Is Columbia Master of Science in Financial Economics worth it?

It's 2 years program and is too long for an MS, I know. But I want the best of the both worlds ie I would like to take some PhD classes along with MBA classes and use it as my terminal degree. But how is it viewed in the corporate world? Is the Columbia brand huge? Also, I'm an international student, so there are no loans available without cosigner. So do you know about any sources like ProdigyFinance that provided non cosigner loans(not only MBA!)? Thank you.

 

The program is small and relatively new. The 2 year concept is odd, but I'd look at is as a PhD lite type program. Columbia is a great brand so I think that will help.

Personally, I'd do the program if you have aspirations other than simply breaking into IB. You'll have too much education and time spent for a non MBA to really have that as your end game. Do it if you want to be in research or maybe teach. Something along those lines. I'd also see if you could do well in the program and maybe roll into a PhD program if you were so inclined.

 

Thank TNA. I certainly don't want to end up in the academia! I'd like to break into hedge funds or PE or quant-ish finance. My stats are not good enough to get into good PhD program but they are good enough to get into the MSFE. And I see that they have 100% employment rate. And I'm not going to get PhD after that because it's a terminal degree.

 

It's insanely selective (acceptance rate of around 2%), although I heard that it's expanding this year, so I guess the acceptance rate will go up a bit. As TNA said it's only a few years old so not enough career placement data to rely on. But it is Columbia after all, so it's a great brand, especially in NYC.

If you want quant or trading role at a bank or prop shop, it will help you get there. MAYBE IBD but definitely not PE or fundamental research at a hedge fund.

 

Hey I'm still a sophomore and want to apply for Columbia Ms Financial Economics also. If you guys don't mind please post your stat so I will know what to expect.

 

If you want a quant role I would do a MFin or something like that. Maybe do the MFin and then add higher level math and research classes. I don't think this degree would set you up for a quant role.

 

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