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US MBA schools best for banking

29 May 2007

Should you go for Columbia or Cranfield, LBS or NYU Stern?

You may be based in London and doing business in Europe, but when it comes to doing an MBA you’re probably still better off across the Atlantic.

Although Europe’s MBA schools have progressed in leaps and bounds in the past decade, American banks in Europe (and even European banks in Europe) still favour schools in the US.

Merrill Lynch, for example, targets London Business School, INSEAD in France and IESE in Spain for European associate hires. In the US it targets Wharton, Columbia, Harvard, Chicago, and NYU Stern.

The head of associate recruitment at one major European bank says around 60% of its European MBA intake is sourced from US schools: “Big US schools are just streaks ahead in terms of their faculty and curriculum,” she says. “If you want to go into banking, you need to follow the banking route – Wharton is the top business school for finance and it has been for years.”

This may be changing. Research from London-based recruiter EM Finance suggested that students from European MBA schools were 57% more likely than their US contemporaries to be hired last year – however, the stats included recruitment at consulting firms, which tend to favour the likes of Cranfield Business School in the UK , which are all but ignored by banks.

The associate recruiter says some European schools are making their mark. “LBS have ramped up their ability to attract professors, which enhances their overall programme. We’re seeing more American students actually coming there to study as a result.”

Comments (71)

USA MBAs rock and are better than most of the UK MBAs. The reason is the UK MBAs lack rigour and the quantitaive touch that makes the professional crisp and sharp.

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Comments (71)

  • Bangor Business School

    Joseph 10 Apr 2009

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  • It is very obvious that an MBA is indeed a very good qualification and even though I believe you can learn how to manage on the job, I still firmly believe you can manage miles better with an MBA. so please do not think you can do an MSC in place of an MBA unless you are not prepared to get yourself promoted to the top. Becareful since abot 95% of very top positions in Businesses today require these potential people to have a very good MBA. To sum up, if you want to be specialist in your field without being too keen to progress to the top quickly then be a specialist and go for an MSC, MA or degrees.

    SAMUEL ASANTE-NNURO 03 Nov 2008

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  • Hi mate, good plans you have there. its usually a tough decision to make and hope my comments help you. Specialisation is the key nowadays if you want to get an apprioprate job and accelerate very fast up the ladder. Doing an MBA is like joining a club with an already established reputation which increase the heartbeats of Human resource managers. There are general MBAs as well as specialised MBAs. I advise you to go in for a specialised MBA, maybe in Finance or Banking. This sort of MBA gives you leaderships skills in a specialised area which helps you achieve both objectives. Going to a Big school depends on how full your pockets are and the possibility of gaining an admission to the program. It is safer to get into the top schools but if you can't afford, go ahead and enroll with an average school. While in, go the extra mile to make yourself a guru in a specific area. One thing stands out, you can only be complete with an MBA, its everything about joining the club.

    Terence Njong, MBA 31 Dec 2007

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  • Huh? I am surprised.. MBA is not a finance degree. If you are interested in financial knowledge and want a financial certification, you are much better of pursuing the CFA charter.
    MBA is not about knowledge of finance. It is supposed to help a person with detailed knowledge of one area, to move into a full-fledged management role, by exposing him to other functional areas.
    Get the difference people?

    Badri 31 Oct 2007

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  • Take out the cost of a degree such as an MBA/MiF and there is no two ways about it, the 1/2 years spent doing it will be the most interesting and stimulating experience of your life.  Anybody who has ever done such a degree knows this.  The selection criteria of the top schools ensure classes are of the abolute highest calibre on a number of levels which really adds to the experience.

    If money is your only motivator in life and thats what drives you to stay in work, then I am sad for you.  That is your choice.  However, most/all of us MBAs/MiFs just couldn't live like that.

    Anonymous 30 Oct 2007

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  • can some one help me in deciding what course shall i take.i want to do mba but not many comments goes in favour of it.but this is some thing i think i really wanna do and would do once i enter the field relevant to this.  the only problem is i donno know if i do it from not so good uni would it still help me in getting the job.your suggestions plz but based on little information i have provided with thanks.

    anonymous,student 21 Aug 2007

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  • It is not only Cass business schoolbut also9 Cranfield University, LSE doing good in terms of Recruitment.

    Ananymous 12 Aug 2007

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  • any people can succeed without a degree. bill gates doesnt have a degree and look at him.



    MBA is a general management program which can help you in other fields when you become an important person in a company, i-bank...you need more things beside the quant skills (and i´m not saying that they´re not important),



    the thing is that an MBA can give you an impulse in your interpersonal and technical skills, and you can learn a lot of your colleagues and classes because you listen to different perspectives from students and remarkable teachers (working you dont have time to listen to all this kind of opinions). and beside you can make good friends who are all probably be succesfull and maybe they are going to help you some they with something(i.e:if you want to start a company or know something about something or find a new job or maybe they can help you talking to someone, who  knows!).



    and beside of this, meeting more people always help!and maybe some day you want to work in i-banking and at the same time in something different like a non-profit org or helping the goverment, etc.for all the jobs and to be a good leader and professional you need more things than quant skills.and an MBA can help you

    vice president, goldman sachs, new york 06 Aug 2007

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  • I currently work offshore administering private equity funds for a number of well known private equity houses in the UK, one of which was probably the most high profile house in the UK and also globally recognised. The investment guys working for this high profile house all held Oxbridge degrees coupled with MBA's from Harvard etc. Whilst they could negotiate the deal of their career, none of them had a clue as to how the finance worked or even how or why the deal was structured in a certain way! Their time management was also shocking - something they did'nt teach them at Harvard. Scary considering the deal amounts involved, what these investment guys were being paid and their university credentials. They simply lacked common sense.



    I am thinking of doing a distance learning MBA through Southampton Uni. I already hold my first degree from Manchester Uni and am ACIB qualified. Everyone use common sense. Don't get sucked in by Oxbridge degrees, chinless wonders and Harvard MBA's because it sounds good. Experience, common sense, intelligence and determination are the best attributes.

    Anonymous 05 Aug 2007

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  • Hello Guys, I won't speak whether MBA is good or bad but yes, its true MBA hype is there!! And if all, including recruiters are 'crazy' about this three-letter word MBA, why not go for it!!!




    I agree with one of the reader's post that MBA was originally meant for "General Management" and one practicing in "General Management" is trully a MBA. Even former GE Chief Jack Welch says so. He agreed to be as faculty in MIT only this condition. It was only when MBA s started loosing it shine, all this Marketing Managers (Faculty of Marketing) at top business schools have came out with MBA in finance, strategy and all this blaw blaw...... I think one should ideally got Msc in finance or for membership of ACA, GARP, etc. to enter finance field. But then again, as I said above when even recruiters are tilted towards MBA and not very enthusiastic about this MSc sort of things, why would waste one's time and money in other non-MBA courses??




    I think this course "Financial Asset Management and Engineering" (FAME) from Swiss Finance Institute is enough to at least make 'an entry' in investment management and related fields. What do you say?

    Parul Mehta 23 Jun 2007

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