Dear All,
I have recently been admitted into the MS Finance Program at Simon with a 30% scholarship for the fall 2017 intake. Need your views on the program. The program recently gained STEM designation which is a big deal for internationals such as myself. My only concern is the location, they make up for a bad location with a brilliant alumni network and structured networking sessions, will that help? Also how good is the course and how reputed is brand Simon?
I wish to be in the corporate finance side, probably mergers or restructuring post graduation.
I have also interviewed with WashU Olin pending decision.
Full disclosure, I graduated with an MSF from Olin in 2014.
Rochester is one of the most underrated programs in the country (both at the MBA and MSF levels). Academic quality is top notch and the MSF program is top feeder for NY/NJ Big 4 valuation groups. I know a few that got into IB directly and others that transitioned from Bval. That said, buyside/ER placements, as far as I know, are nonexistent.
Based on stats, Olin is the superior program but Rochester can provide good opportunities depending on the quality of the candidate.
Esuric what would say the impact of the STEM designation would be? Will recruiters prefer to hire more such candidates as they can defer Visa procedures for an a total of 3 years.
It's a huge help from what I hear. Wash U's Quant MSF program has the same designation. I know a few people that would be back in their home country by now if not for the extended Visa.
Rochester is a fine program, but their placements are hurt by a high % of international students. The STEM cert is the logical extension for a program mainly comprised of international students. The school has a good brand and is a respected business school, but it is really known for F500 type placements. That being said, I did a lot of work with their NYC MSF and met a number of very impressive alumni. The program has been around for a long time and there are a lot of people working in the city, especially in finance.
IMO, with a 30% scholarship the price comes down to a much more reasonable place. Rochester doesn't suck THAT bad. Their airport is decent enough and you can take a bus to NYC (or Amtrak if you are so inclined). WUSTL is the better program, but if that doesn't happen you'd be in a good place.
@TNA" - Thanks much! I was considering going to Simon even if offered admission at WUTSL because of the scholarship, STEM designation,the alum base and professors(not to say WUTSL doesnt boast of the same). From the interactions I have had, there are a lot qualitative positives in Simon right from the admission committee's willingness to help you out to students reaching out to you and going out of the way to answer your queries. The other positive thing about Simon is the possibility to extend your job search through a internship track.
Given the uncertainty stemming from the outcome from the presidential elections in the states, does it not make more sense to be more conservative and take up the stem certified Simon over non-Stem Olin?
"because of the scholarship, the alum base and professors" 1) with 30% scholarship, tuition at Simon approximately = full tuition at Olin 2) alum base. seriously? are the alums from Simon better than the ones from Olin? I don't know. In my opinion, it is the opposite. You see enough alums of Olin in IB and a lot of alums from Olin in ER and AM. Alums of Simon mostly do corporate finance jobs at best 3) professors. why do you think that professors at Simon are better? From my own research Olin professors beat them hard.
And the advantage of Simon, in my opinion, is the location. After the graduation you will most probably stay in NY or at least Northeast, whereas with Olin you risk to end up in Missouri in a company of racist rednecks who will hate your guts just because you're not local.
So, I completely disagree with you. Olin beats Simon at every point except for location.
WUSTL MSF has stem designation if you get into the Quant Track (less selective). The Quant Track is pretty flexible. Can still take all of the corpfin/M&A courses.
what's your profile?
I graduated from the Simon MSF program in 2017. When I learned about the program, I was quite excited about it and especially excited when I received a scholarship after scholarship weekend, but now I can honestly say it was one of the worst decisions I have made in my life and that the program is borderline scam in my opinion. I am a domestic student and moved from Salt Lake City, Utah to that program. I received an 80% scholarship, but still graduated with a decent amount of student loan debt (I was debt free before starting). There were some people in the program that didn't receive a scholarship and they took out big loans to pay for the tuition of over $70k per year for that useless degree. Very sad for them indeed.
The advertised starting salary was around $60,000 at that time. I received a good GPA in the program, above the median, and even had a 4.0 and 710 GMAT from undergrad and am a CFA Charterholder now. While attending, financial employers really weren't that interested in hiring MSF graduates from the Simon MSF program so I ended up having to take a non-ideal job doing accounting/auditing type work for the government that only paid $42K per year. I worked there for two years and ended up quitting that job and moving back with my parents because I couldn't afford the lower than expected salary in the location it was in based on living costs.
Now, 4 years out, I have been unable to find another job in that field and have been unemployed for the last two years and literally have needed to look into other fields of work and potentially start over again from scratch in something such as nursing or even just working at a warehouse at this point. The two years of work for the government just paid off the cost of the program itself and now I believe the skills developed in that program are pretty much useless, so I have a very strong negative opinion about the Simon business school MSF program and its career outcomes.
I believe that I was somewhat misled or at least way too overly optimistic about that program and kind of wish someone would have warned me before I chose that path. In the employment report for those people considering the program, if it says 85 percent employment within 3 or 6 months of graduating, just realize that this means there will be 15 percent of people that can honestly not find a job and will still be stuck with the cost of the program, one year wasted, and needing to figure something else out. There are people like me that find jobs initially, but lose it after a couple of years and struggle to find another. Not a good situation. If you take a loan out for it, the pressure and stress can be very overwhelming and intense. It is not a fun experience to go through if you are struggling to find a job you are looking for or if you lose a job in that field and can't find another or one that you like, so you should be aware of that before deciding to do the Simon program.
Honestly, it is better to not go to the school than to go and end up unemployed in an very saturated field like finance where good jobs are scarce. You can use that time to find a better field to pursue now, rather than having to face that problem after graduating. I think if you are smart enough to get into a program like the Simon MSF, you should use your talents in a better way and pursue a better profession like doctor, nurse, plumber, pilot, teacher so many others that are probably better than the Simon MSF path. In terms of jobs and my personal experience and opinion, the Simon MSF program degree has been quite useless and just a very sad outcome given that I always excelled in school and feel that Simon was such a large setback that it is hard to recover from. Don't let the admissions officers mislead you or convince you that it is better than it actually is. Employment situation isn't great for Simon MSF graduate if you can't tell.
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