LSE v Bristol v Bath

I’m looking at a career in Investment Banking. I appreciate it’s a really tough world to break into!I’ve completed a few different work placements in FX and at HSBC already and really want to aim for this path.
I am fortunate to have received 4 unconditional offers from 3 Unis but each is for a different course. I’m having trouble weighing up my final decision as they each have pros and cons!
Offers are from:
LSE - Accounting and Finance
Bath - Economics
Bristol - Economics and Finance
Bristol - Economics and Accounting
Which would you advise to be the best option?
I want to enjoy my time at University but also don’t want to jeopardise my chances at internship/job offers in the future.
Any experienced professional care to share their thoughts?

I’m looking at a career in Investment Banking. I appreciate it’s a really tough world to break into!I’ve completed a few different work placements in FX and at HSBC already and really want to aim for this path.
I am fortunate to have received 4 unconditional offers from 3 Unis but each is for a different course. I’m having trouble weighing up my final decision as they each have pros and cons!
Offers are from:
LSE - Accounting and Finance
Bath - Economics
Bristol - Economics and Finance
Bristol - Economics and Accounting
Which would you advise to be the best option?
I want to enjoy my time at University but also don’t want to jeopardise my chances at internship/job offers in the future.
Any experienced professional care to share their thoughts?

I’m looking at a career in Investment Banking. I appreciate it’s a really tough world to break into!I’ve completed a few different work placements in FX and at HSBC already and really want to aim for this path.
I am fortunate to have received 4 unconditional offers from 3 Unis but each is for a different course. I’m having trouble weighing up my final decision as they each have pros and cons!
Offers are from:
LSE - Accounting and Finance
Bath - Economics
Bristol - Economics and Finance
Bristol - Economics and Accounting
Which would you advise to be the best option?
I want to enjoy my time at University but also don’t want to jeopardise my chances at internship/job offers in the future.
Any experienced professional care to share their thoughts?

I’m in the exact same situation this is so bizarre!!! I got unconditionals for Bath A&F, Bristol E&F and LSE A&F and I’m having such a hard time picking between all of them as I’m really nervous I won’t enjoy my time at LSE if I pick it as I don’t know how the student life is etc 😭

You're right - totally bizarre we are in the same situation! Have you made a decision? I'm going to the offer holder day at Bath tomorrow and really hoping it helps to make my mind up.

No I haven’t yet annoyingly! I’m going to the offer holder day at LSE tomorrow and then looking at Bristol after as I know bath really well already, but I’m honestly struggling to pick one 😭 I feel like with lse, after university I’ll probably work in London anyway so it might be quite nice to live in a different city for a few years, although, the graduate prospects and job opportunities are just unreal at lse so it’s so difficult to choose!!!!

I'm in a similar situation but am choosing between LSE, Bristol, and Kings for Politics and Econ. I only got my LSE offer yesterday and missing school a week before my first exam to go to the offer holder day may not be the wisest but idk if I should try and make it work because I really have no idea what to firm/insure. What time are you going at tomorrow? LSE is undeniably insane like .... the job prospects, teaching etc. but apparently it's also super cutthroat, I would live at home and so I'm not sure if a more typical 'uni experience' at Bristol would be more enjoyable. Ahhhhhhh the stress.

I’m registering at the 10:30-11 time slot! How about you?? Going to look around then go to the student life talk I think as I really want to have a good uni experience so curious to see what they say! I feel like my life goal is to enjoy myself rather than prioritise money etc (probably unpopular but oh well) so I’m super super tempted by Bristol and bath as everyone I know who goes there absolutely loves it, it’s so difficult to decide 😭😭

Heyy!! I only just saw this I didn't acc end up going to the student life talk - how was it? I went to the government taster which was basically just a revision session for my a level and then went to the international talk? Overall, it looked a lot more social and open than I expected? Everyone seemed very nice and academic but not like super duper intense which was reassuring. How did you find it? Icl Bristol is still very tempting - so I thinks its definently between those two if I can convince bristol to bring my grade requirement for maths down 😭

It was quite interesting actually, they have way more societies than I thought, however they did complain about how everyone’s scattered around 2nd and 3rd year so it’s more difficult to socialise but that was kind of obvious anyway I guess! Yeah I thought the same thing, all the offer holders seemed really lovely as well I thought they’d be wearing suits and have like their LinkedIn QR code on show or something hahah, although I went inside a lift and said hi to the other offer holder in the lift and I got ignored 😞 I’m in Bristol right now actually to have a look around the city and the uni so interesting to see what it’s like!! (I really hope I don’t love it so my options are only bath and lse but I just know I’ll like it 😭)

It was quite interesting actually, they have way more societies than I thought, however they did complain about how everyone’s scattered around 2nd and 3rd year so it’s more difficult to socialise but that was kind of obvious anyway I guess! Yeah I thought the same thing, all the offer holders seemed really lovely as well I thought they’d be wearing suits and have like their LinkedIn QR code on show or something hahah, although I went inside a lift and said hi to the other offer holder in the lift and I got ignored 😞 I’m in Bristol right now actually to have a look around the city and the uni so interesting to see what it’s like!! (I really hope I don’t love it so my options are only bath and lse but I just know I’ll like it 😭)

