Masters in (Financial) Economics
How do masters in economics programs (focusing on or specializing in finance) stack up against M. or MSC Finance programs in terms of appeal to IB or AM firms. I am mostly referring to programs such as the M. Financial Economics program at Columbia and Oxford. I also wanted to know if anyone has any insight or thoughts on the M. Economics (with a specialization in Finance) at Ecole Polytechnique (l'X). I know l'X has an excellent academic reputation but I'm curious about its reputation in the field of economics and if this program might make sense to apply to after undergrad. The context of all this is that I am considering doing a masters in finance or financial economics after my undergrad degree for recruiting purposes.
Benefits of Masters in Financial Economics (Originally Posted: 06/08/2012)
Hi,
I might be applying to a masters in financial economics program at U of Toronto, (Currently in undergrad econ and finance) I want to know whether this major will help me if I am to enter IB, and how different it is from a MBA program?
The difference is that its pre-professional so it places into the analyst positions not the associate ones. The finance courses are the same as the ones that MBAs take though.
You'll get access to interviews, alumni networking. Also it involves a summer internship which helps significantly since banks give many of their FT offers to the summer class.
Msc in Finance vs Msc in Financial Economics (Originally Posted: 11/15/2014)
Hi guys, I'm a third(and last)-year undergraduate student in Economics and Finance in Bocconi. I am fascinated by both these msc programs, and I'm looking for an advice. I have seen on hec's website that financial economics is a good program if you want to work in the consultancy: this seems to be a good thing, bucause i'm not completely sure I want to pursue a career in IB (too much streesfull, plenty of workload ...), but my primary goal is to find a well-known program in a well-known university.
Do you think Msc in Financial Economics could overall be equivalent to Msc in Finance in relation to job opportunities?
I apologize for the confusion in my post but so is my mind right now!
Thanks in advance
IMHO you can do MSc Finance and have plenty of opportunities, you are not limited to IB. It all depends on you.
Masters of Financial economics opportunities (Originally Posted: 09/27/2011)
Hey guys:
Just wondering, what are the opportunities I would have after doing a masters in MFE or a similar degree? Thanks.
Isn't a MFE a masters in financial engineering?
Masters in Economics (Originally Posted: 05/17/2012)
Right now I'm considering applying for a Masters in Economics (looking at Duke, NYU, LSE specifically). Does anyone know how beneficial these programs would be for recruiting prospects? Should I just go for a Master in Finance?
Personally I'd go for finance.
Jobs after MS/MA Econ Program??? (Originally Posted: 09/28/2012)
Hello All. So, I was wondering, what sort of jobs can one get with a terminal masters in economics and not much relevant work experience? I don't necessarily care about working in the front office, or even working at a firm. I just want to work in economics.
If one goes to a mid-line masters program like Boston University, or Tufts, or JHU (which may in fact be auto-admit?) what are the prospects such a person faces?
Thanks!!!
Econ consulting, transfer pricing, public policy, actuary, insurance, econ PhD.
Unless you want to improve your chances of getting into a top PhD program, I am not sure its worth it. Btw, are you referring to SAIS at JHU? Its not quite a terminal masters
Holden, thanks for responding. Not SAIS, but the MS in Applied Economics from AAP. As it is, I have a BA in Philosophy ( not exactly the monkey tract, I realize.) But I'm relatively smart (top 2% IQ, etc.) and don't want to be a worthless liberal arts hippie anymore. Would a 1 year econ masters at least help me get the jobs that a BS in economics might get? I wouldn't mind working for the IMF or some such. Or a non-target think tank or government org or NGO. Making 50-60k a year would be awesome.
If you have the math background, you should get into a econ phd program (doesn't have to be top tier) and get a stipend/tuition waiver. You get your MS in a year and it is a lot higher regarded than any terminal econ masters program.
I remember some people in the econ phd program I was in saying that they're 2 year terminal masters program barely got through the first semester of the phd program.
An applied econ MS can get you a job as a "research associate" or "research analyst" at a think tank or IMF... unfortunately there is a significant glass ceiling if you don't have a phd. honestly, if you want to work in policy research, you're gonna have to get the phd. What you may want to think about is a 2 yr research associate gig at the fed, imf, WB, think tank, etc. This give you a good idea about what its like, is a great thing to have on your resume, and can really boost your chances of getting into a top tier phd program if that is the route you decide to go down.
Is a ma in financial econ good for econometrician positions? (Originally Posted: 06/25/2015)
Courses
micro macro corporate finance financial math econometrics accounting intenrational finance
I'd rather go with an MA in Econ since they're more quantitative, and seem to add more skills. But Financial econ programs are pretty good if you want to be an analyst especially the one offered by Oxford.
Read carefully into the course descriptions. If there is just one econometrics course, then it might not be your best bet - a single semester of graduate econometrics will be like an accelerated undergrad course (derive OLS, understand properties and what makes it BLUE, dummies, proxies, instruments, 2SLS, etc.) with maybe an extra few chapters/lectures on time-series (focus on serial correlation correction through AR/MA methods) and cross section/panel data (maybe a bit on simultaneity/spurious regressions, linear probability models, and a bit of GLS - fixed effects + random effects).
If you really want to be an econometrician and know econometrics well, you will likely need at least 2 (more likely 3+) graduate level courses. Most typical would be a first level graduate econometrics class like the one described above, and then most masters (and PhD programs within the first 2 years) will have a time-series course. This will focus more on models dealing with serial correlation (ARIMA and variations), conditional heteroskedasticity (ARCH/GARCH and variations), seasonality, unit roots and trends, VARs etc. For most finance and macro roles, this is a pretty fundamental course. Whether or not you actually use many of these tools in your day-to-day job is ehh, but it provides a strong signal and shows that you know what you're talking about if it comes down to it.
The third course would be an advanced panel data / cross-sectional course. This will delve deeper into the microeconometrics listed above, specifically GMM, GLS, linear probability, simultaneity, other panel methods). This is valuable if you are interested in a policy or economic consulting job, but honestly I personally feel like you can learn a lot of this stuff straight from a book. Of course, you can easily learn time-series econometrics from a book, but it is more often a pre-requisite for many positions, or at least the ones I look into.
Feel free to PM me any questions you may have, or if you want to talk more. I agree with the comment above, and think a straight masters in econ or Applied Economics will fair much better for a position as an econometrician. A Masters in Financial Economics can be valuable if there is a financial econometrics course (I took one in my applied econ program, and it was essentially a time-series econometrics course with financial data and examples - it was also valuable as it was my introduction to R, and helped build some basic chops with R programming and analysis).
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