QMUL (AAA) vs Exeter (ABB) for Investment Banking – Which Should I Pick?

Hi everyone, Im a year 13 student from yorkshire,

I’ve received offers for BSc Economics from both Queen Mary University of London (AAA) and University of Exeter (ABB, contextual), and I’m trying to decide which one would be better for breaking into investment banking or high finance.

From what I understand:

Exeter is a semi-target for IB, meaning it has some presence in the industry, but it’s not on the level of Oxbridge, LSE, or Warwick.
QMUL is a non-target, meaning recruitment is much less common directly from there.
However, QMUL is in London, so I’d be surrounded by networking opportunities, insight events, and finance-related societies, which my cousin (who works in finance) says is a huge advantage.
I’m torn between these two options:

Should I go for Exeter, since it has a better reputation for finance and IB recruitment?
Or should I go for QMUL, since being in London might give me better access to networking and finance events?
I’d really appreciate insights from anyone in IB or with knowledge of how recruitment works for students from these unis! Thanks in advance.

Personally, I'd go with Exeter for the better reputation for Economics and the lower entry requirements. It's also a much nicer place to live.
Exeter isn't completely devoid of opportunities to gain wider experience via the Business Internships and Placements Module, summer internships, etc. Also, even if you didn't apply for the "With Industrial Experience" version of the course, you can switch to it during the first term of your first year. That would give you the opportunity to spend a year working in a related industry. According to their web site, students have previously done placement years at places like the Bank of England and Goldman Sachs.

I definitely see the benefits of Exeter’s stronger reputation and structured opportunities like internships and placement years. However, from what I’ve heard, there’s a general stereotype that a lot of the Exeter students who manage to get into top finance roles often already have pre-existing connections—whether through family or their personal network.

For someone without those kinds of connections, I wonder if being in London (QMUL) would be more beneficial in terms of networking and attending finance events, insight days, and spring weeks. Since IB is so networking-driven (or so i think i have no connections with anyone whos actually in the high finance field), so wouldn’t having direct access to these opportunities be a major advantage?

I get that Exeter is the safer bet in terms of reputation, but does the location factor balance things out for QMUL?