Are there really only 7 target universities for UK banking jobs?
If you want to land a banking job, you’ll need to start young. It will also help if you attend a university that banks like to hire from (a "target university"). But – in the UK, at least – which university is best for banking?
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A report from Trackr, formerly known as the Bristol Tracker, says there are only seven target universities for banks and financial services firms in the UK. These are listed in the chart below.
They are Bocconi, Imperial, LSE, UCL, Cambridge, Oxford, and Warwick. All of the above, except for Bocconi (in Milan), are based in the UK.
What if you don't study here? There are also “semi-target” universities, which are good enough to receive applications from; and “non-target”, which are… Well, good morning.
Of Trackr's 13 semi-target universities, eight are based in the UK. Of its 27 named non-target universities, 24 of them are based in the UK.
Curiously, Trackr’s target university list omits the French Grandes Écoles. These are ultra-exclusive and ultra-esteemed universities in France, which traditionally feed the country’s elite labor force, including in finance, politics, and public service. They do not, apparently, carry much weight. HEC Paris, the country’s pride and joy, is nowhere to be seen.
The Trackr list generally tracks with the QS list of top banking universities, although it makes Trackr’s exclusion of Grandes Écoles more perplexing. HEC (no listing, per Trackr) was right next to Bocconi (target, per Trackr) in the QS list.
Additionally, the University of Manchester (non-target, per Trackr) is considered significantly better for a banking career, according to QS, than either the University of Warwick or UCL – both of which, per Trackr, were target schools.
Either way, banks might be hesitant to bring in hires from target universities. Trackr’s data shows that non-targets are much more likely to lie on their CV/Resume, for one: 15% of target university applicants have reported lying on their application, compared to just 3.5% of semi-target applicants.
It’s not surprising that dishonesty is so rampant. LSE students cheat wholesale on entry tests, usually plyometric ones, and the scale of cheating has led to some “cheat sheets” with test answers on them being watermarked. Gary Stevenson went to LSE, and famously cheated to get into Citi.
Students from target universities are, however, slightly less likely to stick with finance jobs. Less than 90% of target university applicants told Trackr they saw themselves working in finance “long-term”; the equivalent figure for non-target students was 94.3%.
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