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Hi all,
I'm currently deciding which Masters program to commit to. I graduated undergrad with a STEM degree and business/finance minor, and I want to transition into IB/Corporate Banking Analyst role, which is why I thought that a Masters program would be the best way for me to transition.
I currently have offers from UCLA's MFE, BC's MSF, and NYU Stern's Masters in Quantitative Finance. I am also waiting on USC's MSF admission decision as well.
I've read that MFE is not the best way to go if you want to land an analyst role in IB/Corporate banking, as it lends itself to more of a quant role in companies, which could be an option but isn't my top choice at the moment. However, I do know that UCLA's MFE is a top ranked program and it would definitely be a strong choice.
NYU's MSQF is an extremely new program, and it was co-founded last year along with NYU Shanghai, which is why I'm hesitant to commit despite it still being under Stern. I know that NYU Shanghai's reputation isn't really comparable to Stern's reputation in NYC. Furthermore, the program recently changed its schedule to starting the first 2 semesters in Shanghai, and coming back to NYC in February, which would mean that I would lose out on a lot of networking resources offered by Stern in NYC.
In terms of BC and USC's rankings and placements, each website has different rankings for every school but the main takeaway I got was that BC has stronger placement on East Coast and USC has stronger placement on the West Coast.
I'm really new to all of this stuff, since my undergrad was extremely STEM-oriented, so any advice or tips would really be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!
I'm currently deciding which Masters program to commit to. I graduated undergrad with a STEM degree and business/finance minor, and I want to transition into IB/Corporate Banking Analyst role, which is why I thought that a Masters program would be the best way for me to transition.
I currently have offers from UCLA's MFE, BC's MSF, and NYU Stern's Masters in Quantitative Finance. I am also waiting on USC's MSF admission decision as well.
I've read that MFE is not the best way to go if you want to land an analyst role in IB/Corporate banking, as it lends itself to more of a quant role in companies, which could be an option but isn't my top choice at the moment. However, I do know that UCLA's MFE is a top ranked program and it would definitely be a strong choice.
NYU's MSQF is an extremely new program, and it was co-founded last year along with NYU Shanghai, which is why I'm hesitant to commit despite it still being under Stern. I know that NYU Shanghai's reputation isn't really comparable to Stern's reputation in NYC. Furthermore, the program recently changed its schedule to starting the first 2 semesters in Shanghai, and coming back to NYC in February, which would mean that I would lose out on a lot of networking resources offered by Stern in NYC.
In terms of BC and USC's rankings and placements, each website has different rankings for every school but the main takeaway I got was that BC has stronger placement on East Coast and USC has stronger placement on the West Coast.
I'm really new to all of this stuff, since my undergrad was extremely STEM-oriented, so any advice or tips would really be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!
01 May 2020, 05:55
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The role you are targeting does not require a graduate education in finance. So either degree will essentially be unnecessary for your day to day role. That isn't to say that having further education will not be helpful, that you wont get some form of additional respect, that it wont help out later in your career, etc. But you will be competing with undergraduates mainly for analyst roles.
So, with that said, IB positions and to a lesser extent corporate banking, is a function of on campus recruiting and networking. Schools with more "prestige" have better recruiting. And schools that recruit more kids into banking have more alumni in banking.
All three schools have great on campus recruiting and alumni. UCLA and USC will place you primarily in West Coast banking jobs, which is fine if that is what you want. UCLA's MFE will obviously give you optionality in quant type roles, whereas USC will not. Some recruiters will question why they are interviewing someone with a financial engineering job for IB or Corporate Banking (probably more so for CB than IB), but it won't be that difficult to overcome.
NYU is NYU. I do agree with your assessment that the program is new and that might cause some trouble, but at the end of the day, you will be in Manhattan, going to NYU where every bank recruits and there are tons of alumni working in finance. Assuming you are less than enthused with the NYC program you can just not emphasis it when you meet with people. End of the day, youll be going to NYU with a technical degree. People will respect it.
Boston College has had an MSF for a long time. The school does well with recruiting as well. It is a respected university and program. If I was pressed, I would say it will have recruiting that is comparable to say UCLA, but not as good as NYU. Proximity sometimes means a lot. That being said, getting a job in IB or Corporate Banking isn't incredibly hard from these schools. Get yourself some interview prep materials, network appropriately and make sure you have a decent GPA. All the schools have good brands and finance placements. Just prepare and you'll do fine.
So, with that said, IB positions and to a lesser extent corporate banking, is a function of on campus recruiting and networking. Schools with more "prestige" have better recruiting. And schools that recruit more kids into banking have more alumni in banking.
All three schools have great on campus recruiting and alumni. UCLA and USC will place you primarily in West Coast banking jobs, which is fine if that is what you want. UCLA's MFE will obviously give you optionality in quant type roles, whereas USC will not. Some recruiters will question why they are interviewing someone with a financial engineering job for IB or Corporate Banking (probably more so for CB than IB), but it won't be that difficult to overcome.
NYU is NYU. I do agree with your assessment that the program is new and that might cause some trouble, but at the end of the day, you will be in Manhattan, going to NYU where every bank recruits and there are tons of alumni working in finance. Assuming you are less than enthused with the NYC program you can just not emphasis it when you meet with people. End of the day, youll be going to NYU with a technical degree. People will respect it.
Boston College has had an MSF for a long time. The school does well with recruiting as well. It is a respected university and program. If I was pressed, I would say it will have recruiting that is comparable to say UCLA, but not as good as NYU. Proximity sometimes means a lot. That being said, getting a job in IB or Corporate Banking isn't incredibly hard from these schools. Get yourself some interview prep materials, network appropriately and make sure you have a decent GPA. All the schools have good brands and finance placements. Just prepare and you'll do fine.
