MSF, CS degree, or just network to get finance or finance related work experience for top MBA programs?
Hello everyone,
I'm a recent liberal arts grad and I've developed an interest in finance careers. I had no finance internships so it’s going to be hard finding finance or finance related jobs. I did take some business courses in undergrad and found them interesting.
I've decided to get an MBA in the future to break into finance. Due to my lackluster experience, I don't think I can get into a top MBA program so I'm thinking about networking to get finance or finance related work experience, doing an MSF, or a second degree in CS then get an MBA after I work for a few years. My parent's don't want to fund my MSF aspirations but they will fully fund the CS degree and plus I'll be living with them so I'll get free food and housing. I'll also get a very small stipend for gas, food, credit card bills, etc.
The CS degree might take me 3 years while the MSF degree is 1 to 1.5 years and I'll have to take out a 50k-100k loan for the MSF degree. I won't be working so I might lose 1.5 to 2 years of income if I do CS. The CS degree is more broad though. I can get tech and finance jobs while the finance degree can only get me finance jobs.
What do you think?
Hi ozilgoff, the silence is deafening, sorry about that.... Any of the threads below helpful?
Hope that helps.
Have you considered a one year post-undergrad general business program such as Fuqua MMS, Michigan Ross MiM, or LBS MiM? These programs require little to no experience and groom liberal arts and STEM undergrads to land finance and other business related roles. You could then work for a few years and get an MBA.
Here's an article that one of my colleagues at Stratus Admissions Counseling wrote regarding MFE versus MBA. MSF may be slightly different but you should be considering many of the same things as you decide. Take a good look at the roles those finishing the CS programs you are looking at are going into. If the positions don't put you on track to develop skills to ultimately end up in a finance role, this might be several years of heading in the wrong direction.
So hopefully this will be of some use to you coming about 4 months after your post: I'm on the cusp of breaking into the industry, and we have some similarities in background and pathway ideas.
I was a music performance major. Turned down Berklee for excess from a state school in a metro area, got a wrist injury, turned to markets (my second passion), and decided to make finance my next career prospect.
It has been a severely uphill battle as I was a "target" in performance, but pondscum in finance. I had no idea how insane the stuck up bs was in the industry about name and such. I came from something actually perfomance based, so I was very naive. Keep this in mind when evaluating programs.
I was basically done with undergrad, so I had to act fast; I tested out of prereqs to squeeze in a finance minor and applied for a local MSF program(top 15 TFE Times, I don't think that means anything at all though). I topped the undergrad classes and started the MSF this Fall.
Between programs I got an internship at a very small business valuation shop. It was mostly droll, but it was relatively technical, and I got some good experience.
I received a rude awakening starting the MSF. I expected the recruiting/placement to be significantly better, but certainly nothing like a target. Their undergrad always placed a few at BB, and the school seemed very connected locally(in the heart of our financial center). I apparently expected way too much, because I expected more than zero. I came into the program knowing time was scarce for summer internship recruiting, but the program worked against me. MSF's are short, so this was not good.
I'm on the cusp of securing a good buy-side internship thanks to me networking a ton, not my MSF. After I finish the program in December, I plan to start a CS Masters with a more reputable school while working FT. I want to be in the hedge fund space, so this seems very practical given my background and aspirations.
I just wrote a ton about myself to hopefully give some between the lines ideas of what to look for and think about. I'd suggest answering the following questions, at least to yourself: I've seen lots of Liberal Arts people "give up" and decide Finance or Accounting is the thing to do. They sucked at their craft and they suck at Finance because they lacked passion in both. Do you really want to be in this industry? What are the areas that in the industry that interest you the most? Go deeper and understand why. For me, CF is a death sentence. I care about markets, not your payables. I'm perfectly fine with doing valuation models though. ML is fascinating to me. I think market microstructure is really interesting. I like those things, but I more importantly like using my understanding of them to take and manage risk. That's what I want. Understand what will and won't make you happy. Are you willing to accept that you are currently at a major disadvantage and will have to bust your ass to *maybe get a shot interviews?
Other quick things in case they weren't obvious: Put the placement and connections of any program under a microscope. Teach yourself a lot regardless of your path; I didn't just waltz into MSF, and I'm not just waltzing in CS. The information is out there. Internships are crucial. After you build some chops on your own as mentioned above, let the world know that you want to break in. Network hard.
Dude, having parents to fund a CS degree plus some living costs IS your current opportunity. It's not sexy, but it's a chance for you to bust your ass without a negative carry and position yourself well. You could change a ton in that time. I took my first finance class 1.5 years ago, and in about a year, I may very well have the FT buy-side HY gig I want while starting a CS degree. So while I would normally say that the degree you choose should depend more on the specific part of the industry you want, I'm gonna say do the one that gives the most opportunity to bust your ass on the side for the next couple years. Then, like me, start the other one haha.
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