JezzC, first of all, congrats on your LBS MIF acceptance, and I wish you the best of luck there. I also want to thank you for your thoughtful response and for reading my blog!
I actually want to address the points you made in this forum because I think they're quite relevant to current and future applicants alike. I respectfully disagree with several of the points you made.
First, with all due respect, LBS is not a top 5 global business school. It is behind the M7 U.S. programs and probably on par with the likes of Berkeley and stern.
Second, you are correct that the MIF program is more specialized than an MBA, thus giving its students a deeper knowledge of finance. But my primary concern is job placement-the type of jobs students are getting as well as median compensation. And on this count, LBS MIF has been lackluster. According to the 2012 employment report, 81% were placed within 3 months of graduation, which by itself is ok (lower than top mba programs though). This statistics though is inflated by the high number of internationals, especially from Asia, who are being sponsored by their home countries' central banks and governments.
As for the median compensation, even for U.K., the median base is only around $100K USD, and for Asia that figure is $65K USD. In terms of companies, the employment report does state which firms hired a MIF student, but it does not go into any detail on what type of function/role. Were they all front-office banking/trading/research? Or were there middle-office hires as well? Finally, I asked Peter Burnham from career services about the placement of MIF students into firms that I was personally interested in. Much to my shock, the placement was VERY poor, significantly worse than a top U.S. MBA program. And this is a field that is competitive to begin with. I also took a look at the spreadsheet of all the companies that recruit on-campus (available in the admit portal). The list of financial firms that visit was unimpressive; as a matter of fact, there were more executive search/recruitment firms on that spreadsheet than financial firms! I was both stunned and sad since I expected more out of LBS MIF when I applied to the program.
Third, I have talked to multiple LBS MIF students and alums who are now working in the U.S., and they all said unequivocally that LBS carries little weight in the states. LBS career services provided virtually no help in getting a job in the U.S., and once they got to the states, the LBS name brand and network didn't help them much at all. This may not be that problematic for someone who is sure they will work in Europe afterwards, but for me, it's a huge liability.
Fourth, although the LBS MIF curriculum is specialized, it is not a technical masters degree like Princeton finance, Berkeley financial engineering, nyu mathematics of finance, Carnegie mellon computational finance, etc. Thus, the LBS MIF students are competing for the type of finance jobs that MBAs are pursuing, and in an already tough job market, this would put an extra burden on me. Contrast this to a top U.S. mba program such as Harvard, Wharton, booth, mit, Columbia, where my friends are easily getting interviews at elite buyside firms and trading desks at bulge bracket banks, as well as strategy consulting and pretty much everything else you can think of.
Finally, as I wrote in one of my blog posts, I am looking for a truly transformational experience. This goes well beyond classroom learning or getting a job. Although there are certainly smart students in the LBS MIF program, after talking to students and alums and conducting my own research, I arrived at the conclusion that LBS will simply not provide me with the type of experience I so long for. My decision was both professional and personal; I would certainly be lying if I said that there was no emotional component whatsoever. When I got the acceptance phone call, for instance, I unfortunately did not feel happiness or joy. It was as if nothing had changed, and I went back to my daily routine. I know for a fact that if I had gotten into a top U.S. MBA program, I would have experienced ecstasy and would be eagerly counting the days until school starts. Given my age, and the financial and time commitment of going back to school, I want to be at a place where I will be happy, fulfilled, constantly learning, and undergoing a deep transformation. I therefore am very confident about my decisions to turn down LBS MIF.
Once again, best of luck to you and everyone else. Feel free to shoot me a pm whenever.
https://lastchancemba.blogspot.com 
21 May 2013, 01:45
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