[校友答疑] LSE Finance Programmes Q&A

Currently doing MSc Finance, Full time

I guess the thread has generated a significant amount of information on application to LSE Finance department programmes

If your request is not answered by this posting, please send a personal message to me.

My lent term has started on 12th Jan 2009, and i am quite busy at the moment. however, i will make an effort to reply your requests

据不完全统计，目前course里有offer的大概有25%左右

基本上都是做完internship给的return offer

full time基本不招人吧。目前只有一个Jewish拿到了direct full time offer, cause he speaks Spanish and the company requested that.

小的IB，一般都是只要1-2个

今年不是一般惨哟

2006年的时候，基本人手一个offer,有些有几个offer...those good old days

but thats not the end of story yet

London is a place full of opportunities. You only need to try harder.

msc of finance好像比较新，跟msc finance&economics比起来。

lz能做一下这两个项目的比较吗，mfe的reputation是不是已经建立起来比较久了？

谢谢

there are two MSc finance programmes, part time and full time, they are identical, except the part time one will take 2 years to complete. the part time programme has been running for 3 years, while the full time programme is new in 2008

Mfe is more academic, suitable for those who wanna do PhD. The course is a collaboration btw econs department and finance department. class size is about 90. the programme has 10+ years of experience

MSc Finance is more practical and more career oriented. we have practitioner from the City to give lectures occasionally. the course is specifically designed for IBs, so it charges the highest tuition fees in LSE. (They thought the expected return of the class will be high, assuming a normal market condition. of cos, it is clearly not the case now.)

i also realized that LSE MsF if relatively cheaper than MsF from IC, Mfe from Ox, by 2-3k

overall, MsF is competitive. the admission rate for the first cohort is 45/1600, i.e. 2.8%. Most competitive programme after MSc Economics. (Of cos, LSE MSc Economics programme is one of the best in the world. they only take first class honours in Economics, and the programme itself is very hard)

The MsF course can prepare you for consulting as well. One of my best friends got an offer from Oliver Wyman, but he did an internship with them.

my advice is, please please do an internship in the summer.  if you got any offers, please leverage on that in your CV.

The current model for IB hiring is that they tend to recruit their full time analysts from the summer analysts.

Grade is definitely not the only criterion at LSE. An expected first class honour is good enough. i can check the grades with some of my friends here. will get back to you later

i actually  had a nice chat with the programme director yesterday during dinner, and asked her why she picked us.

The central idea from the conversation is that you got to have sth special, either your background, or any other experiences which will you make you standing out from the crowd.

they want the diversity, not a stereotype.

Of cos, your reference letter got to be impressive. they will rely partly on that to make the decision.

1) for GMAT, we have from 690-780.

Backgrounds include engineering , computing, management, econs, accouting, english literature, politics, mathematics, physics, biochemistry

2) course fee = ~23K, cost of live about 800-1000 pounds per month, rental is expensive. if you knows how to cook, you can save some money and get rid of the terrible british foods. however, if you have difficulties in catching up with the class,  you will not have enough time for that.

you can apply to scholarships.  My friend got that. but his background is indeed impressive, very international background, top student of the department and speaks 6 languages, including Chinese ( he is not chinese!!!)

for those without financial knowledge, you should really do some reading before hand. I passed 2 levels of CFA in Dec 2007 and June 2008, that helps. thats why i still have time to apply to jobs and etc...