The Student Room Group

The "Is this university/course good enough for banking/consultancy?" thread [part 2]

Saw that the thread ended so started a new one.

FAQs:
Which universities are the best for banking?
Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, UCL, Imperial and Warwick (in no order) are typically targeted more by banks. After this, Nottingham, Bristol, Durham, Bath, Loughborough, Manchester, Cass and some other ones are semi-targets.

Which degree course is the best for banking?
Doesn't matter at all. You can go into banking with a classics or music degree as much as from an economics or maths degree.

If you ask one of these aforementioned questions, I will egg your house/apartment.
(edited 8 years ago)

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Original post by Trapz99
Saw that the thread ended so started a new one.


Cheers

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Reply 2
Original post by Trapz99
Saw that the thread ended so started a new one.

FAQs:
Which universities are the best for banking?
Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, UCL, Imperial and Warwick (in no order) are typically targeted more by banks. After this, Nottingham, Bristol, Durham, Bath, Loughborough, Manchester, Cass and some other ones are semi-targets.

Which degree course is the best for banking?
Doesn't matter at all. You can go into banking with a classics or music degree as much as from an economics or maths degree.

If you ask one of these aforementioned questions, I will egg your house/apartment.


There will always be someone :angry:
Reply 3
why doesn't a degree matter? Is it easy or something? And so can you get into it without a degree? Sorry if I sound stupid.. And also what age should I start looking for work experience? Uni or sixth form and thanks for the FAQs @Prince and @Trapz, they are helpful.. How old are you guys and which stage are you at on your road to being an investment Banker just wonder.. And is there anything I should be doing to like help me get there (I have a lot of free time) and last question is it hard to get a job after graduating (how competitive is it?)


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Original post by AdeptDz
why doesn't a degree matter? Is it easy or something? And so can you get into it without a degree? Sorry if I sound stupid.. And also what age should I start looking for work experience? Uni or sixth form and thanks for the FAQs @Prince and @Trapz, they are helpful.. How old are you guys and which stage are you at on your road to being an investment Banker just wonder.. And is there anything I should be doing to like help me get there (I have a lot of free time) and last question is it hard to get a job after graduating (how competitive is it?)


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Because you learn everything on the job, degrees don't teach you anything useful. The only exception is when you *need* a quantitative degree to wrap your head around the more quanty concepts out there - especially what you'll come across in e.g. quant research, exotic derivatives trading etc.

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Reply 5
Original post by AdeptDz
why doesn't a degree matter? Is it easy or something? And so can you get into it without a degree? Sorry if I sound stupid.. And also what age should I start looking for work experience? Uni or sixth form and thanks for the FAQs @Prince and @Trapz, they are helpful.. How old are you guys and which stage are you at on your road to being an investment Banker just wonder.. And is there anything I should be doing to like help me get there (I have a lot of free time) and last question is it hard to get a job after graduating (how competitive is it?)


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No you need a degree to get into front office banking but it doesn't matter what degree you do- whether it's maths or economics or history of physics or computing, it doesn't matter.

You don't really need any work experience. Maybe do some in Year 12/13 by going to insight days but you don't need much. Focus more on extracurricular activities such as sports, volunteering, prefect, student council, music or anything that interests you which will help you to gain soft skills like teamwork or leadership etc...- which is what banks look for.

It's extremely hard to get a banking job. Around 50+ candidates for every internship place- many of whom will be of extremely high calibre- so it's definitely very hard to get into but it's possible.
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 6
Thanks for the reply, and it makes sense now


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Reply 7
Hi,

I will be applying for my MSc Finance for the academic year in 2017/18. Since I hope to work in the finance industry in the future, I'm looking to do my degree in one of the target schools.

My plan at the moment is to apply for a couple of targets and semi-targets in the different tiers: LSE/UCL/Warwick/CASS/Durham. I have also looked at Nottingham, Manchester and Queen Mary as well, but haven't found any reason to pick them over the school I've more or less decided to apply to.

Are there any schools which you would recommend as being a stronger recruiting ground, more sought after graduates, etc? Especially with regards to international recognition, because from what I've gathered thus far, most of the semi-targets have negligible difference when it comes to employability.

Cheers!
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 8
Just clarifying for a friend who does not believe me. Where does University of York stand in IB
Original post by olaf525
Just clarifying for a friend who does not believe me. Where does University of York stand in IB


Sends a few every year but not really semi-target status quite yet - very close however.

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Reply 10
Original post by olaf525
Just clarifying for a friend who does not believe me. Where does University of York stand in IB


It's somewhere between non-target and semi-target, so if you join societies (especially the investment and finance soc) get a leadership position in one of them. arrange some sort of work experience at a boutique through cold emails/calling, do interesting stuff like a sport/volunteering/music/entrepreneurship and network with some bankers, you'll have a good chance of getting a banking internship.
Reply 11
Original post by olaf525
Just clarifying for a friend who does not believe me. Where does University of York stand in IB


I'm gonna start my course at York this year.

According to this website's recent research, York just made it in the top 50 universities (global) to get into investment banking: http://news.efinancialcareers.com/uk-en/199099/top-50-universities-getting-front-office-investment-banking-job
Original post by Adrono
I'm gonna start my course at York this year.

According to this website's recent research, York just made it in the top 50 universities (global) to get into investment banking: http://news.efinancialcareers.com/uk-en/199099/top-50-universities-getting-front-office-investment-banking-job


Those rankings are pointless and hold no value
Reply 13
Original post by glebp
Those rankings are pointless and hold no value




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How is that so?
Original post by Adrono
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How is that so?


Look at the numbers, they're based off a bogus database on their site. A linkedin sweep would have been more accurate that that, which thankfully, they have done recently with the incoming analyst classes of this year.

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Reply 15
Original post by Princepieman
Look at the numbers, they're based off a bogus database on their site. A linkedin sweep would have been more accurate that that, which thankfully, they have done recently with the incoming analyst classes of this year.

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You got the link for that one?

Talking about the one I posted, although not being that accurate, it does show that a decent number of candidates got into IB from York. At least he knows he has a chance.
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(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by Adrono
At least we did get mentioned for HSBC!

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I wouldn't worry about it, just apply and see how it all goes!

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Reply 19
Original post by Princepieman
I wouldn't worry about it, just apply and see how it all goes!

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Yeah yeah that was my plan all along. We'll see.

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