Career Crossroads: M7?
Hello everyone,
First let me thank everyone in advance for your time and thoughts.
I am at a crossroads of sorts and trying to decide what career path would make the most sense. A little about me- I majored in engineering at a top 10 undergrad university. 3.0 GPA & 750+ GMAT. 4 years work experience- first as a consultant at a small firm for two years and now as a project manager doing strategic operations at a top HFT shop. I make low 6 figures and get a ton of great exposure, especially for my age- business development, application development, regulatory compliance, and trading operations. The downside of the great exposure and challenging work is that short of becoming a quant (which realistically isn't in the cards) I'm not sure how much room for growth and advancement there is at this point. Plus, HFT is a pretty niche industry with an uncertain future. Also- I am single, would love to try living in a new city, and would love some new experiences and challenges.
I was fortunate enough to recently be accepted into an MBA business schools">M7 school as part of the class of 2016. My hope is to end up making good $ on challenging work at the intersection of finance and operations. Working on the buy side (small hedge fund or VC) or doing strategy consulting sound most interesting to me.
So my question is this- would you say I would be better off either:
A) Studying for and taking CFA level 1 in December. Leaving my current job after networking shamelessly to get an internship at a boutique investment bank or small hedge fund in the spring. Then travel for the summer before starting my MBA and seeing where that adventure takes me.
or
B) Turn down my admission, proceed with the CFA & perhaps pursue a part-time MBA with my firm's sponsorship at a top part-time program (they would not sponsor full-time). And see where this more conservative, yet fiscally responsible path leads.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
Much Obliged,
DJ
From my own investigations on MBA's, I think you will have more options if you go full time. You'll make the money back quickly - plus you're single - stay that way until you're net zero post MBA and life should be breezy
How do you feel about the debt/cost of attendance?
I am generally in favor of you getting the FT MBA, but there will probably be some scary moments in January/February of your first year where you'll be wondering if you can get an internship/job.
I also have a fairly glum outlook for HFT.
I am pretty comfortable with the debt, but that doesn't necessarily make it a prudent choice. FT sounds great in theory- networking, interesting classes, new experiences. The biggest mental hurdle for me is whether it makes sense to leave a good situation with people I enjoy working with, great hours, and interesting work, especially when in two years I'd likely be making the same as the median compensation post business school. Also- will my low undergrad GPA pose challenges in MBA recruiting?
Congrats! you found out pretty early, that's good to know. GPA might be an issue in consulting, but that's it i think
Specifically what MBA program are we talking about here? That will strongly affect the decision.
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