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MSc Finance - lancaster or University of Nottingham?

Need help making a decision! Please help with your opinions on which uni is better to pursue an MSc Finance from! Have offers from both, but my priority is career opportunities after! A little urgent as the course begins in 2021!

Thank you

Reply 1

ppapanastasiou

Both good unis. I would have a slight preference towards Nottingham as it is a red brick university and it more "established" than Lancaster (which is a plate glass university).

Another university I would consider is City, University of London (Bayes Business School.)

Reply 2

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

Hello @deep97,

Congratulations on your offers to study MSc Finance!

I currently study an undergraduate BSc in Finance & Economics, so cannot speak from experience of the course itself but I can talk about the department and Lancaster University Management School (LUMS).

The Accounting & Finance department at Lancaster run lots of learning development opportunities, workshops and sessions to aid with study skills, employability and other transferable skills that can aid you in your career after graduation. LUMS itself also has a dedicated careers service with strong links to industry leading employers who they run events with throughout the year - a great opportunity for networking. They're such a friendly team and offer all sorts to help with building soft skills, the job application process and careers in general. There's more information on what they offer here.

I am currently in second year and the LUMS careers team have supported me in securing a great finance placement for the coming year despite all of the challenges faced with Covid-19. This service is also available for life (yes, forever!) so if you find yourself needing that advice or support in your career at any point in the future, they will be happy to help.

If you have any more questions about life at Lancaster, please don't hesitate to ask!

Charlie :smile:

Finance & Economics BSc

Reply 3

username19412

Original post by deep97

Nottingham for sure. They are generally much, much more respected in the field of finance than Lancaster.

Reply 4

ppapanastasiou

I don't agree that Nottingham is more established than Lancaster in the field of finance on the contrary. However, it is true that Nottingham has an overall better reputation than Lancaster. But when it comes to Finance Lancaster is highly ranked as is also City, University of London (Bayes Business School) which was my other suggestion.

Reply 5

ppapanastasiou

It also depends which course you want to study. For more quantitative finance courses Lancaster is better suited than Nottingham. Lancasters Finance master is more quantitative than Nottingham and Lancaster has a MSc in Quantitative Finance where as Nottingham does not. So it all depends a bit on your preferences.

Finally, as I mentioned earlier although it is true that Nottingham is higher ranked than Lancaster overall as a uni, when it comes to finance Lancaster has a better reputation. It is kind of the same story with City, University of London. When it comes to overall rankings it is an average uni but when it comes to finance and its business school (Bayes Business School) it is highly ranked. Depending on which ranking criteria one uses Bayes is firmly ranked in the top 5-7 Business schools in the UK.