Leaving ACA grad scheme to do MSc Econ? Future career advice?

Hi.

I'd really appreciate some advice regarding my options. Apologies if this gets verbose, but I don't have anyone I can talk to regarding this and would love some guidance.

I graduated with a first class degree in economics last August, although this doesn't really mean much since I graduated from a terrible university (ranked mid 40s-50s). I did terribly in my A-levels and had no other choice but to go there through clearing, but that's a story for another time.

I had a miserable time at uni and they were easily the worst years of my life - although I really enjoyed the subject, everyone expected me to go to a really good university but reality didn't turn out that way unfortunately.

I'm currently doing the ACA on a grad scheme and it's not for me. Although it pays relatively well, it's not what I wanted to do and I only accepted it as it was the only offer I had. (It was a nightmare to even get through the application screening stage when I was applying for jobs because the uni I was at isn't well regarded at all). Salary isn't really a priority for me since I prioritise a better long term career trajectory.

I have received offers for MSc economics programmes at okay universities (Bristol/Bath/Durham) and have scholarships as well. I was essentially auto-rejected from some better universities, and when I reached out to one and asked why, I was told my undergraduate degree didn't have the prerequisite quantitative modules (which is why I initially mentioned my first class result doesn't mean anything since it's from an inferior institution).

When I was in 6th form I really wanted to do a PhD in economics and I wanted to eventually do my econ PhD at MIT since it's one of the best in the world, but the chance to do that ended years ago when I got my A-Level results haha.

In the short term, I hope to work in consulting or for economic consultancies and I feel doing an MSc in Economics at a Bristol/Bath/Durham (maybe Warwick but I probably won't get in) will look a lot better on my CV than my terrible undergrad uni and will also help me develop my economics knowledge. This combined with my 1 year finance experience that I'm currently getting should help me when applying for jobs during my masters programme.

In the long term, I hope to do an MBA abroad and although an MSc in econ by itself won't be that useful for this, it would potentially help me get into consulting which would add value to my pre-MBA work experience. (Also attending a prestigious university would help when applying for MBA programmes, although this is more relevant if you attended Cambridge/Oxford/LSE. Bristol, Durham and Bath don't have a strong international prestige so this wouldn't really benefit me in this regard).

I'm struggling to align my short-term goals with my long-term ambitions because there are so many variables that are out of my control and nothing is guaranteed, so naturally I'm risk-averse and reluctant to go all in on something that might not work out. My horrible A-Level situation has made me a lot more hesitant to bet on myself since I'm definitely not as good as I thought I was.

I'd appreciate any advice regarding my situation. Although Bath/Durham/Bristol aren't as prestigious for postgrad as they are for undergrad, would they still be good enough to have a decent chance at consulting? (Obviously I won't be targeting MBB or other elite firms/sectors, but tier 2 consulting firms).

Sorry for the long post, but just needed to get this off my chest since I've been going through a lot and partly needed to vent lol.

@BenRyan99 would really appreciate your insight.

Thanks.

Reply 1

Dangyyy

5

Original post by Econadvice

Hi.

I'd really appreciate some advice regarding my options. Apologies if this gets verbose, but I don't have anyone I can talk to regarding this and would love some guidance.

I graduated with a first class degree in economics last August, although this doesn't really mean much since I graduated from a terrible university (ranked mid 40s-50s). I did terribly in my A-levels and had no other choice but to go there through clearing, but that's a story for another time.

I had a miserable time at uni and they were easily the worst years of my life - although I really enjoyed the subject, everyone expected me to go to a really good university but reality didn't turn out that way unfortunately.

I'm currently doing the ACA on a grad scheme and it's not for me. Although it pays relatively well, it's not what I wanted to do and I only accepted it as it was the only offer I had. (It was a nightmare to even get through the application screening stage when I was applying for jobs because the uni I was at isn't well regarded at all). Salary isn't really a priority for me since I prioritise a better long term career trajectory.

