Masters in (Financial) Economics

How do masters in economics programs (focusing on or specializing in finance) stack up against M. or MSC Finance programs in terms of appeal to IB or AM firms. I am mostly referring to programs such as the M. Financial Economics program at Columbia and Oxford. I also wanted to know if anyone has any insight or thoughts on the M. Economics (with a specialization in Finance) at Ecole Polytechnique (l'X). I know l'X has an excellent academic reputation but I'm curious about its reputation in the field of economics and if this program might make sense to apply to after undergrad. The context of all this is that I am considering doing a masters in finance or financial economics after my undergrad degree for recruiting purposes.

 

The difference is that its pre-professional so it places into the analyst positions not the associate ones. The finance courses are the same as the ones that MBAs take though.

You'll get access to interviews, alumni networking. Also it involves a summer internship which helps significantly since banks give many of their FT offers to the summer class.

 

Personally I'd go for finance.

[quote]The HBS guys have MAD SWAGGER. They frequently wear their class jackets to boston bars, strutting and acting like they own the joint. They just ooze success, confidence, swagger, basically attributes of alpha males.[/quote]
 

Econ consulting, transfer pricing, public policy, actuary, insurance, econ PhD.

Unless you want to improve your chances of getting into a top PhD program, I am not sure its worth it. Btw, are you referring to SAIS at JHU? Its not quite a terminal masters

I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them.
 

Holden, thanks for responding. Not SAIS, but the MS in Applied Economics from AAP. As it is, I have a BA in Philosophy ( not exactly the monkey tract, I realize.) But I'm relatively smart (top 2% IQ, etc.) and don't want to be a worthless liberal arts hippie anymore. Would a 1 year econ masters at least help me get the jobs that a BS in economics might get? I wouldn't mind working for the IMF or some such. Or a non-target think tank or government org or NGO. Making 50-60k a year would be awesome.

 

If you have the math background, you should get into a econ phd program (doesn't have to be top tier) and get a stipend/tuition waiver. You get your MS in a year and it is a lot higher regarded than any terminal econ masters program.

I remember some people in the econ phd program I was in saying that they're 2 year terminal masters program barely got through the first semester of the phd program.

An applied econ MS can get you a job as a "research associate" or "research analyst" at a think tank or IMF... unfortunately there is a significant glass ceiling if you don't have a phd. honestly, if you want to work in policy research, you're gonna have to get the phd. What you may want to think about is a 2 yr research associate gig at the fed, imf, WB, think tank, etc. This give you a good idea about what its like, is a great thing to have on your resume, and can really boost your chances of getting into a top tier phd program if that is the route you decide to go down.

I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them.
 

I'd rather go with an MA in Econ since they're more quantitative, and seem to add more skills. But Financial econ programs are pretty good if you want to be an analyst especially the one offered by Oxford.

 
Best Response

Read carefully into the course descriptions. If there is just one econometrics course, then it might not be your best bet - a single semester of graduate econometrics will be like an accelerated undergrad course (derive OLS, understand properties and what makes it BLUE, dummies, proxies, instruments, 2SLS, etc.) with maybe an extra few chapters/lectures on time-series (focus on serial correlation correction through AR/MA methods) and cross section/panel data (maybe a bit on simultaneity/spurious regressions, linear probability models, and a bit of GLS - fixed effects + random effects).

If you really want to be an econometrician and know econometrics well, you will likely need at least 2 (more likely 3+) graduate level courses. Most typical would be a first level graduate econometrics class like the one described above, and then most masters (and PhD programs within the first 2 years) will have a time-series course. This will focus more on models dealing with serial correlation (ARIMA and variations), conditional heteroskedasticity (ARCH/GARCH and variations), seasonality, unit roots and trends, VARs etc. For most finance and macro roles, this is a pretty fundamental course. Whether or not you actually use many of these tools in your day-to-day job is ehh, but it provides a strong signal and shows that you know what you're talking about if it comes down to it.

The third course would be an advanced panel data / cross-sectional course. This will delve deeper into the microeconometrics listed above, specifically GMM, GLS, linear probability, simultaneity, other panel methods). This is valuable if you are interested in a policy or economic consulting job, but honestly I personally feel like you can learn a lot of this stuff straight from a book. Of course, you can easily learn time-series econometrics from a book, but it is more often a pre-requisite for many positions, or at least the ones I look into.

Feel free to PM me any questions you may have, or if you want to talk more. I agree with the comment above, and think a straight masters in econ or Applied Economics will fair much better for a position as an econometrician. A Masters in Financial Economics can be valuable if there is a financial econometrics course (I took one in my applied econ program, and it was essentially a time-series econometrics course with financial data and examples - it was also valuable as it was my introduction to R, and helped build some basic chops with R programming and analysis).

 

Voluptas exercitationem porro corrupti voluptatem hic est maxime. Molestiae ut fuga ut qui animi possimus nostrum. Laboriosam nostrum molestiae aspernatur praesentium. Possimus adipisci quaerat dolor et.

Sit quia quibusdam dolores qui. Et sequi sed labore. Quia cum sequi nam. Doloribus veniam voluptas laudantium autem libero.

Mollitia ipsam unde aut quibusdam ut corporis expedita. Et est aut natus. Iste quos eos exercitationem voluptas nam aspernatur.

Placeat nobis et esse voluptatem et. Neque distinctio consectetur ad eum qui. Nostrum quis sint unde voluptatem ea autem ut. Dicta consequatur in fugiat aut incidunt. Fuga numquam et similique culpa consequatur quae voluptas. Et harum aut molestiae rerum dolorum maiores quo quaerat. Eos placeat recusandae non dolorem illo eligendi.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”