Gap Between MSF & Work. Help.

Hi Guys,

Long time lurker on this page--first post, could use a little help. I'm a 2nd Year Analyst at a BB in the AM Division in the FI MO group. I came into the bank with a totally unrelated STEM major from a very large state school in the Midwest, and by some stroke of luck, they took me. I know how this page feels about the MO, but considering that I didn't know what an FRN or a CUSIP was when I started my job, I considered myself pretty lucky.

Anyway, the novelty faded off, and I realized how incredibly difficult it is to break into the FO from where I currently sit. I talked to HR (and my manager) about transitioning, and applied to ~20 jobs (high, I know) internally in the FO over the last 9 or so months and got dinged at all of them, unsurprisingly. It became abundantly clear to me that I need to further bolster credentials to bust out of MO, so I've been studying for my CFA L1 which is in December. Not sure how that'll turn out, but hoping for the best.

While this has been going on, I applied to, and got accepted into an MSF program that's in another state where my bank has local offices, but hardly any AM presence. I fully intend to go. Program starts in Fall 2019 (10ish months from now). I want to leverage tuition reimbursement from my company, but that would mean that I would need to leave AM and join another (most likely less prestigious) part of the bank in the same city that my MSF will be in.

So here's the question: Do I take the role in the crappy division and get away from FI to leverage tuition reimbursement, do I quit work altogether and take out an unholy loan while doing my Master's full time, or are there any other options for me other than those two? I've juggled some possibilities in my head, but could use some extra pairs of eyes to come up with some ideas.

Would appreciate any feedback.

Thanks all.