I visited Bath yesterday. On the way home I 'firmed' Bristol! So no more stress over making decisions for me. It's such a relief!!
Bath was lovely, but they said the nightlife is very limited and a bit repetitive and most don't bother too much in year 2/3. In comparison, Bristol is fun and lively and everything is within easy access to the uni, and a free student bus pass means it doesn't cost to travel (unlike Bath £400 year bus pass) Bath had a beautiful city centre but the shops and restaurants far more posh, I truly believe Bristol is going to be best for Uni life and vibrancy.
As I've already had a gap year I was discouraged at Bath by the fact the large majority chose to opt in a placement 3rd year. I don't want to spend any extra years waiting to graduate. The students that I spoke to, hadn't planned on having the placement but when faced with being left behind by their flatmates they decided to add it on so they didn't need to make new friends etc. Both Uni's seemed fantastic to me but you have to make a choice at the end of the day. My brother went to LSE and found the majority of international students didn't mix and so he found the social side of his course and halls very lacking, other than the Football team, he said it was a pretty lonely place to be. Oh and ridiculously expensive😭
Let me know what you decide - and maybe I'll be on your course if you select Bristol E&F.

I’m looking at a career in Investment Banking. I appreciate it’s a really tough world to break into!I’ve completed a few different work placements in FX and at HSBC already and really want to aim for this path.
I am fortunate to have received 4 unconditional offers from 3 Unis but each is for a different course. I’m having trouble weighing up my final decision as they each have pros and cons!
Offers are from:
LSE - Accounting and Finance
Bath - Economics
Bristol - Economics and Finance
Bristol - Economics and Accounting
Which would you advise to be the best option?
I want to enjoy my time at University but also don’t want to jeopardise my chances at internship/job offers in the future.
Any experienced professional care to share their thoughts?

Hi there,
Congrats on your offers from those fantastic unis.
What is the best option for you is likely going to be based on a number of factors. You will have heard this before, but my main advice would be to prioritise...
A) Course content - which course do you think you would enjoy most? Which modules would you choose or be doing if you went to each? Are there any listed which will help you towards where you want to be in the future?
B) The campus vibe - if you've had the chance to visit these places at open days/offer holder days, where made you feel most at home? Where could you visualise yourself living a fulfilling student life?
C) The city! You've applied for unis in very different cities! In terms of size, LSE > Bristol > Bath. London is a humongous place, with a fast pace of life and a lot of vibrancy. Bristol is also quite large, has a good nightlife with plenty to do and see. Bath is the smallest of the cities and has a somewhat cosier feel, and although there is still tonnes to do (coffee houses, a few nightclubs, plenty of pubs, green parks, street food, shopping, ace throwing) it has a slower pace of life than both London and Bristol. I personally found this ideal when I was at uni and was really reassured by the fact that it is such a safe student city.
What I'd also say is that Bath have one of the best industrial placement schemes in the country, and so if you chose to do a placement year with your Econ course this would be a great thing to look into if its for you. Previous Econ students have ended up in places such as Adobe, Morgan Stanley and the Bank of England. Doing a placement adds its weight in gold to your grad CV, gives you the chance to earn money and do something fun and different for a year and could even act as a foot in the door for future employment if you choose to go back to the same company after graduating.
All are very high performing unis for Business and Econ/Finance and so I'm sure you'll have a very high quality academic experience whichever you choose, and all of those options would put you in a good place for investment banking - its just about weighing up what you would be most interested in learning and where you want to live your student life.
I hope this helps a bit, and best of luck this year. Any more questions please do let us know.
Holly
University of Bath

Pragmatically students looking to break into investment banking front office roles, if you want a healthy or balanced student life, you’re probably considering the wrong career, as with really considering the city/campus vibe as unless you’re relying on nepotism serious candidates will be spending their spare time building a strong CV and focusing continuously on recruitment from pretty much the first few weeks of first year, unfortunately it really is a rat race spring weeks then internships then graduate roles ..
I wouldn’t advocate a career in an investment bank unless you are really passionate for capital markets & financial services, however for those unrelentingly desperate to be a front office analyst at JPM looking at the campus vibe & lifestyle is actually bad advice as they need to clearly focus on what actually matters when breaking into those jobs where the roles are 1 in several hundred per position, and the candidate pools are very high caliber.

I’m looking at a career in Investment Banking. I appreciate it’s a really tough world to break into!I’ve completed a few different work placements in FX and at HSBC already and really want to aim for this path.
I am fortunate to have received 4 unconditional offers from 3 Unis but each is for a different course. I’m having trouble weighing up my final decision as they each have pros and cons!
Offers are from:
LSE - Accounting and Finance
Bath - Economics
Bristol - Economics and Finance
Bristol - Economics and Accounting
Which would you advise to be the best option?
I want to enjoy my time at University but also don’t want to jeopardise my chances at internship/job offers in the future.
Any experienced professional care to share their thoughts?

What course/uni have you decided on?
I feel so relieved to have made my choice and applied for my accommodation.
To those who offered advice, thank you. Who knows whether I’ve made the right decision. All I do know after having an unexpected gap year, is that there are different pathways to get to the same end goal and I’m looking forward to my journey. Having 3 jobs, I now know I’m not afraid of the hard work and time I need to invest in reaching my destination!
Good luck to you all!