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So glad it was helpful! We want to shed light on more of our decision-making processes and to showcase what our premium applications consultancy packages looks like, which is experts who are passionate about their subjects, sharing their insights to help guide students to life-changing offers. If this new format is popular, we will create more such discussions.
Not MSc Finance at Imperial? Great course that opens doors!! In my experience getting into any of these courses will open doors in the city, both through on campus recruiting and through networking with colleagues. One small thing to consider is that although some desks and teams in the city have an oxbridge only hiring rule (I know of teams at goldman sachs in particular who take such an approach), generally I think there is a big logistical advantage to being in London when going through recruitment processes, I.e. at Imperial, LSE and UCL. In part because of the physical distance involved with major finance firms and generally the graduate recruitment process is far less disruptive on your studies. In most cases, I don't believe specific desks and hiring managers look much beyond having gone to any top university to study finance. At the end of the day, the ability and quality of the candidate beats the university they studied at when making a hiring decision.
Imperial's MSc Finance was (accidentally!) a little snubbed here as it is a brilliant course that deserves to be mentioned. Imperial's MSc finance sits a firm 5th behind Oxford, LSE, Cambridge and LBS, but ahead of UCL, KCL Warwick and others in the UK. We have helped hundreds of students receive offers to Imperial and until recently it was almost always the insurance choice of our top candidates. It is a particularly great strategic option for candidates with a strong 2:1 who do not want to take the GMAT/GRE. Imperial's MSc Wealth Management and recently FinTech courses deserved a mention too as they are very attractive specialist courses for those with relevant career plans (I believe were edited out to keep the video close to 10 minutes!). Imperial's MSc Finance sits in a slightly uncomfortable position strategically because it has the 'preferred 1st class' academic requirement. But if a candidate has a 1st class (or International equivalent e.g. 3.7+ US GPA), we would encourage them to apply to Oxford, Cambridge and LSE over Imperial. With our success rate at The Profs of over 92% of students we support receiving either their 1st or 2nd choice university, Imperial becomes an unused insurance choice for many of our applicants (see point on their lengthy application process below). If a candidate has a 2:1 (or int. equivalent) they are going to struggle to get into the top 3 universities without extraordinary work experience (e.g. have worked at JP Morgan/Goldman Sachs and have a full-time employment offer). We typically recommend LBS to such candidates because LBS are less strict on academic requirements and put more emphasis on all-round ability, and performance in their alumni interview. LBS requires a GMAT, but we've had great success recently in helping candidates obtain waivers from LBS (although LBS have now told us that they are reducing the number of such waivers in future cycles). Therefore, where Imperial is a great option, is for candidates with a 2:1 who do not want to take the GMAT/GRE. Ideally they will have some relevant work experience because Imperial places heavy emphasis on career plan, and we typically recommend their specialist courses for this reason. However, in the most recent cycles, Imperial has greatly bloated their application process. They removed the ability to submit a general personal statement that could be adapted from LSE/UCL/KCL, and replaced it with 4 new 1500 character questions. On top of this, they have their career planning questions which are both muddled and very overlapping with both each other and the 4 application questions. On top of all this, there is the Kira Talent pre-recorded interview. This means that the Imperial application is the longest application we cover, but our success rates for Imperial are extremely high at The Profs for this course (80%+) because the more complex an application process is, the more opportunity we have to help candidates to stand out over others. Many candidates prefer to adapt their LSE personal statement and apply to UCL and KCL and find Imperial's 3000 word+ application off-putting, especially if they are applying to LBS' equally-long (but better thought out) application process. For more application tips on Imperial MSc Finance and how to stand out in its lengthy application process, please see our video here: th-cam.com/video/J-jJnyl_CdU/w-d-xo.html.
Very helpful! For someone looking to work in London (and being an international student), how would Imperial's MSc Finance and HEC's MIF compare? They're similar in academic requirements and both have extremely interesting modules. What do you think?
