Competitions, Internship, Clubs, GPA: How Kuei Got Into Warwick MSc

Updated 2026/10/16

Today’s guest is Kuei, who graduated from the Department of Finance and International Business at Fu Jen Catholic University. He shares his university experience and how he received offers from several top UK master’s programs in finance. He had a high GPA (3.93/4.0), a Financial Planner internship at a bank, leadership roles in three student clubs, awards from two competitions, and a research project that won “Best Thesis”. He even passed Taiwan’s securities licensing exams.

Click here for more of his scores, background, and rejections 👉🏻 Kuei’s admission results (in Chinese)

About Warwick Business School’s Msc Business and Finance

Warwick Business School’s Business and Finance MSc is an industry-focused master’s program for graduates who already have some finance background (the minimum requirements on the official site specifically say applicants should “have included some study of Finance”). The language requirement is an overall IELTS score of 7.0, with two of the component scores no lower than 6.0/6.5.

Students can use CareersPlus, a service run by Warwick Business School’s careers team of professional career coaches, to sharpen their industry awareness. One-on-one appointments, resume reviews, and mock interviews help students understand themselves and their strengths, identify possible career directions, and become more employable.

Graduates go into careers including, but not limited to, management consulting, actuarial work, economics, valuation, finance and investment analysis and advisory roles, investment and commercial banking, and tax.

Motivation and Background

Why did you want to study business and finance in the UK? What were your motivations and future plans?

1. I first thought about a master’s degree in my second year of university, mainly because Taiwan’s finance industry puts a lot of weight on degrees. A master’s is almost the ticket into good positions and companies. I applied to finance master’s programs in Taiwan through the recommendation-based admission route and to programs abroad, and I was admitted to the finance graduate institute at National Central University. Because of my interests and because I wanted to experience life overseas, I still chose to study abroad. I think it’s worth trying many options while you apply, at home and abroad. As you explore, you’ll find the school and program that fit you best.
2. At first I planned to study pure finance. But during university I took many business courses, and when I asked friends about their pure finance master’s programs, I learned that finance courses at UK business schools are pretty tough and heavy on theory. Getting the degree is of course the main goal of studying abroad, but I think the life experience matters a lot too, so in the end I chose the more practical Business and Finance program.
3. UK business schools usually publish a “Graduate Destinations brochure”, where you can see where graduates work and what they earn on average. It’s a good way to check whether a program matches your expectations and career direction. I used it when applying and saw that graduates went into a very wide range of industries. I wasn’t fully sure I wanted to go into finance yet, so Business and Finance was the program that fit my needs best.

Why did you choose the UK? Did you consider other countries?

First, a finance master’s in the UK takes only one year, so it costs less time and money than a master’s in the US.

Second, I didn’t take the GMAT, which makes almost every US school harder to get into. Weighing it all up, the UK became my first choice.

You had already studied finance and built plenty of experience in university. Why do a finance master’s on top of that?

1. To be honest, the main reason is that my university sits in an awkward middle tier. If I aimed for a finance career, it would be hard to compete with peers from top universities at the resume stage. I chose to keep studying because a good degree opens more job opportunities.
2. Here’s a small story. After I got the Warwick offer, I applied to a few finance summer programmes. I made it to the interview stage at an investment trust company without much trouble and got an internship offer from a financial company in mainland China. Those were opportunities I could hardly get when I applied before. It convinced me that a master’s degree plus my past experience really adds up to more than the sum of its parts and gives me more options in the job search.

Application Experience and Tips

How did you get into finance or investment master’s programs at five top UK business schools? Any tips on the application essays, preparation, and shaping your story?

My study-abroad agency helped with the PS. What took the most time at first was listing every experience from my four years of university that was “related” to the programs I was applying to. The PS and CV both have word limits, and putting in unrelated things only buries your highlights and makes everything messy. After the agency produced a first draft, I hit a wall. Nothing in it felt compelling…

Luckily Jason helped me revise it, and we basically tore the whole thing down and started over, haha. Along the way I found out that graduate schools abroad care about quite different things than schools in Taiwan! In the end my PS kept only content related to the program, and as I wrote I kept narrowing it toward the graduate program, so the school could see that my past studies and experience met their requirements.