I have received offers for MSc economics programmes at okay universities (Bristol/Bath/Durham) and have scholarships as well. I was essentially auto-rejected from some better universities, and when I reached out to one and asked why, I was told my undergraduate degree didn't have the prerequisite quantitative modules (which is why I initially mentioned my first class result doesn't mean anything since it's from an inferior institution).

When I was in 6th form I really wanted to do a PhD in economics and I wanted to eventually do my econ PhD at MIT since it's one of the best in the world, but the chance to do that ended years ago when I got my A-Level results haha.

In the short term, I hope to work in consulting or for economic consultancies and I feel doing an MSc in Economics at a Bristol/Bath/Durham (maybe Warwick but I probably won't get in) will look a lot better on my CV than my terrible undergrad uni and will also help me develop my economics knowledge. This combined with my 1 year finance experience that I'm currently getting should help me when applying for jobs during my masters programme.

In the long term, I hope to do an MBA abroad and although an MSc in econ by itself won't be that useful for this, it would potentially help me get into consulting which would add value to my pre-MBA work experience. (Also attending a prestigious university would help when applying for MBA programmes, although this is more relevant if you attended Cambridge/Oxford/LSE. Bristol, Durham and Bath don't have a strong international prestige so this wouldn't really benefit me in this regard).

I'm struggling to align my short-term goals with my long-term ambitions because there are so many variables that are out of my control and nothing is guaranteed, so naturally I'm risk-averse and reluctant to go all in on something that might not work out. My horrible A-Level situation has made me a lot more hesitant to bet on myself since I'm definitely not as good as I thought I was.

I'd appreciate any advice regarding my situation. Although Bath/Durham/Bristol aren't as prestigious for postgrad as they are for undergrad, would they still be good enough to have a decent chance at consulting? (Obviously I won't be targeting MBB or other elite firms/sectors, but tier 2 consulting firms).

Sorry for the long post, but just needed to get this off my chest since I've been going through a lot and partly needed to vent lol.

@BenRyan99 would really appreciate your insight.

Thanks.

What are your a levels

@BenRyan99 ??

OP

Original post by Econadvice

Hi.

I'd really appreciate some advice regarding my options. Apologies if this gets verbose, but I don't have anyone I can talk to regarding this and would love some guidance.

I graduated with a first class degree in economics last August, although this doesn't really mean much since I graduated from a terrible university (ranked mid 40s-50s). I did terribly in my A-levels and had no other choice but to go there through clearing, but that's a story for another time.

I had a miserable time at uni and they were easily the worst years of my life - although I really enjoyed the subject, everyone expected me to go to a really good university but reality didn't turn out that way unfortunately.

I'm currently doing the ACA on a grad scheme and it's not for me. Although it pays relatively well, it's not what I wanted to do and I only accepted it as it was the only offer I had. (It was a nightmare to even get through the application screening stage when I was applying for jobs because the uni I was at isn't well regarded at all). Salary isn't really a priority for me since I prioritise a better long term career trajectory.

I have received offers for MSc economics programmes at okay universities (Bristol/Bath/Durham) and have scholarships as well. I was essentially auto-rejected from some better universities, and when I reached out to one and asked why, I was told my undergraduate degree didn't have the prerequisite quantitative modules (which is why I initially mentioned my first class result doesn't mean anything since it's from an inferior institution).

When I was in 6th form I really wanted to do a PhD in economics and I wanted to eventually do my econ PhD at MIT since it's one of the best in the world, but the chance to do that ended years ago when I got my A-Level results haha.

In the short term, I hope to work in consulting or for economic consultancies and I feel doing an MSc in Economics at a Bristol/Bath/Durham (maybe Warwick but I probably won't get in) will look a lot better on my CV than my terrible undergrad uni and will also help me develop my economics knowledge. This combined with my 1 year finance experience that I'm currently getting should help me when applying for jobs during my masters programme.

