Go straight to grad school or go into ibanking first?
I currently attend Wharton and have a 3.7 GPA, and am graduating next May. I personally visited the admissions director at another Ivy League Economics program and he looked at my transcript, scores, and resume and offered me a spot to get an MA in Economics in 1-2 years. Assuming I land an i-banking 1st yr analyst gig after graduation, should I go there first, or get my masters first? They are NOT allowing me to defer and work for a year - if I do that, I'll have to reapply for admission.
If YOU were in my situation, what would YOU do? If I decide to get my masters first, I won't go through the trouble of recruiting this season. How is top econ MASTERS (not Phd) recruitment on the Street? Is it a useless degree? An extra Ivy League credential wouldn't hurt in this current job market right?
Go straight into banking, no contest. Masters is a relatively worthless degree for banking.
Agreed. I don't see the benefit in the Masters over a "great" job in a not so great economic time.
Regards
Agree - go into banking - no brainer. You can always go banking -> masters but not necessarily the other way around. If they're willing to admit you now, getting a banking degree could only help not hurt you.
thanks for the responses guys -- yeah that's what i figured. but I don't know about the current economy - I could get laid off in 1-2 years and if that happens it'll be hard to pick up. I thought if I have a masters already, at least when shit hits the fan, I can still be on top of the guys in my age group with only a bachelors.
What do you want to be doing in the next 3-5 years? If bankings what you want then do banking now. I've never heard of a masters in econ being useful on wall street. if you want to be in academia or policy research in dc, go for the masters.
No Masters. I would be an analyst for 2 years and then MBA. With a Wharton degree, you should look into the top MBAs.
are you currently a junior or senior at Wharton?
Beating a dead horse, but work > school for banking, not even close. The only reason you should be considering grad school is if you want to be a quant of some sort, in which you should look into Econ/stats/quantitative PhD programs.
As others have said, I completely agree that banking would be the way to go in my opinion. That said, if you really want the Master's, then go for it. Personally, if you are interested in banking, 1) the degree isn't necessary at all and 2) if you land the position there is no reason at all to delay in pursuing your professional goals. Same the next degree for an MBA or something down the line if you ever need it. For now, go into banking and evaluate your options from there.
You guys are really taking this guy seriously? I thought it was actually pretty funny.
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