Dropping out of master's

I’m torn over an idea that seems extremely idiotic and yet at the same time unarguably attractive. I’d greatly appreciate some perspective from the outside. In respect of your time, I’ll try to be brief.

I’m at the end of the first year of ESCP’s Master in Management. On paper it’s a good program, though certainly not on par with more renown names, and I think the school’s brand is mostly recognized in France. In fact, if you’re not French you’ve probably never heard of it.

The school has a few campuses around Europe. The current plan is to spend the second year in London, ideally do an internship there and get a sponsor for a full-time role. Despite Brexit, I still think I should aim for the UK. First, because that’s where most of the roles I’m interested in are. Second, because of language barriers: other than Italian (my mother tongue), I only speak English.

I’m targeting asset management (equities), straight out of school. I’m well aware of the odds, but that’s not what I’m conflicted about. I’ve already made up my mind, and I’ll face the rejections until I get a graduate role or convince some boutique firm to have me. That’s not the point of this post. But the slim odds do play a part in what I’m considering.

Here’s the thing: the current plan has very high costs, both in terms of time and in terms of money. And I’ve found myself wondering: is this really the best I can do with my resources? I don’t have an answer, and there probably isn’t one, but let me briefly go over these two factors.

First, time. Current plan means spending a whole year studying whatever ESCP decides I should study. Now, having first-hand experience of their teaching standards, I know I can learn just as well on my own. In fact, I can do better. What I need to be able to do to be useful to an asset manager is (ultimately) writing stock research pieces. What I’m learning by staying here is tangential at best, sometimes interesting, but mostly irrelevant to my objectives. Meanwhile, I have a list of resources that I know I should study and a list of pieces that I know I should write but not enough time to do so. In other words, if I could spend the next year on self-study and preparing for interviews, I know I’d be objectively a better candidate in the end.

Second, money. To pay tuition fees and support myself for a year abroad, I took out a loan of €50k. I already paid the first year, so I have about €35k left. Now, London is one of the most expensive cities in the world, and should I go there for a year this money would be quickly wiped out. I picture myself throwing away thousands of euros just to be able to live in a small room half an hour from everything, and it seems stupid. Meanwhile, I could be staying in Italy virtually for free and save the money to repay (part of) the debt early. This assumes dropping out of the program, of course. I’d have a debt for no real reason, but a much smaller one. More importantly, that’s pretty much the definition of a sunk cost, and sunk costs are irrelevant.

So, assuming I go ahead with the current plan, what do I get in exchange for the time and the money? A piece of paper that says I graduated from ESCP. A name on a resume, basically. And I’d have two degrees instead of one. Plus the network of the school. That’s it. The plan is only worth it if these things collectively manage to make finding a job in asset management way easier than in the alternative case. But I’m not at all sure how the two options compare in this regard.

The school doesn’t seem particularly well connected with the industry outside of France. I’m under the impression, perhaps mistakenly, that no investment company will really care that I went to ESCP. And if that’s the case, then the name is worth to me just as much as that of whatever public university. However, said investment company might care that I do not have a master’s degree. Dropping out, I’d only have: (i) a bachelor’s in economics with overall unimpressive grades which took me more time than needed to complete (long story); (ii) a somewhat irrelevant 6-month internship in management control; (iii) a quite relevant 2-month internship at a major asset manager which I will do this summer. There’d be gaps in my cv, and my odds would get worse. But how much worse? I’d be an unknown graduate, but I already am, so what?

There are other things to consider, but I’ll stop here. Thank you for reading.

TL;DR: Completing master’s program vs dropping out, saving the money, putting the time to better use and going all-in with what I have.