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Manchester BSc in International Business, Finance and Economics

Hi, I'm Natalie from China and I have been offered a BSc in International Business, Finance and Economics at the University of Manchester . When I grow up I want to work with investment banking. Are there any alumni who can share experiences by recruiting from this course? How is the professional environment? I like to do math better than to write. Can one choose modules to make it more quantitative?
Thank you very much for your help.
Original post by Natalie_Liu2004
Hi, I'm Natalie from China and I have been offered a BSc in International Business, Finance and Economics at the University of Manchester . When I grow up I want to work with investment banking. Are there any alumni who can share experiences by recruiting from this course? How is the professional environment? I like to do math better than to write. Can one choose modules to make it more quantitative?
Thank you very much for your help.

I graduated from the Manchester BSc IBFE course last year, and am now doing a master's degree... currently have an offer for GS.

Are there any alumni who can share experiences by recruiting from this course?
Difficult. In your cohort of ~120, maybe ~10 will end up in FO in UK/Europe. The majority of those secured spring weeks at Barclays/HSBC by being diversity. The majority of Chinese students will do a master's afterwards at G5.
Honestly, as a female your chances are better... but for the average student, the chances are bleak. And not everyone is motivated/aware of the opportunities.

How is the professional environment?
Well, it's a University. So not that professional... but my classmates were warm & friendly. The ones I lived close to, were my very close friends.
Some lacked career drive, but there were a handful that I knew personally that were exceptional.

I like to do math better than to write. Can one choose modules to make it more quantitative?
Yes. After your first year, most of your modules will be optional and chosen by yourself.
I personally avoided all accounting & quant modules cuz I wrote essays better... and chose language option "Beginners Chinese" for easy marks

If you want to know more, message me and we can have a quick chat
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by Buttmuffin
I graduated from the Manchester BSc IBFE course last year, and am now doing a master's degree... currently have an offer for GS.

Are there any alumni who can share experiences by recruiting from this course?
Difficult. In your cohort of ~120, maybe ~10 will end up in FO in UK/Europe. The majority of those secured spring weeks at Barclays/HSBC by being diversity. The majority of Chinese students will do a master's afterwards at G5 (including me lmao).
Honestly, as a female your chances are better... but for the average student, the chances are bleak. And not everyone is motivated/aware of the opportunities.

How is the professional environment?
Well, it's a University. So not that professional... but my classmates were warm & friendly. The ones I lived close to, were my very close friends.
Some lacked career drive, but there were a handful that I knew personally that were exceptional.

I like to do math better than to write. Can one choose modules to make it more quantitative?
Yes. After your first year, most of your modules will be optional and chosen by yourself.
I personally avoided all accounting & quant modules cuz I wrote essays better... and chose language option "Beginners Chinese" for easy marks

If you want to know more, message me and we can have a quick chat

Hi, Thank you very much for your detailed answer. I'm sending you a message.
Reply 3
Just do a mathematics degree with minors in finance at any good Russel group univeristy - Cambridge, Oxford, LSE, Imperial, York, Warwick, Edinburgh etc. Most investment banks will prefer that. International business and finance are topics you can develop yourself via internships, networking, investment clubs, economist, wall street journal, CNBC etc
(edited 2 years ago)
Reply 4
Original post by LingLee
Just do a mathematics degree with minors in finance at any good Russel group univeristy - Cambridge, Oxford, LSE, Imperial, York, Warwick, Edinburgh etc. Most investment banks will prefer that. International business and finance are topics you can develop yourself via internships, networking, investment clubs, economist, wall street journal, CNBC etc


What do you think about the University of Nottingham? I will be studying Bsc Economics starting this September.
Original post by Buttmuffin
I graduated from the Manchester BSc IBFE course last year, and am now doing a master's degree... currently have an offer for GS.

Are there any alumni who can share experiences by recruiting from this course?
Difficult. In your cohort of ~120, maybe ~10 will end up in FO in UK/Europe. The majority of those secured spring weeks at Barclays/HSBC by being diversity. The majority of Chinese students will do a master's afterwards at G5.
Honestly, as a female your chances are better... but for the average student, the chances are bleak. And not everyone is motivated/aware of the opportunities.

How is the professional environment?
Well, it's a University. So not that professional... but my classmates were warm & friendly. The ones I lived close to, were my very close friends.
Some lacked career drive, but there were a handful that I knew personally that were exceptional.

I like to do math better than to write. Can one choose modules to make it more quantitative?
Yes. After your first year, most of your modules will be optional and chosen by yourself.
I personally avoided all accounting & quant modules cuz I wrote essays better... and chose language option "Beginners Chinese" for easy marks

If you want to know more, message me and we can have a quick chat

Hi, I'm considering applying to the Manchester BSc IBFE course, what grades did you get accepted with? And what were the requirements at the time?
Original post by tanay1612
Hi, I'm considering applying to the Manchester BSc IBFE course, what grades did you get accepted with? And what were the requirements at the time?


at the time - requirement was AAB, I got in with higher (but knew lots of ppl with AAB)
I'd note grade inflation during and after COVID has been kinda massive -so current grades are not comparable vs 2016 lol
Reply 7
Hi, I'm a Year 13 student and I'm considering on doing IBFE at Manchester. Can you tell me how it is?
Hi, is this a good degree for working in management consulting/strategy consulting?

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