International student trying to break into high finance and live/work preferably in the US, UK as 2nd option. Luckily have the resources to do this. Basically the title. I'm feeling a bit lost right now and at a crossroads in terms of what to do. For an international student trying to break into high finance, what would be better?
- A target MFin in the US (Vanderbilt, Yale asset management, Columbia, UT Austin, even MIT/Princeton tho very hard to get into) and then trying to work on OPT for 1+2 years and hopefully get the H1B in that time, or
- A target MFin in the UK (LBS, LSE, Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, etc.), working in the UK for some years, and then doing a US MBA after a few years of working in the UK?
I just learned you only get OPT once per degree level (MFin and MBA are same degree level)
I have heard conflicting things and don't know what to do. Some say MBAs are better in the US than MFins are, but I've also heard the value of an MBA's been decreasing. Sometimes I think I should go for MFin in the UK, and then do an MBA in the US some years later to try to end up in the US.
Right now I'm just really unsure and have a lot of big decisions to make that are stressing me out. I'm trying to balance both my country goals (US) with also my career goals (high finance)...I don't know what to do anymore.
(Context: 22 y/o, 1 2023 summer internship as credit analyst intern at CLO manager in east coast, graduating in May/December 2025, doing MFin probably 2026-2027)