If you want to get a job in an investment bank, you have to go to a good school.
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And once you get into a good school, you have to take good classes. One of the most popular for future financiers is the Master's degree in Finance (MS Finance, MSc Finance, Master's in Finance, etc., depending on where you are in the world).
A master's degree in finance is a middle ground between an MBA and a CFA certification, both in terms of cost and career prospects. As we have discussed in other articles, this Master's degree allows you to complete your second-year banking internship even if you are unable to secure it. Doing a new internship after graduating from university and before proceeding to a master's program. The hope is that the internship will lead to a full-time job.
Master's in Finance programs are often more popular with sales and trading professionals than with investment bankers for a variety of reasons. Investment bankers have historically tended to be more attracted to his MBA than to a master's degree finance course. Neither should be confused with the much more niche Master's degree in Financial Engineering courses, which provides access to quantitative roles. However, keep in mind that even after earning a master's degree in finance, you will typically only join the company as an analyst at the lowest level.
Ranking of top master's courses in finance
The table below ranks the top 32 schools for a master's degree in finance, based on our proprietary data and publicly available information about where our graduates work.
This ranking is based on the percentage of each school's finance master's degree graduates in front office roles in investment banking compared to all program graduates in the financial services ecosystem, as well as the percentage of graduates in front offices at reputable institutions in the industry. Reflects the percentage of graduates in roles (combination of bulge bracket banks and elite boutiques)*.
Best Masters in Finance: Imperial College Business School
The top Master's degree in Finance is offered by Imperial College London's Business School in the UK. While the school performed well in terms of alumni prestige, it was in a league of its own when measuring the percentage of alumni working in front-office roles, which is lower than the average school we evaluated. It was more than twice as expensive.
(2nd) best master's degree in finance: Warwick Business School
The second highest rated finance master's program was offered by Warwick Business School in the UK. Warwick University performed reasonably well in terms of front office weight, but it had the highest-rated master's program among the prestigious institutions attended by its alumni.
(3rd) Best Master's Degree in Finance: McCombs School of Business
The University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business took third place. Although finance master's programs are generally a European-specific phenomenon, McCombs' graduates have permeated the most prestigious banks.
(4th) Best Master's Degree in Finance: Owen School of Management
The Owen School of Business, part of Vanderbilt University, led the pack after McCombs. Like McCombs, the school performed particularly well when evaluating the job prospects of its graduates, and the school had a relatively low percentage of its graduates in revenue-generating front-office roles.
The UK-based London School of Economics (LSE)'s finance master's course came in fifth place. LSE benefited from front office graduates and students from prestigious universities.
Generally speaking, this list was dominated by American, British, and French universities. These three countries accounted for 75% of the list, with only Spain and China having multiple entries.
*“Prestigious institutions” in investment banking are defined as the following or, as applicable, the respective investment banking subdivisions: Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Citi, Bank of America, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Evercore, Lazard, Rothschild, PJT Partners, Perera Weinberg Partners, Morris.
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