Previous Degree: BSc (Hons) Electrical Engineering
In terms of reputation in finance studies, I felt that LSE definitely had the best MSc Finance in Europe and is very likely the best among schools in the US. Apart from its reputation, I also really liked the way MSc Finance is structured, with two basic courses in the first term and more intense topic-specific courses in the second term. Since job searching was my primary goal during the programme, the introductory nature of the first term allowed time to prepare for and succeed in job interviews. In addition, the LSE career service was very resourceful. It regularly holds many big and small career fairs with a lot of top global and local companies attending. Finally, I had never been to London and I believed that coming to LSE would be a great opportunity to experience London for a full year.
Socially, I made a lot of good friends in the past year, both from within the programme, from other programmes in LSE, and from outside LSE in general. London has become my favourite big city now after spending a year here and is a great hub for travelling around Europe.
Academically, although I took a little bit of finance before coming here, the two introductory courses still gave me plenty of new perspectives. The subjects in second term are just fabulous; Financial Engineering and Financial Valuation were my favourite courses. Although the second term is a lot harder than the first term, the theories and methods that I learnt in class are actually applicable in the real world; these courses are excellent preparation for any career in finance. The pre-programme courses are good too: the career services held interview preparation, resumé correction, and case studies before school started.
One more thing worth mentioning is the programme administration team, who were extremely helpful – the Associate Programme Director in particular knows every student's name and their backgrounds.
Where are they now?
After graduation I worked in Deutsche Bank's Corporate Finance team as an analyst and subsequently an associate in the China Coverage team in Hong Kong. During my 4 years with DB I mainly worked on Chinese companies' Hong Kong IPOs and offshore high yield bond issuance. I have found that when meeting the local Chinese clients, graduation from a highly reputable school such as LSE definitely helps to create a good first impression. In addition, the friends I made during the program in LSE also helped me to find new opportunities in Hong Kong / China.
After 4 years with DB Hong Kong, I joined the principal investment team in China Cinda Asset Management in Hong Kong, mainly looking at their PE investments and sometimes some secondary market investment opportunities.