Hi Guys,Quick question - I have 4 years work experience, and am considering undertaking a Masters in Finance, or an MBA (both on a full time basis) at the London Business School.My undergraduate degree was in Business Management, and I my work experience to date is in the Operational consulting sector.Which course will best support my entry into Banking? (In particular, Front Office Sales-based roles).Thanks.

The MiF would have less overlap with your prior experience. It would therefore do more to enhance the breadth of your appeal to banks. You could also ask LBS about alumni who have made a similar move, and which course they did. They tend to be keen to promote that kind of networking.

Thanks for the advice. On all the IB websites, they recruit at Graduate and MBA level. Would a Masters in Finance make me eligible to apply for the MBA level positions?

It would vary by bank - there's some discussion of this on the ibtalk forums and efinancialcareers.For the LBS MiF, banking recruiters are certainly aware of the programme (or specifically targetting its graduates) - they may take people into the MBA stream or may have other roles and purpose-designed development programmes they route MiF grads into.In general, business Masters programmes are harder to classify than MBA's because there is a wide variety in entry requirements (some people are fresh from undergrad, some are pure academics, some have MBA-equivalent experience, etc.). Some MiF programmes are for those with a finance undergrad and so go into PhD-type levels of detail and complexity in the course; others teach finance from scratch to graduates of other subjects so only cover the main topics. As a result, there can be more risk and uncertainty in hiring specialist Masters students.However, as mentioned above, the LBS MiF is well-known enough to catch recruiters' attention and have them spend the time to read through the rest of your CV to understand the most relevant career level for your background.

Hi,I agree to what had already been replied for this post. However i just have quick pointer i notice in the question that front office sales base roles in banking is a preferance by the candidate. Well on anyday MBA would be the course most suitable for this since there would be many paperes which will deal with the art/science of sales and marketing specially in banking services environment this would be helpful. Also many banks have their own training programs designed for only MBA which will help them in taking up higher roles quicker than others like fast track movement across 2 diff continents with diff economic conditions and then final posting in a 4 place where the learning can be used. The alumni network of the MBA program is also much bigger which helps in networking and job hunting later on.