Masters in Financial Engineering Worth It?
So, here’s the deal. I just finished my junior year of undergrad. I have an all right GPA (I guess?) of 3.40, but am double majoring in Electrical Engineering and Economics. I don’t really go to a target school, but it is a top-15 ranked university. I’m interning at Accenture this summer, doing management consulting. To be honest, consulting is something I’m pretty interested in doing after graduating, but I don’t know if the travel will fit well with me. Finance is another industry I’ve been looking at, but I don’t have any experience in the industry. However, I was treasurer of my fraternity, managing a budget that was about $90K. I also invest in stocks, mostly in tech ones. So I’m definitely interested in finance and money management as a whole. What’re the chances I get some interviews from big banks in the upcoming Fall recruitment season? Another option I’ve been considering is going to graduate school and pursue a Master’s in Financial Engineering degree. It seems to be finance that is very math and programming heavy, and I consider those to be two of the strong points of my academic profile. But realistically, where does that put me on Wall Street? Would I be able to get promoted past the associate level? Most people who apply, and get in, to these programs are foreign students from Asia (India, China, etc.), who you probably know aren’t the most social crowd. So I think my ability to communicate well and having previous leadership experience will allow me to stand out in the field. But would the big banks consider me for some upper management role? And probably more importantly, do you guys think this degree is worth it?
Thanks for any input that is serious.
Probably not upper management. Especially as you are still in college. Being a native english speaker never hurts.
Andy Nguyen on QuantNet.com is really the expert on this stuff.
Masters in Financial Engineering - Top schools (Originally Posted: 10/16/2007)
Does anyone one these boards have an MFE degree, or is anyone here knowledgeable about it? If so, I'd like to know a couple things:
global derivatives has a popular ranking
it depends on the coursework of course. If you've taken those specific required classes than it wouldn't matter. (i.e. a bioeng major applying to stanford who took a random PDE class (stanford requires this) would be much more valued than a math major who didn't and focused on abstract algebra instead.) note that some programs are more quantitative than others. for example, stanford mathfin or columbia mathfin are both significantly more quant than columbia fineng. In programs like columbia fineng, where the math prereqs are more relaxed, they might decide admission decisions on things more like gre score and programming classes/ability.
don't understand your question. traditional consulting practices have nothing to do with this. I assume by "hedging" you mean buy-side trading, in that case yes it would be valued.
consider thinking about what you really want to do first. If you're cosidering financial engineering than consulting shouldn't really be on your mind as it would just be a waste of your time/tuition.
.
Masters in financial engineering - Experiences? (Originally Posted: 05/19/2008)
i'm interested in getting a masters in financial engineering and was wondering if anyone could share their experiences on what it was like (or knows someone else who has got one), as opposed to getting an MBA. thanks!
You may want to visit http://www.quantnet.com as that focuses on financial engineering programs in NYC area
I have an MFE, and I can tell you that it was absolutely brutal. The program was small (30 students) and so the social aspects were amazing. I made some of my best friends in the program. With that said, the work load is crazy. We were putting in 80-100 hours a week consistently. I was a pretty weak programmer before, so that made my hours even longer when it came to finishing all of the coding heavy assignments. I had a very strong math background coming in though, so some of the theoretical stuff that killed other people in my class wasn't as much of an issue. I went into the MFE straight after undergrad, and didn't have much experience, so I really appreciate the opportunities it opened up for me. I don't know any people my age earning remotely close to what I am, while working at most 50 hours a week.
If you are interested in pursuing this degree, you need to be aware of how much your life is gonna suck while you're studying. The courseload is not only very heavy, but the courses themselves are very difficult, and if you are not already very well trained in math and stats, you will have a very tough time.
You should also know that the brand recognition of the program matters a lot. My personal ranking goes something like this:
I made the mistake of turning down CMU because I naively thought that a very well respected local program would open up the same opportunities at 1/6th the cost. I'm happy where I am now, but I really wanted to get into trading, and I know that my chances would have been a lot better had I gone to CMU instead.
quantnet is a decent resource, but I find that it's too biased in favor of Baruch for some strange reason. I prefer www.global-derivatives.com
good luck!
I you have a good Math (Calculus, PDE, SDE, Statistics) and Computer Programming (C++, VBA, SQL) background, then you will be a good fit for MFE. Best programs are UC-Berkeley, Princeton, NYU, CMU, Stanford Math Fin, Columbia). Chicago is having some prolems with placements of the international students. 80% of the students in all the above programs are international students. Some fresh from undergrad and some with PhD in Math / Physics / Engineering. I myself did MFE after doing PhD from Top 20 Business School in USA and I can tell you that I was shocked at how smart those students fresh from undergrad are. Most of the students are from China / France / India / Eastern European countries. They have difficulty with English, but are superb at Math. The most important thing is to find a group of 3-4 students with whom you can study together and do homeworks. I am sure that those students were doing the homeworks in groups because I was really struggling with the same homework assignments.
