Finance & Professional Services
Your route to Investment Banking & Finance
Advise on deals, markets and capital — long hours early, exceptional earnings ceiling.
Career compatibility and admission likelihood are different things
Compatibility is about you. Admission is the institution's decision — we can only tell you how to be ready for it.
Destination
Investment Banking & Finance
Graduate scheme
Internship
Degree with placement
A Levels
You are here
Tell us your year group to place this properly
My academic gap
Here's exactly what has to move
Current position
Stage not set · predicted grades
Target
A*AA–AAB, target university and internship record matter enormously
Maths
A Level Maths is effectively required for most desks
English
Client-facing written work from day one
Typical market expectations, not official rules. Last checked August 2026.
What the destination officially asks for
A*AA–AAB, target university and internship record matter enormously
Admissions tests: Numerical and logic tests · Assessment centres
Timeline
- Year 12: spring week applications
- Year 1 uni: spring weeks
- Year 2: summer internship
- Return offer
FutureIQ recommendation based on typical hiring and admissions patterns · last checked August 2026.
Your routes in
Ranked honestly, for where you are now.
Some of these are harder than others. We say which, and why.
Qualifications
A Levels; Maths required for finance-heavy courses
Grades
A*AA–BBB depending on the university
Admissions tests
None required
Duration
3–4 years
How competitive
Graduate schemes are competitive; internships are the real filter
Funding
Student finance; paid placement years
Progression
Intern → graduate → analyst/manager
The route, step by step
- 1A Levels
- 2Degree with placement
- 3Internship
- 4Graduate scheme
Where people study this
Real institutions, real requirements.
Universities, conservatoires and specialist schools that lead to this destination.
London · A*AA–AAB, A Level Maths for Economics
London School of Economics
Oxford · A*AA–A*A*A + admissions test + interview
University of Oxford
Cambridge · A*AA–A*A*A + admissions assessment + interview
University of Cambridge
Coventry · A*A*A–AAB, Maths heavy courses
University of Warwick
London · A*AA typical, Maths often required
Imperial College London
Cambridge, MA · Holistic with very strong maths and science record
MIT