Claremont Graduate and Brandeis Info?

SpanishBuzz:

drexelalum11:

They're both decent undergrad schools, CMK is actually quite a good undergrad that I briefly considered going to, but their graduate econ programmes are nothing to write home about, and certainly not places any banks recruit. IMO, even NYU isn't a particularly good masters programme for econ, and won't get you in to a FO role. If you want to do econ, then do econ and get a PhD in it. Otherwise, you're wasting $40k on a degree.

For example, wouldnt he able to piggyback off of undergrad recruiting, whilst the Econ departments must have their own campus recruitment scheme.

Firstly, why would the econ MA have its own campus recruitment? Who wants to hire a guy with an MA in econ from a marginal school?

Secondly, sure, you might be able to get your CV in with the undergrads, but you're not going to be competitive with them. CMK is one of the top liberal arts schools in the country, and the kids coming out of there who are competitive for IB will have good GPAs, good experience, and good test scores. Given that you couldn't even get in to NYU econ, you likely have none of those.

In short, save your money. And stop pretending you are asking for a "friend." It's really annoying.

SpanishBuzz:

West Coast rainmaker:

Claremont Graduate University is not Claremont McKenna, and is a much worse grad school than Claremont is an undergrad.

To answer your question, all of these programs (and MA in Econ in general) place poorly in IBD...they have barely anything to do with business. These are academic degrees, intended for people going into education or research, not business.

You see a lot of econ majors in IB because many targets do not offer UG business degrees, and Econ is the next closest thing. For grad school, you are expected to be more focused, hence the popularity of MFin and MBA programs.

If you want to do Econ, by all means apply to MA Econ programs; just know they are a terrible choice for IB recruiting.

I assumed a lot of the Econ MA programs have a sufficient business element to allow progress into IB. The Claremont program for example has a good element. Also, is it not recommended to have a diverse curriculum in a masters to prevent yourself being singled for a certain role? I assumed specialization comes when you do the MBA.

I think your perceptions might be a bit off. MBA programs are the closest thing to a generalist program (some have tracks, but generally nobody cares).

MA Econ degrees are not business degrees. Recruiters see them as only marginally more relevant than a masters in sociology. They do not see those students as particularly committed to business, let alone banking. They see a MA Econ, and immediately ask "Why a MA Econ instead of a MFin?".

You are expected to have figured out what you want to do by the end of undergrad, and certainly before you commit to higher degree. The best you could do with a MA Econ is claim that you wanted to do Econ, then realized you prefer finance halfway through.

And again, Claremont Graduate and Claremont McKenna are entirely different schools within the same consortium. CGU does not have an undergrad college. If anything, CGU recruiting will be worse now that Claremont McKenna has a MFin program.

I would do neither MA Econ program, and try to network in. A MA in Econ may very well make him less attractive than some semi-relevant work exp (transaction services at a big 4? work at a regional bank?).