City Unviversity London Cass Business School or Durham Business School?

Hello Everyone,

I am a high school student from Turkey and I am currently holding an offer from City University London Cass Business school, on Banking and International Finance. I also hold an offer from Durham Busines School on Finance. I do not know which university's business school is more prestigious. I know that Durham, overall, is a more prestigious university but I also heard that Cass business school is pretty good even though City University as a whole is not as good as Durham.

I want to get a job in the finance sector in the future and I don't know which university would provide me a better education and services. Would employers prefer a Cass graduate over a Durham Business School graduate? Can I be a investment banker if I graduate from these universities?

Thank you very Much!

Reply 1

Liberalists

Original post by laralara

To my knowledge they're both semi-target universities for Investment banking. Cass is ranked 4th whereas Durham is ranked 19 according to Gaurdian league tables for studies in the related field of finance and management.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/education/table/2013/jun/04/university-guide-business-management-studies

Personally I'd go with Cass due to its international Business reputation, although the majority of students are international students due to its reputability. Whereas Durham is a more traditional UK university and a member of Russel Group which most would ascribe as more prestigious seeing as it's overall highly ranked. A 2:1 in both universities may be able to get you through the interview stage of the selection process so I'd recommend going with which course you'd most preferably enjoy doing. I've recently had an Assessment Centre with Credit Suisse for their A-level summer internship programme and they clarified that Cass students are sought for, as they have a lot of practical elements which prepares students for the roles in the field. Regardless, all the best.

edit: It also depends on what area of Investment Banking you're looking to go into. For example if you're interested in FO S&T the Risk Management the Investment & Financial Risk Management degree would acquire you with more suitable knowledge.

(edited 10 years ago)

City University

London

bump

Original post by James McIntyre

bump

1) Durham
2) Cass

but Liberalists above raised some key points.

Reply 4

Sidhant Shivram

Original post by laralara

I don't think it'd be wise to forgo the rep of Durham for Cass' BIF course...

Sent from my iPhone

Reply 5

AcademiaPlayer

In the UK, the best business schools, based upon the MBA ranking as a proxy for overall quality of education, working opportunities, prestige:

1st : ex- æquo: Cambridge Judge Business School - LBS - Oxford University
2nd : Warwick- Cass Business School- Imperial business school
3rd : Manchester- Bristol- Durham- Nottingham

When choosing a dregree, you must establish whether its value will increase with time or not.
Since Brexit, the only location which remains unconditionally a target for business schools is London. Warwick understood this a few years ago when they decided to set up a campus in the shard tower. Unfortunately, it only hosts executive programs, which in terms of overall value for money are worthless. Cass, Imperial and UCL certainly have the advantage of being situated in London. Cass in particular is positioned in the historical heart of Finance, the city of London. UCL is building campuses in Canary Wharf which isn't such a bad move.
Judging from the rankings, Cass is certainly a business school to take into consideration when judging the potential for future progression, for 2 reasons:
The current dean of the School Marianne Lewis is doing a tremendous job, leveraging her contacts through her father- the ex vice dean of Harvard Business School. Secondly, Research at Cass Business School has become internationally recognized as shown by the success of the Cass M&A research center managed by an ex-senior exec from Jp morgan and ex- professor at Oxford.
Imperial certainly is improving its rankings as it leverages its incredibly reputed math course. This constitutes a great advantage when it comes to the quant side of business school courses- financial mathematics.

To sum up, if you are interested in a degree outside of business, then consider a degree in economics from LSE or Oxbridge. These will get you into investment banking very easily.
If you're interested in Business School ( grad level) , Cass has the most potential to becoming very prestigious in the coming years, Imperial BS certainly follows in Cass's footsteps. Warwick is relatively safe, even though it will probably lose a part of its appeal because of its non proximity to the financial cente.
If your grades aren't too good, try to go abroad and go for a BBA at Essec Business School or EDHEDC in France; or one of the top spanish Bus schools. All of which are comparable to the list mentioned above and will get you farther than tier 3 British business Schools.

Reply 6

username2110335

I'm third year at Cass, would recommend.

Reply 7

y_2000

Original post by JKITFC

I'm third year at Cass, would recommend.

Hi, I have heard that the courses at Cass are very great and demanding (in a good way) however the social life at the uni isn't particularly great. How do you feel about it? Is it easy to make friends? Are people welcoming? I am really concerned about the fact that Cass does not have a university feel, like there is no unity.. Can you give me some insight into what it is actually like there please? Thank youu!