Finance schools and programs to apply

Here's what my initial list looked like:

- Oxford University - Said Business School, Masters in Financial Economics
- Cambridge University - Judge Business School, M.Sc. Finance (aka MFin)
- Manchester Business School, M.Sc. Finance and Economics
- Imperial College (Tanaka), M.Sc. Finance
- Princeton University, M.Sc. Finance
- London School of Economics, M.Sc. Finance and Economics
- London Business School, Master in Finance

The list actually goes on and on.. It took me quite a while to compile this list, looking at it from every possible angle. App deadlines, tuition, living expenses in each city, application requirements etc.

I had decided to apply to Princeton, Oxford and Cambridge initially, however I had to put off Cambridge, since they are supposedly coming up with a new program which they encourage people with background like mine to apply. The program still hasn't been announced.

One of my professors from the MBA encouraged me to apply to the LBS, and even though I felt that my background in Finance is not very strong, I decided to give it a shot. (LBS requires that you have a background in finance). I have some background related to the finance industry from my day to day work experience and b-school, but I'd say that is peripheral.

Eventually I've applied to the following schools:
- LBS
- Oxford
- Princeton

LBS and Oxford offered me an interview, which I'll write about later. (Both of these interviews have already occured). I have been putting off sending the application payment to Princeton, which I should do pretty soon.

You may wonder why I did not consider any other schools in the U.S besides Princeton. There are very good schools in the U.S. that send a considerable portion of their yearly graduates to IBs annually. However, those (NYU, Harvard, Wharton) are all MBA schools, without any dedicated program in Finance. There are also some pretty good Financial Engineering programs such as Haas School of Business in Berkeley, but this is really targeted towards quantitative finance, i.e., you need to become a math jock and your life revolves around formulas. This might be a good thing for some people, but I am looking for a leadership position in the finance industry, not a technical position.