MS IBD or Financial Engineering?
(Chimp, 5
Points)
on 7/17/12 at 9:59am
Wondering what the pros and cons are of a sophomore summer at Morgan Stanley in either IBD or Financial Engineering? I'm interested more in IBD but I'm a fan of the quant and product structuring work FE does. Does anyone know what the hours and lifestyle would be like in FE compared to IBD? Assuming for IBD a top group, i.e. M&A, Tech, etc.





My .02: Even if you're
My .02: Even if you're interested in financial engineering you should take the IBD sophmore internship. You will automatically be an extremely strong candidate for any future position. That kind of experience on your resume as a sophmore is killer.
IBD for sure.
IBD for sure.
I'm pretty sure quants won't
I'm pretty sure quants won't care if you did IB. It might actually hurt you against the kid who worked a very quantitative internship instead.
Though I think IBD is closer
Though I think IBD is closer to the path I want to be on, I see FE as more of a value-add in terms of quantitative rigor and rarity. While MS M&A and Tech, for example, consistently have sophomore summers, FE is a bit more off the beaten path. And if I'm going to end up doing IBD junior summer, wouldn't it be more valuable to try out something like FE instead of doing similar things two summers in a row? I guess the real question is, which is more valuable down the road: the prestige/"in" factor of already being in MS IBD sophomore summer, or the quant rigor and relative rarity of MS FE?
colbertrules: Though I think
Though I think IBD is closer to the path I want to be on, I see FE as more of a value-add in terms of quantitative rigor and rarity. While MS M&A and Tech, for example, consistently have sophomore summers, FE is a bit more off the beaten path. And if I'm going to end up doing IBD junior summer, wouldn't it be more valuable to try out something like FE instead of doing similar things two summers in a row? I guess the real question is, which is more valuable down the road: the prestige/"in" factor of already being in MS IBD sophomore summer, or the quant rigor and relative rarity of MS FE?
You're right and you're wrong. If you really dont know what you want, and you go to a target school where you have can be picky, then trying both may be better for YOU because you'll be able to test run both careers before you committing.
On the other hand, if you end up doing both, it'll tell me you're not as serious about IB / quant as the other kid who did it two years in a row. I might reconsider you just like how you reconsidered us. Just go with your gut feeling right now and pick one. Do you see yourself naturally interested debugging code and parsing data? or cleaning financials and making powerpoints?
Oh and i'll tell you again. IB won't really care if you did quant work. Quants really won't care if you did IB. The work is completely different day to day and has basically no transferable skills.