Finance BS with a minor in computer science, looking into getting a masters in Computer Science
Hi,
I am currently a 2nd year student at Miami University's Farmer School of Business with a major in Finance and a minor in Computer Science. I have been in talks with the Department Chair of the College of Computer Science about completing a Masters Program there because of my steller GPA within the college. I have a 2.77 Cumulative GPA with the lower grades being in Finance Classes and almost all A's in the computer science classes. Thus to increase my GPA and to be a more competitive applicant in the IB industry (I like computer science more than I like Finance but I would like a role that mixes the two) I am considering getting a Masters in Computer Science. I have an internship this summer as a FInance and Contracts intern at a Robotics institute and am looking to get into an internship with a bank next summer. Completing a Masters would also allow me to get an additional internship in my senior summer to make me an even more competitive applicant. Just looking for thoughts to see if getting a masters in computer science is a worthwhile addition to my resume.
Thanks in advance to any who reply
No, a Masters in CompSci will not add to your resume at all and is a waste of both time and money unless you are pursuing a career path with those skills. Computer science has 0 value to PE as a standalone skill and you are getting a minor, so the As carry even less weight. Coding skills have nothing to do with PE on the job other than maybe being a useful conversation piece if you work in tech (e.g. I took some CompSci in college but it literally never comes up). If all your low grades are from finance courses... I just can't understand why you would want the job in the first place. Also, at least from my memory, all the CompSci courses were way harder than the finance ones so what seems to be the disconnect? If you're such a rock star in CompSci that the department head is talking about you doing a Master's, maybe it's worth considering a career swap? You'll have better W/L balance in most cases and will still make great of money.
Your current GPA will weed you out of 99% of processes before you even get to the first interview so start there. Since you're finishing your 2nd year (assuming based on it being May), focus on getting it over a 3.0. Then you can try to network your way into an internship for a small LMM PE shop or boutique bank. Unpaid opportunities are your friend here because what you need more than anything right now (except a better GPA) is experience you can leverage. You have a long a way to go but this is probably the biggest hurdle for you to deal with currently, just know that all is not lost. You've got 2 more years to knock the classes out of the park.
Sincerely, 3.3 GPA from a non-target going on his 3rd year in PE.
I appreciate the response. Maybe PE is not a good fit for me. My major goal for the next two years is to get my GPA up as fast and as high as I can. To be completely honest I am not sure where I want to end up but I know that computer science interests me more than Finance however I would like a role that mixes the two. As for the disconnect Computer Science just comes easy to me. All of the weed out classes, Intro to Programming, Object Oriented Programming, Data Structures and Algorithms, and Intro to Software Engineering have just been breezes to me and in each of those classes I received an A. Projects took time however most of the time it did not feel like "work". Maybe a career swap would be beneficial however I would like Finance to be apart of my role as well.
You should look into quantitative finance! A top quant can have among the highest starting salaries of any finance professional if they play their cards right. What's more important than general finance knowledge in that type of job though is strong statistics and quantitative analysis skills. If CompSci is more interesting to you then lean into that, you'll do vastly better than you would forcing yourself to pursue banking/PE out of some misplaced sense of prestige. One of my best friends also came from a non-target, also had a "not great" GPA (better than mine though) and didn't even study CompSci. Started his career working at 2 different no-name shops but now he's a quant trader at a top HF, spends more time programming and designing factor models than anything else these days.
I disagree with the above. A masters in CS will make you a stronger candidate for roles - not just now but in the future. Having a masters in CS will make you seem like a subject matter expert in CS which is valuable to both sellside and bayside opportunities. Finance degree holders are many. Computer scientists who are willing to work in finance are few. Having spent a lot of time in PE myself I can assure you this experience will be incredibly valuable. In a few years no one will care about your grades but they will respect and value your knowledge
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