The Oxbridge advantage?

Investment banks massively favour applicants from the likes of Oxford and Cambridge. True or false?

False, according to...

...banks' graduate recruiters. This is partly because it's not only Oxbridge they target - in the UK, favoured candidates also come from places like Warwick, Imperial, Bath, Bristol, Edinburgh, Durham, York, Manchester, Sheffield, Trinity (Dublin), the London School of Economics and University College London.

And if you're not at one of these favoured universities, recruiters are keen to point out that they're keen to receive your application anyway. "Everyone has a right to apply," says Derek Walker, head of graduate recruitment at Barclays Capital. "If you pass our selection tests, your CV will be judged according to exactly the same criteria as everyone else's."

"All that a 'target school' means is that we do more on campus at that particular school," confirms Jo Scott, co-head of European graduate recruitment at Morgan Stanley. "It doesn't mean that we don't accept applicants from other universities - CVs are never screened out on the basis of where a candidate is coming from."

True, according to...

...the statistics. OK, so banks may say they're eager for applications from the University of Outer Mongolia, but the reality is slightly different. In private, graduate recruiters confess that 70% to 80% of people who are awarded places come from the target schools named above. But only 50% of applicants come from these schools.

Why is this? It's partly down to preparation. Banks put plenty of time and effort into grooming students at their target schools. This means that when those students come to apply they know exactly which buttons banks' recruiters like to have pressed.

It's not unusual, for example, for banks to run interview preparation classes for their favoured students. And opportunities to meet with and question senior bankers are run of the mill if you're at Oxbridge or its equivalent.

"We target a very broad range of universities, and obviously hire people from universities outside of our target list. However, people at those universities would obviously have less opportunity to meet with representatives of the business," says Sally Whitman, head of European graduate recruitment at Deutsche Bank. "If you meet a representative of the bank at a networking event, you might, for example, have an opportunity to question them about what their role entails, which could be helpful when it comes to deciding which area of the bank to apply to."

Redressing the balance

It's no good being a pessimist, however. If 30% of banks' places are awarded to students at non-target universities, it's not impossible to get in. But it will require determination.

If you're not at a target school, you'll need to:

• Do plenty of research. Become intimately acquainted with banks' graduate recruitment websites, and spend long nights perusing eFinancialCareers' Student Centre. What does the role you're applying for involve (exactly), and what are the attributes required to fill it? "Where a lot of people fall down is their understanding of the role they're applying for," says Whitman.

• Join a finance society. Most universities have finance societies. And if that finance society is perceived to be 'good,' banks may put some effort into targeting its members, even if the rest of the university goes ignored. If your finance society doesn't fall into that category, it might be an idea to make it more dynamic (or start a new one) - organise a phantom share trading game, invite industry speakers, ask banks for literature or research notes on different industries, anything to raise your profile.

• Rack your brains. Does your third cousin twice removed work in a bank? Did your neighbour's nephew disappear into the City never to be seen again? Do you know anyone who has the slightest thing to do with investment banking? It will help massively if you can get a first-hand perspective on what the City is really like.

• Attend finance careers fairs. The University of London Careers Group runs a series of careers fairs (attended by investment banks) that are open to people from any university. It also runs a 'select' finance fair in October, which you'll need to apply to in advance (attendees will typically need a predicted 2.i and a high UCAS score). A link to the Careers Group website is provided to the top right of this article.