Need Help: MIT MFIN or work then MBA?

Brady4MVP:

brotherbear:

Here's what you do. You take the MFIN offer and you take the internship. You work over the summer, and try to get a full time offer. If you like what you're doing in your internship, and they make you a full-time offer to start immediately, do it. Otherwise, go to MIT. It's a great program, and this way, you'll have some work experience on your CV.

Even if you do get a full-time offer to start immediately, you should try to defer your MIT admission for a year or two. There is no assurance that you'll ever get in again. And this way, if things are going badly in a year, or you don't like what you're doing, or you need a master's degree to advance in your field (which is pretty much required in fixed income strategy), you have an easy out to a great program.

If you want to be a portfolio manager, an MFIN from MIT trumps an MBA from anywhere. MBA programs do not teach half as much finance theory as MIT's MFIN program.

I disagree with your last paragraph. Master's programs in finance tend to be heavily geared towards those who want to do trading, quant strategies, algorithmic trading, etc. For investment management, fundamental research, etc., an MBA from a top school (HBS/Wharton/Booth/Stanford/Columbia) goes further in terms of allowing one to break into the field. For example, at a place like wharton or booth, you will have access to most of the elite buyside firms through on-campus recruiting and company presentations.

You can learn fundamentals at MIT MFIN... Don't know much about Princeton MFIN though.