Both are fantastic courses. We have ranked HEC at 3rd and Imperial at 5th in this video. HEC's acceptance rate is higher at 19% compared with Imperial's 9%, although this is likely in part because: a) London is more popular than Paris for a career in finance; b) HEC's course is larger; c) HEC requires the GMAT which is a much higher bar to submit an application. I really like both courses, but the optionality of HEC's 89 elective finance modules, the concentrations and specialisations, plus the additional certificates means that you can really specialise and stand out (e.g. in energy, or renewable energy), plus the built-in professional experience makes HECs course stand out for me. The FT consistently ranks it #1 in Europe for pre-experience finance Master's too. That said, Imperial is a great course, with great modules, an excellent reputation and career prospects and it's in London which has the most career opportunities. Both will open all the doors one could need for a career in finance and I would not consider Imperial a step down from HEC, but just another fantastic university on the same tier. If you can get a strong score (655+) in the GMAT Focus, I would recommend applying to both and seeing if you can get an offer to each. Imperial's course not having a GMAT requirement is a big advantage, although their application process is tricky and there are many pitfalls that candidates can fall down, which is why we allow at least 2 months to prepare our premium students for Imperial's application questions and the Kira Talent pre-recorded interview. Good luck!
Added to our list of videos to create! This UCL MSc Finance video will contain lots of the same tips, so hopefully it is helpful for now: th-cam.com/video/R1uUkha7C2Q/w-d-xo.html
In the UK, both UCL and KCL would be very high in our 2nd tier, below the top-tied universities we discuss in this video. We would rank KCL in the top ten just behind Imperial, UCL and Warwick. KCL is currently investing heavily in its reputation and is setting high grade entry requirements. Whilst this is a great-long term strategy for KCL, it means that currently KCL is possibly harder to get into than UCL or Imperial, but it's not currently as highly regarded by employers. Investment in reputation takes decades to improve. This means it is tough to get an offer from relative to it's reputation, and we are not currently recommending it as actively as UCL or Imperial (but this changes year to year as we receive more information from our expert network). That said, we still help many students to receive offers from KCL, and just last week we had two candidates receives offers from KCL (although both have accepted offers to LSE over KCL as LSE was their first choice). UCL's banking and digital finance is a good specialist course for those looking to break into finance, but perhaps not at the most competitive desks or institutions.
I have actually applied to Oxford, LSE, KCL and UCL. if I receive offers from any of the following can I contact your team to help apply for scholarships?@@the_profs btw I am considering a last application it's either Warwick or Imperial. This is going to be a safety net application so Imperial's low acceptance rates are a bit off-putting. I have a 331/340 in the GRE and a first class in Economics from Nigeria
No - grades are the #1 determinant. Work experience is #2 for a Master's. Everything else is to help the decide between the top candidates but without strong grades, an application is an uphill battle. One's chances can be greatly increased with a professional admissions consultant
Bocconi is an excellent university with a great international reputation (consistently ranking top 5 in the world). It is unusual in that it does not have very strict academic requirements and therefore has a surprisingly high acceptance rate (38%). Whilst this makes it an excellent choice for those with weaker grades, in our experience this lack of academic rigour puts it behind the top UK universities such as Oxford, LSE, Cambridge and London Business School, all of which open doors to any competitive job interview around the world. Bocconi alumni often seem to struggle with both quantitative tests and final-round finance interviews compared to alumni of Oxbridge, LBS, HEC, INSEAD or LSE and therefore Bocconi students have a harder time getting the top finance jobs and as such it did not make this list. It's still a very good option and its focus on personable, all-round students seems to drive high student satisfaction and confidence, as reported by the many students we have helped to obtain offers to Bocconi (I believe we have 100% success rate of helping students obtain offers from Bocconi). We plan to make a tier list university in the future to include more universities, including Bocconi to explain our choices in more detail. I hope that answers your question!
With such a high GMAT score, many Master's would be interested. We would recommend going to an open day and speaking with LBS and Cambridge in particular as they favour high GMAT scores over work experience, and have pre-experience Master's so you are not competing with those with more than one year of work experience. Good luck!
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This is really helpful! It's difficult to get my head around these degrees so it's nice for people to explain the differences clearly!
So glad it was helpful! We want to shed light on more of our decision-making processes and to showcase what our premium applications consultancy packages looks like, which is experts who are passionate about their subjects, sharing their insights to help guide students to life-changing offers. If this new format is popular, we will create more such discussions.
