I was wondering if doing a post baccalaureate study program in finance/accounting would be beneficial for a student with a liberal arts degree. I was thinking about doing the post bacc program at Columbia and taking a few accounting/finance courses. What do you guys think?
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I'm going to Columbia in the fall for my Masters in an econ-related degree. I also graduated from a liberal arts undergraduate program. Going to Columbia has its benefits in terms of networking, and also the rigor of graduate school accounting/finance classes would obviously add flavor to your resume coming from a liberal arts background. For me, the question was tuition cost and living expenses. I'm already a great deal in debt from undergrad and am taking out additional loans to finance grad school. To me it's worth it. Think opportunity cost -- what are your other options? MBA is obviously more beneficial unless your going for a Ph.D, which I doubt you are... but if you want to further your studies pre-Associate level, or presently have no job climbing alternative options, then I say go for it.
It depends on what your goals are and what you are hoping to get out of the program. Also, are you referring to purely a study program (a few courses), or are you considering B school? If you are trying to use it to build your finance and accounting skills, and boost your U Grad GPA (talking about the classes, not B school), then it is definitely beneficial. If you are hoping to leverage it into a banking position, it won't help that much as you are already out of ugrad and have missed the analyst program opportunities, while just taking a few classes won't qualify you to make a run at the associate program. At this point, it will definitely help build your knowledge base and perhaps make you more attractive to boutiques (especially if it is a good university), but I don't think it will be a tremendous edition to your resume to BB shops.
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Some BBs look to MS or MA programs to hire for analyst programs, as long as you are not too overqualified/too old. If you think the networking aspect will be very beneficial than go for it. If you dont think you can leverage the connections from the program to land a FT then its not worth it.
I actually just recently graduated in May but missed the analyst recruiting cycle. I am hoping to get a chance this fall. That said, I'm trying to take some accounting and finance classes to show that I've taken classes at an Ivy. Wouldn't this be beneficial considering I was a liberal arts major from UMich?
What else could I do in the mean time to prepare myself when banks start hiring again?
A short answer is "no". If you are thinking about taking these courses with a sole purpose of getting interviews, then there are better alternatives out there. However if there is a chance that you might apply for a grad school at Columbia, then it does make sense.
I believe that this particular program was initially set up for people looking to improve their grad school applications. You can take a course or two, see if you like it, and possibly transfer limited number of credits to a degree granting program at Columbia. In matter of fact, I know that some guys got into SIPA through the post-bacc program.
It gets tricky if you hope that this program will help you land IB interviews. As far as I know, as a student in the post-bacc program you are not allowed to register for courses offered through the Business or Law schools. And it limits your networking and access to advanced courses that you might put on your resume or leverage during interviews.
Does it make sense to pay ~4K for a basic corporate finance class and learn how to discount back cash flows using present value or unlever betas? No. There are cheaper alternatives out there, at least for a basic finance/business class level. You can go to NYU and take certificate investment banking courses for ~$750 instead of $4k. Or, you can take IBI and/or Analyst Exchange program...In either case, basic formulas are the same, but tuition is not.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed taking classes at Columbia as a visiting undergrad and post-bacc student. And yet I don't think that this particular program is worth of time and money unless you want to try grad level courses and improve grad school applications.
Somewhat off-topic but is NYU's Investment Banking certificate at all worthwhile? Thanks in advance
you guys don't think that doing well in accredited ivy league courses would be beneficial during an interview?
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