MBA vs M.S in Finance Advice
Monkeys- Long time reader, first time poster. I am a graduating senior in May who entered college planning on going to law school. No real interest in finance until my junior year and I realized I screwed up. I am a poli sci major but have just a minor in econ. I have done two internships; one with northwestern mutual, another in ER at a boutique in NYC. I loved ER but the firm I worked at only hires MBA/CFA/Ph.D for ER. I have no real finance background besides what I have picked up from these internships and on my own.
Most MBA programs require work expereince, where as an M.S in Finance does not. My question is what is the better route for me to take? I feel I am getting hurt on my applications because of the lack of technical skills.
Side note- Non Target, Average GPA, Athlete
As you say, top MBAs require work exp. So your choices really are MSF or work. Unfortunately, neither options secures an ER position.
By doing MSF, you'll get an extra summer (or two) to beef up your resume with internships. Even with this beefed up resume, you still might not land on WS - in which case you'll work and do an MBA to try to break in anyway.
MSF: 1-2 yrs, 1 or 2 internships (~6 months work exp), ~$50k, +opportunity costs (say $40-50k p.a.)... probability of getting into an ER position. (maybe Vandy will have more, just using UF as an example) http://warrington.ufl.edu/graduate/academics/msf/placement.asp
You'll get a lot more out of an MBA if you have work experience, too.
If ER is your goal, why not go ahead and start on the CFA track? It's the cheapest option by far, you can do it while working full-time, it'll test your committment, and it aligns with your career goals. In a few years you can pursue your MBA if you think you still need it.
I'll second Inky's comment above. Assuming you are interested in a future career in ER and lack a formal business foundation I would recommend the CFA as well (even if you only complete LI) as a CFA will provide you with broad exposure to topics that you will need to be familiar with to have a better overall investment perspective. A great deal of the CFA information is useless but it will give you a decent grounding in financial reporting, corp finance, econ, equity/fixed income, etc.
really u guys would recommend the cfa which like only 20% or less finish the whole program.
If I was in OPs situation I would talk to my MD about doing a part time Mfin program. I dunno where op is located but in toronto there are part time mfin programs like Rotmans
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