The structure I used:

1. Overview (what made you want to apply, what you want to do in the future, why this school)
2. University courses (show your ability and connect them to the program)
3. Internship
4. Competitions and research projects
5. What draws you to the school, listed again. Here I worked in my club experience to show what I could give back to the school.

Use quantified data as much as possible, for example the results you achieved or how many people attended an event you organized. It makes the content look more credible and substantial.

Also, tailor your PS to each program when you submit!!!! This is super important. Even though all my programs were finance-related, their career outcomes, courses, and school resources differed a lot, so I adjusted the content slightly and spelled out which courses would help me reach my career goals and what I wanted to learn from them, instead of sending the same thing everywhere!

Any lessons from preparing your resume?

My first CV ran over two full pages because I’d put in too many unrelated experiences. At this stage you need to spend time talking it over with other people: friends, upperclassmen, or your agency can all give feedback. Then look at plenty of other people’s samples (this is important) and you’ll see which highlights to focus on. The final version should show what sets you apart, such as special projects or competitions. Write each as a bullet with one line explaining what you did on that project, so it shows your abilities and readers can follow it easily.

What advice would you give younger students applying for master’s programs in finance and banking?

Do more finance competitions, internships, and clubs (related to the program you’re applying to, otherwise they don’t help much), so you have something to write about in your PS. Otherwise it will look empty! And of course, the higher your GPA the better, because finance master’s programs are very competitive… Even with a 3.93/4.0, I was still rejected by Warwick’s pure finance program. If you have time, take the GMAT or CFA so you stand out more for the popular, more competitive programs.

Once you’ve set your goals, read Ptt and Dcard, and talk to friends or reach out to alumni on LinkedIn. Whether they did their master’s in Taiwan or abroad, you’ll learn a lot and get a better sense of what you’re missing.

University Experience and Reflections

Your undergraduate thesis won “Best Thesis” among more than 120 students. Can you tell us about it, and how did it help your applications?

My thesis, “The Art of Crowdfunding: Initiating Crowdfunding Campaigns on Zec Zec”, was a group project, so I learned how to share ideas and discuss them with others, which I think matters a lot. The project leaned toward the marketing side of online crowdfunding and looks unrelated to finance. But if you dig into the skills you used in the research, you can connect them to the program. We used GA for analysis, for example, and that’s an analytical skill I could put to good use in my PS. Since I was the group leader, I also had many chances to interact with the professor, which made it very quick to find a professor to write my recommendation letter when I applied. It was a great chance to leave a good impression on a professor!

You held leadership roles in several student associations, clubs, and organizations. What did that teach you, and did it help when you applied for internships or graduate school?

1. More chances to meet new friends and upperclassmen I could ask for help, and I became more sociable!
2. Time management
3. In the PS and CV, I could show my teamwork and that I’m more than a bookworm. I was in a finance lab club in university, and that experience worked really well in my PS. It tied in with a finance master’s and showed my soft skills!

Internship and Competitions

What did you learn during your bank internship, and how did it help your applications?

1. The internship greatly improved my understanding of finance. The company put out market reports every week, which were a great way to look at financial markets from different angles, and on workdays I had to compile my own reports for my manager and colleagues.
2. It helped me figure out whether banking suits me.
3. I interned in the wealth management department, which is closely related to a finance master’s, so I had a lot to write about in my PS. When choosing internships, pick ones related to the programs you’ll apply to instead of applying at random, because those experiences can give you a big boost later.

You won the national title at the “King of Securities and Investments Competition”. What was that like?

I was studying for the senior securities specialist exam at the time, and the competition covered the same material, so it was a good chance to combine practice and theory. It had a preliminary round, a semifinal, and a final, and you need a thorough grasp of Taiwan’s securities market. I think it’s well worth entering. It adds a lot to your experience, and you pick up some soft skills along the way.

1. Problem solving: you have to discuss quickly with teammates and give the right answer, so you need to communicate well under time pressure.
2. A better understanding of current trends in Taiwan’s securities market. I was asked about this competition in almost every internship interview, and it let me show my strengths.

You earned some professional certifications in Taiwan. Why did you decide to take them?

Mainly because working or interning in Taiwan’s finance industry requires some basic licenses, such as the senior securities specialist and the securities investment trust and consulting licenses. I took them when I had more free time in university. But for graduate applications abroad, I think these licenses add very little. Decide which industry you want to intern in first, then take the relevant licenses, and don’t spend too much time on them.