Will a Statistics master direct to jobs in finance?

Hi, My background: Third year Finance student in a top 20 European business school in a Nordic country. It’s a five-year program including both Bachelor and Master.

Current GPA: 4.2 /5 (don’t know how to convert into US 4-scale grading…)

No finance related W/E or internship….Some volunteer experience.

The school and program are good and reputable in the country, and it’s quite easy for local students to get decent jobs (I’m international student btw). Well I guess if I try very hard to fight against language and culture barrier, it won’t be totally hopeless for me to get a job after graduation. Problem here is I don’t feel like living here anymore (weather, language, culture, etc...).

I want to pursue a career in finance in the future. Since I plan to graduate with a finance master in summer 2011, it won’t make any sense to get another MSF in states, right? Maybe looking for jobs in States from Europe is very hard…

So I am wondering if a statistics master in states is helpful in hunting finance jobs. I can deal with numbers and I got almost full points for several statistics courses I had. I’ve been thinking about financial engineering, but I don’t have any experience in coding. I think financial analyst, or even more math-intensive like risk mgt could make more sense to me.

What are your thoughts? Will a statistics master improve my skill set to work in financial field? Or if you have other suggestions regarding my situation?

Best regards bber

27 Comments
 
Best Response

A statistics master is pretty solid, but you're going to need some relevant experience to actually give yourself a fighting chance. I have a stats undergrad and firms love seeing that shit, but I wouldn't have had the opportunities that I had if I didn't network and land some good internships before graduating.

What sucks is that you've pretty much missed the bus as far as summer internships in the states go for this year. I'm not familiar with recruiting in Europe, but you should do some research and see what big banks offer off-cycle internships in Europe. If you were able to land something in the fall, you could work instead of take classes and postpone your graduation until fall 2011, which would allow you to try for a summer 2011 internship as well.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolfpack Buyside strongside
 

As a European at a top American school I can tell you that a 4.2/5 from SSE or a similar European school is a lot more than a 3.2 GPA from a top American school... To the OP, I think that you will do fine. In Europe the summer internship during school is not as important as here in the US. My advice, try to get some work experience before getting into more academic training. A year or two will not make a difference in your opportunities to continue studying, and practical experience will give you a lot in terms of what you really want to do and to direct your future research and academic interests.

Good luck!!!

 
happypantsmcgeeWhat do you want to do with this MS in Stat?

although it might not be the perfect degree for quant positions, I know quite a few people who landed good gigs with a stats MS (as quant analysts and the likes)

 

Do it. Make sure you learn to program very well (and love it)... because that's all you'll be doing.

I'll do what I can to help ya'll. But, the game's out there, and it's play or get played.
 

Thanks for your response.

I used to program a lot while in high school and sometimes I regret that I haven't opted for a degree in computer science. In fact, the modules with (elemental) statistical computing in my current degree programme have been the most enjoyable.

When utility becomes concave and outliers cease to be brave, think of the CAPM twist: that return grows as does risk.
 

How different would this combination be from Financial Engineering? I am still a newbie in college but have taken some programming classes and loving it! From what I've heard, MFE requires a lot of hardcore quant skills which I love. For the OP, are you interested in being a quant?

 

For MFE you'll only have a realistic chance if you're an Engineering, Math, or CS major (probably need a double major and to come from another top school...). Also note, at this point most top MFE class size is ~50 students... so competition is very tough. Check out quantnet for MFE specific advise.

I'll do what I can to help ya'll. But, the game's out there, and it's play or get played.
 

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