In the long term, I hope to do an MBA abroad and although an MSc in econ by itself won't be that useful for this, it would potentially help me get into consulting which would add value to my pre-MBA work experience. (Also attending a prestigious university would help when applying for MBA programmes, although this is more relevant if you attended Cambridge/Oxford/LSE. Bristol, Durham and Bath don't have a strong international prestige so this wouldn't really benefit me in this regard).

I'm struggling to align my short-term goals with my long-term ambitions because there are so many variables that are out of my control and nothing is guaranteed, so naturally I'm risk-averse and reluctant to go all in on something that might not work out. My horrible A-Level situation has made me a lot more hesitant to bet on myself since I'm definitely not as good as I thought I was.

I'd appreciate any advice regarding my situation. Although Bath/Durham/Bristol aren't as prestigious for postgrad as they are for undergrad, would they still be good enough to have a decent chance at consulting? (Obviously I won't be targeting MBB or other elite firms/sectors, but tier 2 consulting firms).

Sorry for the long post, but just needed to get this off my chest since I've been going through a lot and partly needed to vent lol.

@BenRyan99 would really appreciate your insight.

Thanks.

Sorry I did see this post and the @'s yesterday, was just too busy to reply.

You mentioned you were rejected by some top unis and that you have some decent offers now. Would you mind listing the courses you've gotten offers for and the ones you've been rejected for (and any you're still waiting for)? Would help to get an idea of whether there are any courses relevant to your career goals which you may have overlooked?

I guess one of the first things I'd mention is that while places like Bath/Bristol/Durham aren't the very top places to study, they're still very good and would still likely involve a hefty step-up in terms of the rigor of the content vs a top 40-50. So while I know you're not overtly looking down on them, it's worth considering there's every possibility you may still find these courses pretty challenging given there may be chunks of assumed knowledge which you didn't cover at undergrad at your uni. And while UK MSc Economics course cohorts often have a lot of domestic students up levelling their UG and international students, which can sometimes drag on the course quality, there will still be students who've done their UG's at those same unis or ones of a similar level so have pretty strong backgrounds. Therefore, I'd be cautious about looking down on the ones you mentioned too much (not saying you necessarily are).

Secondly, am I right to assume that by 'economic consulting', you're referring to microeconomic consulting? I'm assuming this given the work is a lot more similar to management/strat consulting which you mentioned you're also interested in, as opposed to macroeconomic consulting.

In terms of your prospects at economic consultancies and tier 2 consulting after a MSc at Bristol/Bath/Durham, I'd say they're decent. Obviously it depends on what sort of firms you'd actually be considering. I'd put your prospects as stronger for economic consulting given they largely hire out of postgrad courses which don't have massive pools of students, especially ones who want to go into classic economic consulting fields like litigation, regulatory, competition, industrial organization, etc. These are generally good jobs with strong pay and training. I do know people who have done MBAs from economic consulting, it's far from a super rare path, and is an especially common path in the US. I'm sure if you got into a good EC firm and worked there for a few years, you could either do a MBA in the UK/EZ, US ones might be more difficult, but firms often give the option to move to one of their global offices and you could reapply if you wanted. After an MBA you can sort of do whatever as it's a bit of a restart.

In terms of your prospects at T2 consulting gigs, this is likely to be harder. Part of this is because they hire out of undergrad a lot too, especially their summer internship programs. Part of it is that, because these are generalist roles really, the applicant pool is far wider than just economics grads. But while I reckon it would be harder than economic consulting, I don't really know how hard it would actually be from an MSc at the unis you mentioned - I never went to these unis and have never worked or applied for T2 consultancies. I would recommend looking on LinkedIn for grads from these MSc Economics courses and filter by firm to see you can find some, then you can reach out and ask people with more specialist info than what I can offer.

Leaving ACA grad scheme to do MSc Econ? Future career advice?

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