Is it harder to get into ibanking in the UK or US?

I've heard that the competition (applicants to places) is a lot tougher in the US than the UK. Asking for a hypothetical friend here who is an American citizen but currently goes to school in the UK and is deciding game whether to apply here in the UK or in the US for universities.

Is it true that banks in the US care more about extracurriculars (sports) than work experience while the UK banks also care about experience? Is it true that banking is harder to get into in the US than the UK?

I've heard that the competition (applicants to places) is a lot tougher in the US than the UK. Asking for a hypothetical friend here who is an American citizen but currently goes to school in the UK and is deciding game whether to apply here in the UK or in the US for universities.

Is it true that banks in the US care more about extracurriculars (sports) than work experience while the UK banks also care about experience? Is it true that banking is harder to get into in the US than the UK?

I've heard that the competition (applicants to places) is a lot tougher in the US than the UK. Asking for a hypothetical friend here who is an American citizen but currently goes to school in the UK and is deciding game whether to apply here in the UK or in the US for universities.

Is it true that banks in the US care more about extracurriculars (sports) than work experience while the UK banks also care about experience? Is it true that banking is harder to get into in the US than the UK?

It's pretty much impossible to tap into US recruiting from a non-US school. The way recruiting works over there is they physically take in CVs (or they'll do it online through a secret link) from their target/semi-target universities. Attempting to apply online will yield nothing as recruiters rarely, if ever, check general applications. First round interviews are also mostly held physically at the target uni campus too. So unless you're planning on attending a US target uni, there will be virtually no way of directly breaking into the scene - even if you had 'Oxbridge' on your CV.

As the user above said, your best bet is to get a gig here in the UK through the standard channels then lateral over as a 3rd year analyst to 1st year associate - easier said than done, you'll have to propose a strong case for the lateral. Another route would be getting top notch work experience for 3-4 years before applying to a top MBA program; thus allowing you to access the on-campus recruiting process I was alluding to earlier.

In terms of overall competition, I'd say London wins. As the epicentre for EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), firms based in London will receive applications from all of these geographies, pushing up the bar for everyone else.

Posted from TSR Mobile