MSF to break in?
Graduated 2024 from a small liberal arts school in the Northeast with a BA in government 3.5 GPA. Found out about the world of finance too late to change my major, and am considering getting a graduate degree in order to break in to the industry. I've been told that MBA's are better for mid career advancement, and that an MSF is more fitting for a recent grad. Does anybody know which MSF programs are more highly regarded and would be a good fit for me given my non-finance background? Any help is greatly appreciated.
georgetown, vanderbilt, mit are the better MSF programs. they have strong record of placements.
i dont think other schools place that well in IB/high finance/consulting. usc, ut austin, notre dame are decent. uchicago is a new one. it doesnt seem to have strong career services but it has a strong overall name.
there's also MiM programs. duke and georgetown are good. michigan ross and cornell also have programs. uchicago also has a new one.
stay away from programs with more than 50% international students.
what roles do you wish to target? whats ur past experience like? think of MSF as career multipliers. the better your previous experience, the better your outcomes. they're mainly ways to have extra time to recruit and access to better networks and opportunities (unless your undergrad school is better, then i highly recommend just doing some masters program there).
what’s the admission look like at georgetown? difficult?
not really. i think they want to see some interest in finance and at least a somewhat decent gpa. if you're a domestic student, you have a good chance of getting in with a few finance/business related experiences and a good gpa (like 3.5) and are your essays are decent (dont want to sound like a jerk who only wants NYC EB IB). tbh, most master's programs are not hard to get into as a domestic student, unless you're applying for law/med/phd/mba etc, and the only tough to get into msf programs are vanderbilt and mit (princeton too but that is basically an MFE program and MFE is mainly for risk/quant and it's weird if you try to do IB from an MFE program). even vanderbilt is mainly only tough because they need to ensure that you can get a job and since their program is 1 year only, they require previous finance experience. georgetown is 2 years and they have good resources to buff your resume up so they accept a bit more students, but overall, to me it seems that georgetown and vanderbilt have similar outcomes.
georgetown msf also doesnt accept international students so you have less competition. its overall a great program, you can build up your resume through their consulting projects (they also help with interview prep and many firms also have a lot of online networking sessions specifically for georgetown students), and georgetown has a strong alumni network, and this program also is established and has many people working in IB, consulting, and other parts of finance. overall, if you put in the effort, you can get a desirable offer from this program, but it will depend on how much effort you put in and what and how you did in undergrad.
i yapped a lot but hope it helps. let me know if you have further questions.
your comments are so helpful. do you know how UVA McIntire M.S. Commerce is perceived? and how any of these programs place in RE or REIB? thank you x.
uva is good, but i think it's majority uva undergrads.
i don't really know much about re/reib placement. i know some good ms re/mred programs are mit, columbia, usc, cornell, etc but i have no other idea. i don't think there's a lot of re focused people in msf/mim programs.
mit definitely has more than 50% international students
Echoing the previous comment. What I'll add is that, for all the legit MSFs (tons of cash grabs out there), almost all require some strong indication that you can land a job right out of the program. It's usually a combination of decent prior internships & a 3.7+ GPA especially if you're domestic (if you're an international like me, the focus shifts to your GRE score). The only thing they care about is their employment reports at the end of the year. I'll be going to Vandy, and I've yet to meet a single person in the current class without some high finance experience before coming to the program. They want to know that you can hit the ground running and only need an extra year, some more networking opportunities/alum to reach out to, and a couple touch-ups on your story/resume/technicals via the careers center.
In your case, I'm not gonna tell you not to apply for those top programs (Vandy/MIT--although this one almost exclusively takes math majors/Columbia/Georgetown/Villanova), but you should definitely think of other options. Start by mass cold emailing boutiques, starting with your own school's alum network to get your foot in the door. Read everything you can about the industry (self-evident) and make sure you have a decent story to tell (why IB etc).
by "some high finance experience," do you mean at a notable firm, or are there a lot of people with just no-name/local analyst exp?
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