Masters in Financial Engineering - Non-finance backgrounds? (Originally Posted: 09/09/2012)
Guys I was wondering how import is an MFE degree if you wanna get into hedge funds or investment management ? Is it an effective qualification for a buy side job or is it just a course for people with non-finance/eco backgrounds to shift into Finance?
I come from a Finance background..I was wondering what my ideal carer path should be..Currently in my pre-final year..To get into an investment management job should I-
a.) Get a job-Complete CFA during my job-Then B-School b.) Msc Finance- Job (CFA during job) then B-School c.)B-School- Job( CFA during job and b-school)- then go for the LBS Msc Fin (since it needs work ex)
If there are any other paths I could take please do suggest
Please help me out
Cheers :)
This may be a bit presumptuous, but if you want to work in Asset Management, why not get a job in asset management? BlackRock, state street, fidelity, PIMCO, AllianceBernstein and the likes all recruit straight out of undergrad. JP Morgan, GS and CS also have asset management/investment management divisions. Citi sort of does (Citi capital advisors).
Try to get an internship in one of the above. If you really want to take the cfa, sign up for level 1 your senior year.
No reputable MFE will take you if you don't have a very solid math and programming background. Most finance majors haven't taken pde, probability theory and numerical methods.
*important
Are you a quant? That's what an MFE is for. It won't help you value a company, but would help with pricing derivatives.
Oh okay..Could you help with the ideal path i should follow?
I don't know anything about you. How could I possibly tell you what path to take?
What path do you think I should take? See?
Are you confusing MSF vs MFE?
MFE is for quants. IlliniProgrammer types. MSF is for people who did not study finance in their UG or people looking for rebranding.
James, I'm not a quant. Just a desk developer with a CS undergrad who knows how to price options and develop very basic models for analytics.
There's a former Math professor in our program called Sal. HE'S a quant.
MFE's typically require the engineering math sequence; Calc I-III, Difffyqs, linear algebra, and Calculus-based probability.
Anthony describes the MSF as the fifth year of an undergraduate finance degree.
MIT and Princeton have "MFin" programs that both rebrand you as a finance guy and strengthen your quantitative background. MIT's lasts one year; Princeton's lasts two.
The best qualification for a buy-side job is another buy side job, or failing that, a sell-side job. An MFE, MSF, or MFin doesn't hurt but it doesn't help that much either. You need to stand on your industry record, not your academics.
.
IP, seems like there are minor differences between MFE and MS Math Finance. Care to explain them?
And what is your program? I read somewhere that Princeton was more MSF than MFE.
MSc of Financial Engineering / Finance (Originally Posted: 11/23/2010)
Hi,
i'm 21 years old and i will finish my Bachelor of Economics with a quantitative focus at a German university in Summer 2011. My estimated average will be between 2,0 and 2,3 (German system). I'm highly interested in Finance and would like to do a master in this field. I think it depends on the program but i'm more likely to aim for a Msc in Financial Engineering than just a Msc of Finance because i prefer a little bit more quantitative orientated programs (Just a little bit, i'm no mathematician anyway!). My currently planning to do the TOEFL and get my english lacks fixed.
Which are good finance / financial engineering / financial economics programs in UK or in the US? I found out that the Imperial, LSE, Cass, Manchester, Warwick and Birkbeck masters are really good in UK. What about the US?
Which one is realistic with my average?
And the most important question: Is it possible to apply to the program before i've finished my bachelor degree? Most programs start in Sept/Oct and i would like to study on immediately after my bachelor degree. So it would be best if i could apply in March without having a completed bachelor degree.
Thanks for your help.
Look into Baruch, they have a great financial engineering program.
How much would a MS in Financial engineering help? (Originally Posted: 07/10/2013)
i go to a very good target school, but not quite as prestigious as I would like. If I would like to go to grad school (princeton/MIT and the like) to get a MS in FE before going straight to the industry, what position would I start at once I have the degree. By the way, I'm not very interested in being a quant.
If I'm not very interested in being a quant, would it still make sense to get a MS in finance/FE for added prestige?
If you're not interesting in being a quant, why go for a MFE? Your MFE will mostly lead to quant heavy jobs, and you say that's not what you want. Plus, these classes are no joke - they're ridiculously difficult. If you're not interested in being a quant or not a 'quanty' person, you'll hate your years as a MFE student.
In sum: If you don't want to be a quant, don't go for the MFE. If you really want that prestigious school name on your resume, go for a top MFin, MBA (after working), or an unrelated master's degree
my thoughts exactly...what are some of the top schools that offer a MFin? for some reason I feel like not many schools offer that. I want to go to grad school right out of college to have that name stamped on my resume, so I would rule MBA out for now.
What kind of stats and leadership/activity experiences do you have? Are you qualified for a top school offering MFin?
Why would you want a top grad school right out of college if you already go to a good target?
Some top schools have master of financial economics, which is basically a pre-PHD degree. But few schools have MS in Finance.
Basically, if peope major in finance in their undergrad, they don’t usually do MS in Finance cause that’s meaningless; for people whose major are not finance in their undergrad, they don’t do MS in Finance either cause that barely helps.
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