for an Aussie in UK: Oxf MSc MCF vs Imp MSc MF

[IIlllIlI]

Hey all, so I'm an aussie bloke, just finished my BSc in maths & stats (high first class) at a UK uni and am currently working at a bank just as a tech grad in the UK.

Recently, I got headhunted for a trading desk role at Jane street and unexpectedly, made it to the final round. I failed this round though, mostly because I was a huge underdog with just a BSc, and as a consequence, the people I was against were muuuuch better candidates than me hahaha.

But from this I gained this huge drive to study more, become more qualified and break into quant. Right now, I feel like I'm just wasting my hard work that i put in during uni.
Doing a bit of digging through quantnet archives, I'm getting the notion that you basically NEED an intern role before your MSc to be able to break in following your graduation - presumably this is even more true for internationals like myself. But because I'm a full time worker and not a student, my current visa may limit my capability to even apply for internships.

So given this, and assuming that I have offers from both Imp and Oxf for the degrees stated in the titles, which would you recommend (criterion being the likelihood of landing any role of quant researcher, analyst, trader)?

I get the notion that Quantnet rates the Oxf degree higher, but Imperial one has the perk of basically giving you an internship, but I wanted to check recent thoughts on this considering the last post I saw about this was 5-6 years ago. Thanks all.

 

[CrossGamma]

I think you might be overthinking this. Did you fail the interview because the questions required any hard knowledge you’d only get during a Masters degree? Or what made the other candidates “much better” as you write?

Regarding the need for an intern role - this is definitely not true. I work for a top tier trading firm and having a Bachelors or no prior internship will not prevent you from getting into our process. We’d also not discriminate between the unis and programs you mention during the resume stage. Within the process the playing field is pretty level and the key obstacles to clear are the technical assessments - probably much like what you experienced at Jane Street. Having a relevant prior internship is useful in that you develop a better understanding of the industry. An internship without return offer can be negative signal as well.

 

[IIlllIlI]

I think you might be overthinking this. Did you fail the interview because the questions required any hard knowledge you’d only get during a Masters degree? Or what made the other candidates “much better” as you write?

Regarding the need for an intern role - this is definitely not true. I work for a top tier trading firm and having a Bachelors or no prior internship will not prevent you from getting into our process. We’d also not discriminate between the unis and programs you mention during the resume stage. Within the process the playing field is pretty level and the key obstacles to clear are the technical assessments - probably much like what you experienced at Jane Street. Having a relevant prior internship is useful in that you develop a better understanding of the industry. An internship without return offer can be negative signal as well.

Thanks so much for this, by the sound of it, the info I’ve read may be outdated slightly. Nevertheless, I do find that on LinkedIn, many profiles who are currently entry level quants did do at least a somewhat relevant internship prior to their MSc year, whether at the same company or not.
I also think this may particularly be more true for quant teams within big banks? Which I would aim for since they give out sponsorships more generously from what I understand.
Just quite split between the two courses and which one the big banks would prefer (assuming that I do equally well academically)