Not MSc Finance at Imperial? Great course that opens doors!! In my experience getting into any of these courses will open doors in the city, both through on campus recruiting and through networking with colleagues. One small thing to consider is that although some desks and teams in the city have an oxbridge only hiring rule (I know of teams at goldman sachs in particular who take such an approach), generally I think there is a big logistical advantage to being in London when going through recruitment processes, I.e. at Imperial, LSE and UCL. In part because of the physical distance involved with major finance firms and generally the graduate recruitment process is far less disruptive on your studies. In most cases, I don't believe specific desks and hiring managers look much beyond having gone to any top university to study finance. At the end of the day, the ability and quality of the candidate beats the university they studied at when making a hiring decision.
Imperial's MSc Finance was (accidentally!) a little snubbed here as it is a brilliant course that deserves to be mentioned. Imperial's MSc finance sits a firm 5th behind Oxford, LSE, Cambridge and LBS, but ahead of UCL, KCL Warwick and others in the UK. We have helped hundreds of students receive offers to Imperial and until recently it was almost always the insurance choice of our top candidates. It is a particularly great strategic option for candidates with a strong 2:1 who do not want to take the GMAT/GRE. Imperial's MSc Wealth Management and recently FinTech courses deserved a mention too as they are very attractive specialist courses for those with relevant career plans (I believe were edited out to keep the video close to 10 minutes!).
Imperial's MSc Finance sits in a slightly uncomfortable position strategically because it has the 'preferred 1st class' academic requirement. But if a candidate has a 1st class (or International equivalent e.g. 3.7+ US GPA), we would encourage them to apply to Oxford, Cambridge and LSE over Imperial. With our success rate at The Profs of over 92% of students we support receiving either their 1st or 2nd choice university, Imperial becomes an unused insurance choice for many of our applicants (see point on their lengthy application process below).
If a candidate has a 2:1 (or int. equivalent) they are going to struggle to get into the top 3 universities without extraordinary work experience (e.g. have worked at JP Morgan/Goldman Sachs and have a full-time employment offer). We typically recommend LBS to such candidates because LBS are less strict on academic requirements and put more emphasis on all-round ability, and performance in their alumni interview. LBS requires a GMAT, but we've had great success recently in helping candidates obtain waivers from LBS (although LBS have now told us that they are reducing the number of such waivers in future cycles).
Therefore, where Imperial is a great option, is for candidates with a 2:1 who do not want to take the GMAT/GRE. Ideally they will have some relevant work experience because Imperial places heavy emphasis on career plan, and we typically recommend their specialist courses for this reason.
However, in the most recent cycles, Imperial has greatly bloated their application process. They removed the ability to submit a general personal statement that could be adapted from LSE/UCL/KCL, and replaced it with 4 new 1500 character questions. On top of this, they have their career planning questions which are both muddled and very overlapping with both each other and the 4 application questions. On top of all this, there is the Kira Talent pre-recorded interview. This means that the Imperial application is the longest application we cover, but our success rates for Imperial are extremely high at The Profs for this course (80%+) because the more complex an application process is, the more opportunity we have to help candidates to stand out over others. Many candidates prefer to adapt their LSE personal statement and apply to UCL and KCL and find Imperial's 3000 word+ application off-putting, especially if they are applying to LBS' equally-long (but better thought out) application process.
For more application tips on Imperial MSc Finance and how to stand out in its lengthy application process, please see our video here: th-cam.com/video/J-jJnyl_CdU/w-d-xo.html.
Very helpful! For someone looking to work in London (and being an international student), how would Imperial's MSc Finance and HEC's MIF compare? They're similar in academic requirements and both have extremely interesting modules. What do you think?
Both are fantastic courses. We have ranked HEC at 3rd and Imperial at 5th in this video. HEC's acceptance rate is higher at 19% compared with Imperial's 9%, although this is likely in part because: a) London is more popular than Paris for a career in finance; b) HEC's course is larger; c) HEC requires the GMAT which is a much higher bar to submit an application.
