London

updated 8 oct 2026 · 8 notes · 1 figure · 3 min read · 6 sources

The default European market and the one every other city is measured against: the most seats, the widest deal flow, and the best exits outside New York. Also the most crowded application process in Europe, run on a calendar that starts a year before the job does.

The London route, for a three-year UK degree

Year 1Spring weekOne week shadowing bankers. Can fast-track to the summer internship.
Start of Year 2, Aug-SepSummer applications openFirst come, first served. Apply the week they open.
Year 2Tests, video interview, assessment centre
Summer after Year 2Summer internshipAbout nine weeks, the first of them training.
End of the internshipReturn offerFor a graduate analyst job starting after the final year.
After graduatingGraduate visa, then Skilled Worker2 years if applied for by 31 Dec 2026, 18 months from 1 Jan 2027.

Application windows move by a few weeks each year and differ by bank. The visa step applies only to someone without the right to work in the UK; dates as published by GOV.UK in September 2026.

Why London is the default¹
Banks run their European, Middle East and Africa coverage from London, so an analyst there works on companies across the region rather than one country. It is generally rated the best city for exits after New York: every US mega-fund has an office there, as do the European funds - Ardian, BC Partners, Bridgepoint, Cinven, CVC, EQT, PAI, Permira.
The UK target list is six universities^1,2
Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, UCL, Warwick and Imperial. Two independent lists agree on those six; Trackr's adds Bocconi as the only target outside the UK. Durham, Bristol, Nottingham and St Andrews are the usual semi-targets. None of this is a rule, but it is where the bank presentations and the alumni are.
Continental candidates come from a short list too¹
London analyst classes draw heavily on HEC, ESSEC and ESCP in France, Bocconi in Italy, St. Gallen, WHU and Mannheim in the German-speaking world, and RSM, CBS and SSE further north. A candidate from one of those schools competes for London on close to equal terms with a UK target.
Summer applications open a year early and close by filling up^1,3
Summer internship applications open in August and September of the year before, and are reviewed as they arrive - a role can be effectively gone weeks before its stated deadline. The process is online tests, a phone or video interview, then an assessment centre. A programme is about nine weeks, the first week of it training.
Spring weeks and off-cycle are the side doors¹
A spring week is a one-week programme early in a degree, and a strong one can fast-track you into the summer process. Off-cycle internships - outside the summer window - are much more common in London and the rest of Europe than in the US, and are the realistic route for anyone who missed the summer cycle or finished a master's off-calendar.
Pay: a third below New York, and the ranking is not the prestige ranking^1,4
Expect about 30% below New York before tax. A 2024 survey put London analysts at an average of roughly £100k to £136k a year, with the boutiques (Lazard, Perella Weinberg), JPMorgan, Jefferies and Santander at the top and Morgan Stanley near the bottom. The hours are described as only slightly shorter than New York's.
Languages are an advantage, then a requirement¹
Because London covers the whole region, business French, German, Italian or Spanish is a real edge at application. It matters more at the exit: many European private equity funds hire for a country and want the language of it.
For non-UK graduates, the question is sponsorship^5,6
The Graduate visa gives two years after a UK degree if applied for by 31 December 2026, and 18 months from 1 January 2027. After that the route is a Skilled Worker visa, whose standard salary floor is £41,700 - far below any analyst package, so the test that matters is whether the bank sponsors, not the salary.

sources (6)