Getting into high finance after a shitty masters program
A lot of top universities are offering cash cow masters programs that are somewhat related to finance such as a masters of economics, masters of data science, or a MPP. These programs attract a lot of international students looking for an OPT visa or from students with a non traditional background to kinda get a foot into the door for working. You can also add to your resume a degree from a top school job which is why I think people get them.
Anyways, has anyone who took one of these programs found a way to get into high finance? One way I can think of is cross enrolling in the business school and networking but it seems to be more difficult if you don’t have work experience.
Some of these can def get you back office roles, maybe even middle office. However, from my experience as a degree candidate at very top school that wasn't an MBA, unless you have an MBA high finance won't give you a second look (even if diversity). Cross enrolling won't do anything, you're still competing against the b school kids and everyone else. Only relative exception is that impact investing sometimes hires policy students that aren’t dual MBAs, but again it’s the exception… not the rule. You can DM if questions.
depends on if the program is coding heavy. If yes, then you can go for entry data science/quant jobs at SIG, Citadel etc. for $400-600k. If not, it's going to be hard; can still get IB analysts roles but not high finance.
That’s pretty much me, doing an online MS in Data Science at a semi-target and was able to land a quant internship at a Canadian bank which converted to FT. If you are interested in coding there are a bunch of online MS in Comp Sci/Data Sci that are really cheap like = 10k and they help you give another shot at landing an internship in finance
I think you’re being slightly unfair to some programs. A masters in Econ or MPP at a top school can get you pretty far. Bear in mind that many people enrolling in these are not all going for IB, so there is self-selection bias, but if you look on Linkedin you see many land spots at BBs or other AM firms. It’s true however that the pathway into IB is much less structured than for MBAs, but this does not mean it’s the program that’s bad
caveat that this only goes for the programs at top schools (Columbia, Harvard, LSE, Georgetown). Outside of these schools it’s better to stay clear of these courses
A Masters in Economics is not a "cash cow: programme wtf... People who study Economics at that level don't go into finance anyway since it's an academic discipline. What an uninformed take.
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