I really like both courses, but the optionality of HEC's 89 elective finance modules, the concentrations and specialisations, plus the additional certificates means that you can really specialise and stand out (e.g. in energy, or renewable energy), plus the built-in professional experience makes HECs course stand out for me. The FT consistently ranks it #1 in Europe for pre-experience finance Master's too.
That said, Imperial is a great course, with great modules, an excellent reputation and career prospects and it's in London which has the most career opportunities. Both will open all the doors one could need for a career in finance and I would not consider Imperial a step down from HEC, but just another fantastic university on the same tier.
If you can get a strong score (655+) in the GMAT Focus, I would recommend applying to both and seeing if you can get an offer to each. Imperial's course not having a GMAT requirement is a big advantage, although their application process is tricky and there are many pitfalls that candidates can fall down, which is why we allow at least 2 months to prepare our premium students for Imperial's application questions and the Kira Talent pre-recorded interview. Good luck!
what about undergrad finance degree options at Warwick Business School-WBS?
Could you make a video on Ucl’s Msc banking and digital finance
Added to our list of videos to create! This UCL MSc Finance video will contain lots of the same tips, so hopefully it is helpful for now: th-cam.com/video/R1uUkha7C2Q/w-d-xo.html
Where would you rank the kings college banking and finance as well as ucl’s banking and digital finance?
In the UK, both UCL and KCL would be very high in our 2nd tier, below the top-tied universities we discuss in this video.
We would rank KCL in the top ten just behind Imperial, UCL and Warwick. KCL is currently investing heavily in its reputation and is setting high grade entry requirements. Whilst this is a great-long term strategy for KCL, it means that currently KCL is possibly harder to get into than UCL or Imperial, but it's not currently as highly regarded by employers. Investment in reputation takes decades to improve. This means it is tough to get an offer from relative to it's reputation, and we are not currently recommending it as actively as UCL or Imperial (but this changes year to year as we receive more information from our expert network). That said, we still help many students to receive offers from KCL, and just last week we had two candidates receives offers from KCL (although both have accepted offers to LSE over KCL as LSE was their first choice).
UCL's banking and digital finance is a good specialist course for those looking to break into finance, but perhaps not at the most competitive desks or institutions.
I have actually applied to Oxford, LSE, KCL and UCL. if I receive offers from any of the following can I contact your team to help apply for scholarships?@@the_profs btw I am considering a last application it's either Warwick or Imperial. This is going to be a safety net application so Imperial's low acceptance rates are a bit off-putting. I have a 331/340 in the GRE and a first class in Economics from Nigeria
Is extracurricular more important than the grade? should I focus on just getting high GPA in undergrad?
No - grades are the #1 determinant. Work experience is #2 for a Master's. Everything else is to help the decide between the top candidates but without strong grades, an application is an uphill battle. One's chances can be greatly increased with a professional admissions consultant
What about Bocconi?
Bocconi is an excellent university with a great international reputation (consistently ranking top 5 in the world). It is unusual in that it does not have very strict academic requirements and therefore has a surprisingly high acceptance rate (38%). Whilst this makes it an excellent choice for those with weaker grades, in our experience this lack of academic rigour puts it behind the top UK universities such as Oxford, LSE, Cambridge and London Business School, all of which open doors to any competitive job interview around the world. Bocconi alumni often seem to struggle with both quantitative tests and final-round finance interviews compared to alumni of Oxbridge, LBS, HEC, INSEAD or LSE and therefore Bocconi students have a harder time getting the top finance jobs and as such it did not make this list. It's still a very good option and its focus on personable, all-round students seems to drive high student satisfaction and confidence, as reported by the many students we have helped to obtain offers to Bocconi (I believe we have 100% success rate of helping students obtain offers from Bocconi). We plan to make a tier list university in the future to include more universities, including Bocconi to explain our choices in more detail. I hope that answers your question!
Is there anything for a First Class student with a GMAT of 780 but no internship?
With such a high GMAT score, many Master's would be interested. We would recommend going to an open day and speaking with LBS and Cambridge in particular as they favour high GMAT scores over work experience, and have pre-experience Master's so you are not competing with those with more than one year of work experience. Good luck!
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