European Business School London
Master of Science in “Global Banking & Finance”
Regardless of the university, anyone who decides to spend a semester or longer in London does nothing wrong. The city offers more opportunities for activities and sight seeing than almost any other city in the world. This suits every student as a change. I myself was able to visit new interesting places every weekend. I could write long texts about how great London is and I wouldn’t exaggerate a word. I could also imagine working there after graduation.
However, I have to point out one thing: the city is expensive and the competition is fierce! Capable people from all over the world come there and try their luck. If you come from Germany, you are not necessarily better off in London than in Germany. Unless you are above average in your subject (in this report I am mainly referring to the banking & finance sector). Then you can also enjoy the advantages of London and build networks. Otherwise, I think that everyone has to fight for their bread here, as elsewhere and nobody should imagine that you are more likely to find a good or better paid job here than, for example, in a major German city, just because London is so big and legendary. Getting a decent internship in Banking & Finance in London is very difficult.
The cost of tuition and rent is astronomical! For a relatively small, simple 1-room flat, you can easily spend 1,000 EUR a month! I paid around 18,000 EUR for the 18-month master’s course. At renowned universities, things can also go much more “northwards”. In contrast, the debates about EUR 500 tuition fees per semester in Germany seem rather ridiculous. But I don’t want to open this powder keg here now. Hence folks: take all this into account and try to tap into all financial sources. Most of the time, ie in the long term, the course is worth it because London universities usually offer very good quality and networks. Read more experience for studying abroad on Itypemba.
And now to the university itself. European Business School London, the EBSL… yes… where should I start ?! The problem is that people either don’t know that there is an EBS in London or, if they have heard of it, they tend to have a bad opinion of it. And this is partly justified, but partly also grossly exaggerated. Before reading any meaningless rankings or comments in forums like wiwi-treff.de, two things should be said to you:
1. Rankings usually give you the wrong answers because you ask the wrong questions. Ask yourself: What do you actually want from your studies? And what does this ranking say anyway? Often these rankings then quickly become meaningless. An example of the overrated importance of the “reputation” of a university: In both interviews for my internship in Germany in investment banking, the interviewers did not know exactly which university I was from and later during the internship they did not know either… The colleagues do not care been. Personality and performance are much, much more important!
2. 99% of the people in forums belong to the category: “Little idea, but a lot of opinion!” None of them have ever been to the EBSL, but they always have “a friend of an acquaintance who was there and said that… “. Instead, listen to someone who was ACTUALLY there: me! 😉
The university has the reputation that only decadent, rich children go there and the jobs they get are arranged by their parents in advance. Unfortunately, to a large extent it is true in the undergraduate programs. Many are aloof and have very unrealistic ideas about their future. If you can’t afford to go out to party in the most expensive clubs in London, then you are “outside” with some student groups. However, the people are not elitist in the classical sense. They would be elitist if they had what it takes in terms of performance. Interestingly, however, at school it is like this: the richer, the more stupid and superficial. If people are ridiculous / suspicious, like me, they can comfortably avoid their company. Because not all are like that. There are also very, very many pleasant contemporaries. And above all, it looks very humane in master’s courses. The people are much more professional and simple. I found most of the fellow students in my master’s course to be very socially acceptable.
It is also true that some people have found sought-after internships at highly sought-after institutions simply through the network of dad and mom or other close relatives. But the other half of the students get the internship simply because of good performance. In general, at the EBSL you also meet people who perform very well and would undoubtedly also be excellent students at Oxford and the like. For example, I myself have “zero” vitamin B and still got two good internships. Overall, I cannot agree with people who say that the London EBS is in any way more elitist or more decadent than the German EBS in Östrich-Winkel.
The master’s course itself places great value on self-study. Often the topic is explained rather superficially in class and it is expected that one deals with the literature oneself. That’s one of the things that I think deserves criticism. Yes, you can expect a master’s student to do a lot himself. But I find that the main source of knowledge has to come from the professor and not from the books. However, I think that around half of the professors do it sensibly and offer a lot of their own material, such as PowerPoint presentations.
The problem with the EBSL, in my opinion, is that half of the Profs are really capable and organized, but the other half are a failure. In my role as a student representative, I had to complain several times to the director of the master’s course about the sloppiness and disorganization of some professors. Last semester, the director even kicked a part-time professor who was really a disaster under our pressure. To be fair, it has to be said that was only in the last semester. In the previous semester, the quality of the professors was almost consistently good.
The good thing about the master’s course is that it also places a lot of value on teamwork and discussing the latest business and financial news. You are almost forced to read the Financial Times if you don’t want to embarrass yourself in class. I found out how extremely important this is during application interviews in investment banking at the latest. If you are not up to date, you have no chance. In such interviews, financial and economic theories are asked only marginally. Some say that following messages has to come from you and not waste so much time in class. Instead, you should do more theory, as at other universities. I find this criticism quite inappropriate, because 99% of the graduates at EBS want to go into business and do not aspire to an academic career. Everyone should decide for themselves where they want to go and what they expect from their studies.
