looking for education/career advice
Hello everyone
I am 21 years old and currently in my junior year of college, earning a bachelors in Finance. I go to a University in the CSU system (California State University) so my school is not going to open any doors for me. I currently have a GPA of 3.5. I did a year long internship with Northwestern Mutual, received an important intern award with them and was ranked nationally. The internship was marketed to me as financial planning, but really all I did was sell insurance. I am involved with the Financial Management Association at my school, currently Vice President and I will probably be President my senior year. I have been studying trading and technical analysis for a few years now, and have traded a live account for about a year and half. I realize that I have an extremely difficult task ahead of me if I want to break into the finance world, and I realize that I did not choose the best path education wise to become a trader (math+computer science in more demand). Ideally, I want to trade and manage a fund. But I know that this will take years of work to accomplish. Right now I am at a crossroads and I am not entirely sure what I want to do next.
I have been looking into getting my masters in international finance after my bachelors through this program, http://www.extendeded.com/msba/. How valuable do you think this degree is in the world of finance? and how does it match up with an MBA?
Another option would be to add a minor in computer science to my degree. This would take 1 year which is the same time it would take for the above masters program. If I was to get another bachelors degree in computer science after my Finance degree it would take about 3 years. I could also just teach myself C++.
I have pretty much ruled out getting hired as a trader out of college. I am not sure if I should try to jump into the corporate world. One option I have instead of this would be to get a financial analyst job for a small farming or oil company in my hometown. Upside, is that I could continue building a track record and study for my CFA. Downside, I am taking a big risk and possibly going down a career path I don't want. The reason I have come up with this idea is because I know I don't have big city connections or an ivy league degree. If I ever start a fund myself I would use my hometown connections. If I never am able to trade a fund, I would be happy doing research as a financial analyst for a fund.
I know that time is valuable and whatever path I chose has certain risks attached, and I am trying to assess my different options. I would greatly appreciate any career/education input and advice.
Thanks in advance
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