MSF Degree vs. Corporate Finance Work Experience for Equity Research and Portfolio Management
I am debating whether to get an MSF Degree or gain work experience as a (corporate) financial analyst at a Fortune 500 Company. Which one is the better for someone planning to get a job as an equity research analyst or portfolio manager at a bulge bracket IB firm or an Asset Management firm?
Do you have a f500 offer yet? Are you accepted to any masters programs yet? Which? This information is crucial to decision making brah
I do not have the job offer yet, but I have already been accepted to an MSF Program.
There are differing views on this, and obvious it depends on quality of school vs. quality of job, etc. It also depends on your background.
I'll give the way I see it, assuming you have no experience, because that's where I started from as well. Without experience (i.e. relevant internship) it seems that it's just as hard to break in from an MSF as it is to lateral from a different finance related industry. That being said, you're better off getting paid to add experience to your resume for the year you spend trying to break in than paying out of your ass to suffer through another year of school.
Not everybody is like me, some people actually enjoyed school. That's just my opinion, anyway.
rebel...in your opinion, what does relevant internship mean? bb ib sa for bb ib ft? or would, for instance, something like corporate banking suffice as a "relevant" internship for ib? or research on forex hedging with some well known professor over the summer for a trading assistant or developer role at some nice prop shop, or maybe even a ft s&t gig at a bank? these are just examples, btw. i'm trying to get a feel for what "relevant" means...
^^^Sent you a PM, but for anybody else who's wondering:
Generally FO or at least MO stuff, doesn't matter how big or how small. Research would be relevant provided it was an official role for a company. If it was something under the table for a professor, it's nice on the resume and interesting to talk about, but not quite enough.
Anything where you've had FO finance exposure while showing that you have experience in a structured corporate environment should at least get you a look from some firms, provided everything else checks out.
Obviously the more directly related the previous experience the better chance of getting a look (ie S&T to S&T, IB to IB), but people with experience in one FO/MO role looking for a spot in another will have a chance at something if they cast a wide enough net.
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