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Best Degree At LSE For IB?
Just wanted to know what you guys would consider the best degree to get a 2:1/1:1 in at LSE is to get into IB (M&A especially).
Please reason why too as I'm a first year and I may switch depending on what's said.
I agree with the previous posts in that it doesnt really matter what you study, as long as you graduate from a top university. I got an offer from Economics, a more prestigious course at the LSE, but I chose to major in Real Estate Economics and Finance. Therefore, for a higher chance of a 1st class or 2:1, I would recommend studying in the Department of Geography at LSE. The courses are more straight forward, although still alot of econometrics studies involved. So you'll probably have more time to spend on applications and interviews. Also, working in real estate is competitive, and usually based in the front office. During interviews you probably wont get as many technical questions as a Finance interview, or you can at least lead the interviewers to ask you specific questions.
Couple of "extra" things I recommend:
- Competitive sports (especially if you are a man), and by that I mean real competitions, not just playing soccer on weekend, but more thing like tennis/squash tournments, marathons, swimming, etc. I wouldn't mention golf, because that often looks arrogant or pompous for a young grad.
- Club leadership. Any club, but make sure you have some leadership position and responsabilities.
- Volunteer and charity activities, which put you in a leadership position. For example, organising fundraising activities, 1 month volunteering in developing countries, etc.
- Stock picking tournaments for traders
- Any business you have launched. Make sure that this is a genuine business, they will check.
- Languages: mention the fluent ones and the intermediate one. Don't bother mentionning beginner levels, UNLESS you are applying for a European bank from that region i.e. French for BNP Paribas, Spanish for Satander, German for Deutsche, etc.
Another piece of advice on the side: do NOT mention in your interests: reading, jogging or travelling. That is so common and really boring. Find something more interesting, or go into details i.e. passionate reader about 18th century Russian history, travelled in China for 6 months, etc.
It really does not matter what kind of subject you study. I graduated from LSE and worked for M&A and now I changed to cover sector team but still focus on M&A. I studied accounting and finance. There are other students from my class are still doing the same thing. But i also know other LSE students in M&A studied risk management, economics, some politics related subject as well.
I understand that generally speaking, if you study acturial science you are more supposed join insurance company. But actually your background would be perfect for Financial Institution Sector in IB in any investment bank. I would not worry about the subject you choose right now. We even have colleagues who studied history which is totally irrelevant to finance...But you should be able to crunch numbers and justify why you choose this subject. It does not matter whether interviewer is really interested in your reasons. Instead, they want to know how you make decision and then they will know your thinking style. Of course if you dont like this subject you should change. At your level you should follow the area you are really interested in rather than purely focus on how can go into banking through the study subject.
The key is keep a good grade, do your research about what is investment banking and why you want to do it. Finally talk to as many people as you can. I remembered almost everybody from accounting and finance graduate applied M&A at my year, but only very few got offers from M&A. Most of them are doing equity research, Finance, DCM, ECM, auditing, etc. When i started to work, i found out that many M&A bankers studied very different things when they were in Uni.
I remember there was one subject called Operations and I dont sugggest you to take this one. Because it is obviously for back office in banks and HR will also tend to push you into that division. This subject is better for companies in other industry.
Thanks for the advice.
How about Actuarial Science - it's full of stats/maths.
What extra things do you recommend?
Is LSE alumini on this website? I find LSE IB alumini difficult to find...
LSEactuary
For banking, the type of degree doesn't matter as much as the university itself. By that I mean that you stand a better chance having read History at Oxford or Chemistry at Cambridge that having studied economics and finance at the University of Plymouth... Overall though, I would say that any financial and science subject gives you a slight edge because they show that you are quantitative-minded.
To answer your question, personally, I would pick Accounting and Finance or Economics, because that is what LSE is famous for. But what you need to make sure, irrespective of the degree you choose, is that you maintain high grades, do your research about banks, talk to alumni, read financial news, and that you are active outside classes i.e. clubs, associations, etc. In the end, that is what will differentiate you during the interviews!