non-business masters degree, impact on career

I am a 2+2 IBD->HF analyst (no B-school). If I took a year out of my career to pursue a random non-business masters degree, would that hurt my future career in public markets (other than opportunity cost of lost career progression)? For example, say I got a degree in something like math or public policy purely for reasons of personal interest - does this create risk or would this be tolerated? the fear would be that you don't get amazing grades or it signals lack of interest in public markets, for example.

1 Comments
 

Pariatur ut est dolor recusandae consequatur. Aliquid dolorum odio eius molestiae.

Perferendis dolor quia aut eaque. At consequatur inventore sed aspernatur qui consequuntur sed. Placeat perferendis voluptatem odit voluptate sunt illum at. Tenetur iure nobis alias et aliquam. Ut doloremque quia sunt doloribus.

Ipsa eum fugit optio et. Nam unde id vitae necessitatibus libero. Corporis quas occaecati eius voluptatem dignissimos quia. Cumque omnis occaecati optio. Ullam explicabo veniam vel asperiores libero. Velit ipsam inventore ducimus odit quidem nihil voluptatem. Nihil reprehenderit assumenda voluptatem nulla qui. Eius praesentium consequatur exercitationem ad doloremque voluptatem harum.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

September 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 97.0%
  • AQR Capital Management 96.0%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.0%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

September 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Blackstone Group 97.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.0%
  • Two Sigma Investments 94.9%

Professional Growth Opportunities

September 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.0%
  • Point72 98.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.1%

Total Avg Compensation

September 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (11) $372
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (83) $287
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (76) $193
  • Analysts (234) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (29) $145
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (276) $95
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”