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Help deciding Masters for banking

Hey,

I recently graduated from Warwick in Biochemistry with a 2:1. I have received offers from;

•

Warwick Business School to study Business (Finance & Accounting)

•

Bath School of Management to study Management and Finance.

In your honest opinions which one do you think I should accept? Warwick is £23,500 (£17,000 with my scholarship) and I would have to pay for accommodation whereas Bath is £10,500 and I wouldn't have to pay for accommodation because we have a flat there. I really would like to go into banking so which course do you think will help me the most?

Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

catchbee

Hi
I have 16 years of working in banking. Front line and back office. I would say your course choice depends on what avenue of career you hope for in banking. There are a wealth of opportunities either in the customer facing or back office departments. If you have a preference for back office then the accounting and finance would be more suitable and if you fancy customer facing and management the obviously the other course would be more suitable. Bear in mind applications for roles in banking are still very competitive and you will be applying alongside other candidates with possible work experience, so any work experience you can get in any area of banking/finance will definitely help you on the ladder to your chosen career. Good luck for the future.

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Reply 2

FreddieDash

Thanks for your reply. I think front office would suit me better. So overall you are saying that a Masters is going to help me and not hinder me at all? I have an internship lined up but is with a small company which offer betting on the stock market. Do you think this is relevant enough.

Thanks again.

Reply 3

catchbee

I don't see how any kind of further qualification in a finance related subject could hinder you really and the internship experience would be a big help to you in the way of experience and for you to get a feel for what you enjoy doing.
I left school at 16 went into finance at 18 ( with no a levels/degree) and worked my way up from customer adviser on the counter to a senior branch manager whilst doing some back office roles in training, project management and operations along the way. So in my experience of working in banking, having a degree in a finance related subject will give you credibility within an organisation but career progression/success will highly depend on your experience and motivation which you can only demonstrate through work experience. Also you there are also industry related qualifications which will apply to some banking roles which you may need to complete. Particularly if you are customer facing. In a nutshell you are going along the right path and I hope I'm making sense.

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Reply 4

catchbee

By the way as an ex branch manager when recruiting customer facing staff. The requirements were heavily weighted towards sales experience/success. So if customer facing is your preference bear this in mind when building CVs

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Reply 5

username474976

Depends on what banking career you mean. Retail/commercial is a lot easier to get into than the bulge bracket IBs.

Warwick has the better business school out of those two

Reply 6

Commercial Paper

Move this to IB/Consultancy forum in the Careers section to get a better response.

I think the general consensus for front office investment banking is Warwick over Bath though.

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(edited 10 years ago)