Job prospects with no experience/internships and MSc Finance

Some background: 23 years old, married, undergrad in Finance December of 2012 from a non-target school in Florida, 3.5 cumulative, 4.0 major GPA. I do not have an official gmat score as of yet, but have scored just over 700 in practice tests with little studying. Worked full time to pay for school and am debt free. I have full time work experience that isn't relevant for a position in finance; assistant store manager in retail, collections, member services at a credit union. I have recently accepted a position as an analyst for my credit union where I'll analyze electronic services and do financial/operational analysis evaluating prospective projects, existing services, and monitoring credit/debit card portfolios.

Question: I'm mostly interested in IB or institutional AM. Will it work to quit working full time, get a MSc in Finance from a better school and network my way to an analyst position? Or am I likely to graduate in 80k worth of debt and a masters degree that isn't any good because I don't have an internship under my belt?

7 Comments
 

Sounds like MBA is your best choice. Take the analyst job and if it's cheap, do the MSF as well to show you're really interested in finance. Then join an MBA program that recruits into IB and you'll be set.

in it 2 win it
 

If you're already living in Florida the MSF program at UF isn't too shabby and they've gotten some pretty decent placements these past few years (BBs in NYC)

 

Thanks for the advice.

If I wanted to start in Fall of 2012, would you guess that 1yr as an analyst at the credit union and my prior work experience are enough to get into a top 20 MBA program or will it take more experience? (Assuming a 700+ GMAT and good essay and interviews)

 

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