u/BankStJ

I work in banking in London and get asked about recruiting constantly by students. Most of the advice online is American — OCR, Wharton pipelines, New York office politics. Here's how it actually works in the UK.

The UK target school hierarchy is real. Here it is.

Tier 1 — all major banks recruit on campus, dedicated presentations, structured spring week and summer internship pipelines: Oxford, Cambridge, LSE.

Tier 1 (STEM-weighted) — strongest for structuring, quant, and increasingly general IB: Imperial.

Tier 2 — active bank recruitment but smaller teams, need stronger grades and more networking: UCL, Warwick, Edinburgh, Durham.

Below that: banks don't recruit on campus. Doesn't mean it's impossible — means the path is different.

The timeline that catches people out every year.

September–October: Spring week applications open at Goldman, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and most major banks. These close within 6-8 weeks. If you're still writing your CV in November, you've missed several deadlines.

This is the part UK students consistently get wrong. Spring weeks are not a nice-to-have. They're the primary feeder into summer internships, which convert at roughly 50%+ into full-time offers at many banks. Miss the spring week cycle and you're playing catch-up for the next two years.

January–March: Spring week superdays run.

April–May: Spring weeks happen. Treat every interaction as an assessment. It is one.

If you're at a non-target university, here's the honest picture.

The system is tilted. Acknowledging that is the starting point, not the end.

What works:

The boutique pathway. Get into a smaller firm first — a regional advisory shop, a mid-market bank, a Big 4 transaction advisory team. Get real deal experience on your CV. Then lateral to a BB after 1-2 years. This path is well-worn and genuinely respected. Nobody at Goldman cares that your first role was at a 15-person firm in Manchester if you can talk intelligently about the deals you worked on.

Networking properly. LinkedIn is the primary channel in the UK, not cold email. Most City professionals will accept a connection request from a student if the message is specific and genuine. "I'm a second-year at [University] targeting [Firm]'s [Group]. I noticed your team advised on [specific deal] — would you have 15 minutes for a call?" gets replies. "I'm passionate about finance and would love to pick your brain" gets ignored.

Alumni from your own university are the highest-response contacts regardless of what tier your university is. The shared connection overrides everything else.

Attending finance society events at target universities. LSE, Warwick, and UCL finance societies run events that are open to external students or easy to access. These events get you in the room with bank representatives and with students who have intel on the recruiting process.

What does not work:

Mass-applying online. If your university isn't on the target list, your application goes into a pool that rarely gets reviewed by a human. Do not spend most of your time on applications and almost none on networking. Invert that.

Assuming a First alone will get you noticed. A First from a non-target is necessary but not sufficient. You need something else on the CV — an internship, CFA Level 1, a stock pitch, a deal you've analysed — that makes someone stop scrolling.

The UK-specific things that matter and nobody consolidates into one place.

Degree classification: Banks want a First or strong 2:1 predicted. If you're applying with a 2:2, you need exceptional extenuating circumstances or extraordinary experience to compensate.

A-levels: Include them if they're strong (A*AA or better). They matter more than you'd think for spring week applications where you have limited university-level results to show.

Spring week vs summer internship: These are separate application processes at most banks. Spring weeks target first-years (or second-years on four-year courses). Summer internships target penultimate-year students. Do not confuse the two or apply to the wrong one.

CV not resume: One page. No photo. No personal statement. Degree classification prominently displayed. "Predicted: First Class" if you're still studying.

The path I've seen work most consistently for non-target students:

First Class predicted → boutique or mid-market spring week/internship in Year 1-2 → use that experience and the contacts you build to apply to BB summer internships → convert the summer internship to a full-time offer. Each step builds on the last. It takes 18-24 months of deliberate effort. It is not glamorous. It works.

Happy to answer questions here or via DM. Can also share some interview resources.

I've been through five analyst classes now. Interviewed hundreds, hired dozens, watched some become stars and others leave after 12 months wondering what happened. The advice on this sub is almost entirely about getting the offer. Almost none of it covers what actually matters once you start.

You will spend more time on PowerPoint than Excel.

Every incoming analyst thinks the job is financial modelling. It's not. Pitch books, management presentations, and process documents are all PowerPoint. The analysts who accept this quickly and learn to tell a clear story in slides progress faster than the ones who resent it. Clear communication is how deals get done. The model is the engine — the slides are what the client sees.

The hours are real, but the distribution matters more than the average.

Most weeks are 70-80 hours. That's long but manageable. A significant minority are 85-100+ when a live deal is running. And occasionally there's a dead week where the whole floor leaves at 7pm.

What I notice: the analysts who struggle aren't the ones who work the most hours. They're the ones who can't switch off during downtime. They sit at their desk during a slow Tuesday evening refreshing their inbox instead of going to the gym. Then when the next live deal hits, they're already running on empty.

Technical skills stop differentiating you about three months in.

By the time you start, every analyst in the class can build a DCF. I don't care about that. What I care about:

• Reliability. If I send you something at 10pm, can I go to sleep knowing it'll be done correctly by morning? Or do I need to check on you at midnight? The analysts I trust get the best deals. The ones I have to babysit get whatever's left.
• Attention to detail. A misplaced decimal in a client presentation destroys trust — not just yours, mine. I presented your work to the client. If it's wrong, I look bad. Print your work before you send it. Errors jump off paper in a way they don't on screen.
• Flagging problems early. The worst thing an analyst can do is sit on a problem for six hours hoping it resolves itself. If something is wrong, tell me now. I can fix a problem at 4pm. I cannot fix it at midnight when the client needs it at 8am.

Your relationship with your staffer controls your life.

The staffer assigns you to deals. I've watched analysts with identical technical ability have completely different experiences because one had a good relationship with the staffer and the other didn't. Be reliable with the staffer, communicate proactively, and never complain about a staffing decision to anyone except them directly.

Politics determines roughly half your ranking.

I sit in the calibration meetings. Annual reviews are set by 5-8 senior people who spend less than five minutes discussing each analyst. If multiple people in the room know your name and say something positive, you're top bucket. If nobody can remember what you worked on, you're middle of the pack regardless of how hard you actually worked. Visibility matters. Get on deals where senior people see your output.

The financial advice I give every incoming class.

Live on your base salary. Bank your entire bonus. At a BB in London the base is roughly £75-80K — that's a comfortable life. The bonus goes straight to savings. I've watched analysts leave after two years with genuine financial independence, and I've watched others leave with almost nothing because they upgraded their flat, their wardrobe, and their holidays to match their total comp. The ones who banked their bonuses have options. The ones who didn't are trapped.

One thing that might reassure you.

In five analyst classes, I have never seen someone fired purely for performance. The ones who get managed out are careless repeatedly, aren't culture fits, AND it coincides with a downturn that gives the firm cover. Do solid work, be someone people want on their team at 2am, and you'll be fine.

Happy to answer questions here or via DM. Can also share some interview resources.