http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthr ... =351393The Top 20 UK Unis for doing an Undergraddegree to get a Front Office* job at a Top 7 IB*** Investment Banking, Corporate Finance, ECM, DCM & Global Markets (Sales, Trading, Research & Structuring for Fixed Income, FX, Commodities & Equities)** Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, UBS, Lehman Brothers01 LSE02 Oxford, Cambridge[small gap]04 Imperial[big gap]05 Warwick06 UCL[huge, huge gap]07 KCL08 Bristol09 Nottingham(An MSc from CASS after an OK undergradand you're about on par with 07-09)[gap]10 Bath11 Loughborough12 York13 St Andrews14 Edinburgh15 Durham[gap]16 Reading (ISMA)17 Manchester18 Royal Holloway19 City (undergrad degrees)20 BirminghamThis table gives an idea of your likelihood of getting an IB offer if you do an undergraduate degree at one of the above institutions.LSE, Oxford and Cambridge give you your best chance of a front office IB job, and most British front-office grads at the top 7 IBs are from here (GS, Ci, MS, ML, DB, UBS, LB). I'm putting LSE first purely because of the additional networking opportunities of having the banks right at your doorstep, the ease at which you can meet young bankers who can help you etc. Imperial is perhaps better than these for some quant/structuring roles, but there are very few in IBD, sales etc given few there have top social skills.There's an ongoing debate about which is better between Warwick & UCL. Warwick's maybe a slightly better uni with a better rep, but UCL has the London advantage, but it's perhaps easier at Warwick where so many more of the Economists, A&Fers etc go into IB, people all around you to give invaluable advice. At either of them you are perfectly capable of landing a front office job at a top IB if you focus on it. Now that these 6 unis, which constitute maybe 90% of the British intake at the top unis is out of the way, things get a lot trickier, you guys outside this pret set really have work cut out if you want to make it. At KCL, Bristol, Nottingham you're gonna really have to shine if you want a front-office spot at a top IB. KCL has the location, Bristol the prestige and Nottingham the great careers service to help you on your way. After this come 6 prestigious institutions with a pretty dismal record of getting people into tier 1 front office, but from here the 2nd division (the likes of ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, Dresdner etc) are all really accessible - made easy particularly at Bath and Loughborough with the sandwich placement years giving you valuable experience.The bottom five of the table will give you the occasional superstar making it big, but largely filling up the middle/back office and 2nd tier spots.Hope that helps. The obvious counts, that university institution is only one piece of a large jigsaw, and an ambitious networker from Exeter has a better chance than a lazy ar$e from Oxbridge, but uni rep is damn important. This is purely my opinion based on experience - I have seen the CV books for maybe 1,000 new grads now from different top banks for the 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 grad and intern classes, so know very well where the talent comes from. Year on year the intakes are getting more and more impressive, and as this happens unis outside the top 6 are being increasingly squeezed year on year, as are people on course for a 2.1 not a 1st.

Interesting opinion from whom I assume is a LSE grad.For quants, I would say:1. Imperial 2. UCL3. Cambridge then (small gap) Oxford.

QuoteOriginally posted by: spiceInteresting opinion from whom I assume is a LSE grad.For quants, I would say:1. Imperial 2. UCL3. Cambridge then (small gap) Oxford.UCL??? To be frank, I have never met a quant from UCL.IMHO, the quants are mainly from the following departments:1. Cambridge Math/Engineering2. Oxford Physics/Math3. Imperial Math/Physics/EE

For those with a UK degree of course.

This list really doesn't map to my impression of the market at all well, but then it talks of undergrads into front office, a transition I don't really see for the quant area.Also perhaps I'm being dense, but I don't see a source or a methodology.

QuoteUCL??? To be frank, I have never met a quant from UCL.Yeah, I met a few. From the quants I have come across so far, Imperial has the most.

I would just like to be clear about our sampling here...Imperial is both bigger than UCL and has a higher % of science grads, so of course one sees a decent number of them in banks.But what you care about as an idividual is not how many people from your place get that job, but what your personal chances are.That LSE is top of this cale tells us that something is really wrong here. Not that it is a bad place, I'd expect it to do well, but that it's not really a quant factory is it ?Although I've been quite rude about Reading "university" as a whole I observe lots of Reading/ICMA people around (and yes it worrie be vaguely that this list has the name wrong).This list also is silent about salaries, indeed it doesn't say quite what jobs people get.I still don't know the source or methodology.Maybe I should publish my list...

QuoteOriginally posted by: DCFCMaybe I should publish my list...we are waiting....

how about quants, instead of front office role, from top 20 UK PhD program?

QuoteOriginally posted by: DCFCI would just like to be clear about our sampling here...Imperial is both bigger than UCL and has a higher % of science grads, so of course one sees a decent number of them in banks.Very wrong in terms of size. Imperial is much smaller than UCL. Imperial has less than 11,500 students while UCL has more than 19,000 students, I just checked these figures on their websites. The percentage thing: both have Physics, Math, EE. appxoximately equal size. Other than that, probably IC has more engineering departments than UCL. But this fact might give Imperial students an advantage when applying for more quantitative based roles, i.e., trading and structuring. Around half of the front office people are doing Corporate Finance/Investment Banking (M&A, IPO etc), which requires strong social and communication skills. That means an arts/law/psychology student from UCL has a greater advantage than most of the students from Imperial when applying to such divisions. So I do not see why in general UCL is in a weaker position in the competition in terms of the student background.That is also why we see a lot of Oxford arts/law/History students doing Investmetn Banking.QuoteBut what you care about as an idividual is not how many people from your place get that job, but what your personal chances are.True. But there is a strong correlation. And this sort of informal impression or formal figures will inevitably influence your interview opportunities.QuoteThat LSE is top of this cale tells us that something is really wrong here. Not that it is a bad place, I'd expect it to do well, but that it's not really a quant factory is it ?The list is for undergraduate kids, not for PhD quants.QuoteI still don't know the source or methodology.Maybe I should publish my list...Would be interested to read...My impression is that if you have a PhD in Math from Cambridge or Physics from Oxford, realistically there is a guarantee you can find a quant job in a bank if you are interested in this area, regardless of your current job, age and first language.

Sorry, that was a threat, not an offer I know my list is wrong, which is why I'm interested in the source of LDN's one.I have a "warm fuzzy index" which is roughly the reciporacal of how hard it is for me to convince a manager that a person from this place is any good.Sampling error is rife, as are various forms of survivorship bias.I wonder what sort of front offic jobs all these LSE grads are getting.Anyone know ?

QuoteOriginally posted by: DCFCSorry, that was a threat, not an offer I know my list is wrong, which is why I'm interested in the source of LDN's one.I have a "warm fuzzy index" which is roughly the reciporacal of how hard it is for me to convince a manager that a person from this place is any good.Sampling error is rife, as are various forms of survivorship bias.I wonder what sort of front offic jobs all these LSE grads are getting.Anyone know ?As the original post indicates, the roles are based in:* Investment Banking, Corporate Finance, ECM, DCM & Global Markets (Sales, Trading, Research & Structuring for Fixed Income, FX, Commodities & Equities)

Sorry is that the name of a magazine ? It's monday, my slow head is no today.

I guess it is just a forum, like wilmott