Best master of finance in Germany

Master in Finance Ideas for placement in Hamburg, Germany (non-finance business background) (Originally Posted: 07/25/2017)

Hi guys,

I'm Greek and I'm about to graduate from the Maritime Studies Department of the University of Piraeus. Basically this is Business Administration for shipping, however I, later into my Bachelors, realised two things: a) I like finance and not shipping and b) the quality of finance classes at my uni were unsatisfactory (we spent an entire semester learning, in Maritime Finance, what NPV, Future Value, WACC, IRR, cash sweep, and Baloon payments were. Nothing about Islamic Finance, the German KG Funds, types of Bonds etc. That's as far as my finance background in my non-finance business degree entails. So, I want to do a Masters in Finance.

At the moment I am interning at a Greek bank at the Maritime Finance Department thereof and I am quite satisfied with what finance is about. I also took a course on Coursera on Finance. After I complete my internship I will graduate in December.

I have not sat neither the IELTS nor the GMAT tests yet, however the point of this post is to ascertain which business schools to target. I want to know whether I should target universities like Bocconi, RSM, or St. Gallen, whose applications start in October, or German universities (Mannheim, FSFM etc), whose applications start in March.

Here are the universities I have been considering. Bear in mind, I eventually want to live in Germany and, specifically, in Hamburg. Given that I want to place in Germany, which of the universities I will list below would you recommend? - Bocconi - St. Gallen - Frankfurt School - Mannheim (yes, I know, it has a Master in Management, but it also has Finance classes there - I do not know just how good they are and how well this uni places) - Goethe University (it has a Money and Finance Master, I heard it's good, but I want to see what you guys think of that) - RSM (I know, it's a Dutch university, but there are lots of Germans that study there) - Maastricht University (many German alumni on Linkedin)

I am aware of the existence of WHU but I am not sure of what kind of reputation it enjoys. And while I want to live in Hamburg I have checked some German forums and people criticise the business administration (BWL) department of the University of Hamburg so I don't know if it's worth studying there.

Now, this question is important for me for another reason as well. In Greece we have compulsory national service in the Armed Forces and hence I have the choice to either serve as a Private for 9 months or as a Reserve Second Lieutenant for 14. I want to cut my deferment for studies that I already have so that I get drafted in January. As a Private, therefore, I will be discharged in September, as an Officer, on the other hand, I would be discharged in March. I have no idea whether I can make applications to universities whilst in the Army, my national service as an officer will however prevent me from taking CFA courses or foreign language courses or even attend a coding bootcamp for the heck of it (quite a dumb idea, given that I want to go into finance, but whatever). If I get discharged in September, up until I get admitted and actually attend the Masters I will have a year in the interim.

And therein lie my other questions: - Do Germans view service as an officer in the military, as part of national service, in a positive light? - In case I serve as a simple soldier and get discharged early, should I do the CFA in the gap year? Is it worth it, given my lack of specialised finance knowledge? - What else should I do in that gap year? A second internship at a bank? Volunteering?

Now here's my profile, internship aside: - GPA (pending internship): 8.39/10 - Fluent in Greek, English, and German (passed the C1 of the Goethe Institut with 85/100); speak elementary Turkish as well - AIESECer for 17 months - Attended a German language summer school in Hamburg last summer on a DAAD Scholarship, completed it with a 1.0/7.0 (very good on the German scale). - Attended the Greek Parliament Model, i.e. a Greek Parliament Simulation. As a Member of Parliament in a specific committee (Public Order, Civil Administration, and Justice Committee - our topic was actually the Refugee Crisis, which I knew very little about) I received the best orator prize.

Sorry for any disturbance and thanks for your patience. Any help would be deeply appreciated :D