Imperial MSc Economics and Strategy for Business for London consulting?
Hi.
I would really appreciate some advice regarding my situation. I'm based in the UK so would appreciate UK-specific guidance.
I did terribly in my A-Levels and ended up at a complete non-target university, so unsurprisingly I was constantly rejected for internships and was rejected from countless graduate roles. I graduated with a first class degree in economics, although this doesn't mean much since it was from a really low ranking university. I did manage to get on an accounting/tax graduate scheme and I'm currently in my first year of the graduate scheme where I've been completing the ACA as part of my role. The pay is pretty decent (especially for someone like me from a non-target university) but it's not what I wanted to do. It was the only offer I had and beggars can't be choosers.
I have received an offer for Imperial's MSc Economics and Strategy for Business programme and although this may not be the most elite programme out there, I'm really pleased that I've got an offer since it is a trillion times better than the terrible undergraduate university I went to. Also, I aim to apply for MBA programmes in America after 5/6 years and a Master's from Imperial will look a lot better than my non-target undergraduate university.
I'm aware that a decent Master's programme will not completely overshadow poor A-Level results and a non-target undergraduate university. After being rejected so many times during university, I have become extremely pessimistic and will not be wasting my time applying for elite firms/roles such as MBB or BB IB. I won't even get into a boutique IB firm since my chance at getting these types of roles ended years ago when I got poor A-Level results.
I shall be targeting tier 2/3 consulting firms, boutique consulting firms, corporate finance firms and Big 4 consulting/transaction advisory type roles. However, I'm worried that my bad A-Levels will still ruin my chances for these as well.
I'm 95% sure I'm taking the Imperial offer, but I'm really concerned that my bad A-Level grades will still hold me back when applying for jobs during my Master's. I've got a first class degree in economics and will have 1 year of experience in accounting/finance along with the Imperial MSc ESB, but since I would still be applying for entry level/graduate roles I'm worried my A-Levels would still ruin my chances.
I have passed all the ACA exams I've taken so far at the first attempt so in the worst case scenario where I don't get the offers I want during my Master's, I should be able to get another ACA graduate role/training contract and finish the ACA qualification.
Do you think my bad A-Levels will still hold me back when applying for boutique consulting firms/corporate finance firms/Big 4 transaction roles despite my first class undergraduate degree, my 1 year accounting/finance experience and the Imperial MSc ESB?
Is there a risk that the Imperial Master's programme doesn't boost my prospects at all due to my bad A-Levels, and that the Master's is just a costly way to make my CV look better over my non-target undergraduate university?
Thanks for your help. :)
New drinking game just dropped - take a shot every time OP mentions his poor A-Levels.
Lol. It's true though my A-Levels have pretty much ruined my career aspirations. I was quite depressed in my first couple years of uni after my poor A-Level results and honestly I still haven't fully gotten over it. Ultimately it's my fault I'm in this position so I have no one to blame but myself.
No one cares about A-Levels
Empathize with this heavily OP did not have A-Levels due to different circumstances but regardless went to a complete non target doing economics. All I could land was some BS SA sustainable finance role. I decided to switch to a Semi Target to do social science and now doing a MM IB SA.
Now to answer your question directly, will they always hold you back? Yes, that's the truth. Does this mean you still can't get a 99% percentile role compared to the population, no. You will have to take the long way around, at my non target we only had 5 people in IB and they were all MM's (HL,JF,RBC) etc. All them had to do the Big 4 TAS to IB route.
Second, will this MSc help? To be honest, I don't know. You need to do more research looking at Linkedin and looking at the exits people had out of this MSc and the background they had, that will tell you everything. Before I switched to a semi to restart my UG, I was going to do LSE MSc finance. Obviously IB oriented, if you're stuck on consulting the best way is to try network into a low level firm. Grind there then a Tier 2 Consulting firm is probably the celling. That is still really good but MBB is really elitist even more so then IB.
Can you give more info about your journey? What semi-target did you go to? How did you manage to get into IB if you had bad A-Levels/didn't have A-Levels?
The ESB course at Imperial does have a high placement into consulting and quite a few grads end up in IB as well, but I think these may have already done internships prior to Imperial so I'm not sure how great the employment prospects really are. Also, there are a few grads still looking for work which isn't great.
I plan on doing an MBA in the future and having an Imperial Master's will definitely help my applications over my terrible undergraduate university, as long as my GMAT and other aspects of my application are fine.
It just sucks so much that no matter what I do I will always be held back for mistakes I made half a decade ago. I guess you only really have one chance in life ffs.
Don't want to dox myself too hard, my story is unique. You can see on my profile I was an athlete when I left school at 16, you only do BTECs alongside professional sports. So that's the only Level 3 Qualification I had, went to a Non-Target (Cov, DMU, Trent). The BTEC covers the "UCAS Points" part of the application which saves me, but when they ask for an actual A-Level I am usually fucked.
Still played sports whilst at Uni at a lower level but dropped out after my summer in Sustainable Finance to become a parental carer for a period. At this point, I understood how important school was. So when I was returning, I emailed around and was able to transfer to a soc-sci course at a Semi due to my high grades and strong references. I transferred into my First Year and was able to get two first-round interviews that turned into MM IB Spring Weeks and subsequently SA conversions, having a "weak profile" The number 1 thing is to be a strong interviewer.
We all make mistakes, not going straight into corporate mode and bothering with sports still haunts me. All we can do is make the best of a bad situation, which can still be pretty fucking good. Don't think because MBB or BB IB is closed off all is lost, you can still make amazing fucking money. I don't know about you but I come from a working-class background and making 40/50k will still probably put me at the Top 0.1% of my estate's top earnings or my high school class's earnings. At this point, I am working to set my kids up to do even better. Also without MBB or BB IB, 100k+ is still very feasible.
Now to the MSc, do it man. If you want something, you chase it, just make sure it is the best option. 1 year will pass anyway, you might as well try. I risked it coming to the Semi and it has panned out. Hopefully, it does for you. Just make sure you are networking hard before you join up.
Even though I am still an undergrad, I'm sure we are similar in age so PM me and connect, I want to see how it plays out for you, wishing you the best.
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