MS in Finance 2013, USA- Job prospects? Which universities?

MS in Finance is for people who are more junior or who have 0-2 years work experience. It is a one year, concentrated, finance centered graduate degree. The MBA is more generalist, providing a comprehensive graduate education in business. It is for people with 3-5 years (or more) experience as one of the big learning aspects of the degree is being with other professionals who can share their experiences and lessons that they have learned.


Columbia - MS in Financial Economics(2 year)
UCLA - MS in Financial Engineering(1 year)
UT Austin - MS in Finance(1 year)
Boston University - MS in Mathematical Finance(1 year)
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign - MS in Finance(1 year)


IMO, if I were you, I would do the Columbia or UCLA program, with UT Austin being the 3rd choice and BU being the 4th. Quant careers tend to be more willing to sponsor and hire international students. Everyone wants to be a banker and you really don't need to sponsor someone to get qualified applicants. Plus the fact that you have an MBA already will most likely prejudice you in the eyes of the recruiters.


I also edit resumes and stuff like that. It is listed on my site. Frankly, if you cannot write coherently (and take no offense, your English is better than my Hindi) you will struggle in an investment banking role. I'd leverage your quant skills, get sponsored and in the country, work on improving your soft skills and then try and leverage into more traditional finance role if that is what you really want.