 do BAEcon, whilst only around 100 do the BSc, I'd say Manchester. Any networking ops in London would be limited. Let's face it, you're in the shadows of Imperial, UCL, LSE - majority of whom will be trying similar things to you and will have more chance of succeeding.

As for MAINE, that's BS, Manchester attracts more top employers and is more targeted than KCL. Third only to Warwick and Notts. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/student-life/9796679/Warwick-University-top-target-for-graduate-employers.html

Target by the banks are about equal for both universities and are both 'third tier' in the banking world.



lol, those articles are what's BS. Just look at the list for christsake. You seriously think that Manchester is more targeted by employers than Cambridge? or Sheffield and Loughborough are more targeted than LSE & UCL?....Seriously please wake the **** up.

I dont know exactly how those rankings are calculated but take them with a huge truckload of salt. Generally speaking, the highest ranked unis are the ones that get the most attention from employers (please dont make me spell out why this is the case), with a few exceptions here and there.

Re: KCL vs Manchester specifically:

A - Employers have limited resources and can only visit so many unis, and Manchester is usually on most employers lists simply because they have twice as many students as any other uni. Substantiating this point, there are other unis in the Top 20 that are just as good, or even higher ranked than Manchester that don’t attract as much attention from employers.

B - Banking & finance employers are known to be more elitist and selective than pretty much all other industries when it comes to hiring. Like I said, for some employers selecting which unis to visit can effectively boil down to simply taking a look at rankings over the past 3 years or so say and just going to the top 10 unis or so. KCL is higher ranked than Manchester in pretty much all rankings, and so receives more attention from employers in this respect.

C - Also KCL is in London, which makes it an easy uni to visit for some of the smaller banks/financial firms that don’t have the resources to send scores of people to different parts of the country. Plus, although a lot of banking employers may be visiting Manchester, most banks already know they will get ~80% of their FO grads/interns from their core group of target unis (this happens year after year), so they may see Manchester as more of target for MO/BO rather than FO…even if they do hold the odd Front Office event at Manchester now and again.

All these reasons and more, is why for the sakes of banking recruitment KCL is superior to Manchester.
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by MAINE.
lol, those articles are what's BS. Just look at the list for christsake. You seriously think that Manchester is more targeted by employers than Cambridge? or Sheffield and Loughborough are more targeted than LSE & UCL?....Seriously please wake the **** up.

I dont know exactly how those rankings are calculated but take them with a huge truckload of salt. Generally speaking, the highest ranked unis are the ones that get the most attention from employers (please dont make me spell out why this is the case), with a few exceptions here and there.

Re: KCL vs Manchester specifically:

A - Employers have limited resources and can only visit so many unis, and Manchester is usually on most employers lists simply because they have twice as many students as any other uni. Substantiating this point, there are other unis in the Top 20 that are just as good, or even higher ranked than Manchester that don’t attract as much attention from employers.

B - Banking & finance employers are known to be more elitist and selective than pretty much all other industries when it comes to hiring. Like I said, for some employers selecting which unis to visit can effectively boil down to simply taking a look at rankings over the past 3 years or so say and just going to the top 10 unis or so. KCL is higher ranked than Manchester in pretty much all rankings, and so receives more attention from employers in this respect.

C - Also KCL is in London, which makes it an easy uni to visit for some of the smaller banks/financial firms that don’t have the resources to send scores of people to different parts of the country. Plus, although a lot of banking employers may be visiting Manchester, most banks already know they will get ~80% of their FO grads/interns from their core group of target unis (this happens year after year), so they see Manchester as more of target for MO/BO rather than FO…even if they do hold the odd Front Office event at Manchester now and again.

All these reasons and more, is why for the sakes of banking recruitment KCL is superior to Manchester.


KCL isn't even ranked that highly lol - what is it, 18th? You say a lot about top 10, I can assure you, King's is not a top 10.

And other unis are indeed probably more targeted than Oxbridge/LSE/UCL, why? Because many firms know they probably won't be able to attract such calibre and thus don't bother trying to attract their applications. That's the same reason why MBB only visit the top 6 universities in England an no one else, so it works both ways.

The way you're talking it's as if KCL will be much better than Manchester, when in reality, going to either means you'll have pretty much an equal chance on paper.

OP should just go to the one he prefers as in all likelihood he probably won't get into FO banking from either.
Reply 9
Original post by Makebelieve15
KCL isn't even ranked that highly lol - what is it, 18th? You say a lot about top 10, I can assure you, King's is not a top 10.

And other unis are indeed probably more targeted than Oxbridge/LSE/UCL, why? Because many firms know they probably won't be able to attract such calibre and thus don't bother trying to attract their applications. That's the same reason why MBB only visit the top 6 universities in England an no one else, so it works both ways.

The way you're talking it's as if KCL will be much better than Manchester, when in reality, going to either means you'll have pretty much an equal chance on paper.

OP should just go to the one he prefers as in all likelihood he probably won't get into FO banking from either.


When you say Kings is 18th which rankings are you referring to specifically?

The Times are the only ones who make credible rankings, and even then, if you want the best gauge of the calibre of the institution you only really need to look at 'entry standards' and 'research quality'. Based on those metrics from the Times 2011/12 rankings Kings is ranked 11/12th.

I only said "Top 10" as an example. A bank might choose to visit its Top 15, or even only its Top 5 (saw this more at the peak of the financial crisis).

Yes, the difference between Kings & Manchester may be only marginal in reality (and whether you break in depends more on you as a person, rather than simply what uni you went to), but my argument is simply that a) the difference is positive in Kings' favour, and b) the difference can be explained by certain factors (eg. London advantage; higher rankings; etc)
Kings definitely! The rankings you're referring to doesn't take into account employment after graduations, and for sure employers will see KCL and you'll have an advantage. http://blog.studylondon.ac.uk/2012/09/london-best-for-uk-graduate-salaries/
shows the starting salaries on average
Reply 11
Kcl hands down duh
Original post by theseeker
What would be best to break into FO IB...Maths with Management and finance at Kings College or Economics at Manchester? :smile:


Neither are hard 'target' unis, but both are still on the IB milkround.

I dont think it will make a big difference, it will be more based on your ability to perform well on the recruitment cycle rather than the uni.

I think Kings advantage is that it is already in London so is easier to go to insight days/spring weeks etc at the start of the process, but if your willing to do the travel from Manchester then its basically equal-ish.
Go to Kings manchester is not very good for banking