Masters in Finance Program at the Princeton University

Question

Hi,

I am thinking of applying to the Masters in Finance program at the Princeton University. I already have an MBA from Rutgers University but I am trying to redirect my career path more towards portfolio management hence my desire to go back to school. 

I have an undergraduate degree in Accounting and about 6.5 year work experience in total and 4.5 on Wall Street. Do you think I stand a good chance of getting in... 

Also what are the other good programs out there

grazhoper · Answer

The website:

https://www.princeton.edu/%7Ebcf/master.htm

Now, normally a Masters in Finance (Financial Engineering, Mathematical Finance, Computational Finance...) is highly quantitative and the requirments for being accepted into such a program are almost completely different from those of an MBA.

After floating around the website (specifically the FAQ) you can find out that the program is highly specialized in general Finance:

"we teach accounting, corporate finance, behavioral finance, etc., in addition to stochastic calculus, derivatives pricing, financial engineering, etc. "

The program also does not place much weight on work experience as the average age is 24 with not even 2 years of work experience.

Now MBA programs generally love a candidate with strong quantitaive skills; when it comes to a Masters in Finance, they wont even look at you unless you score off the charts on quant sections of the GRE or GMAT (ie: Princton GRE Quant average is 790... near perfect). One of the more disheartening things about the Princton program is that they only accept about 11% of the applicants and the program takes 2 years (normally a MS in Fin, takes only 1 year).

If you want to be considered for a top Masters in Fin. program (like Princeton), I would first get perfect scores on the GMAT and GRE Quant sections and then to set yourself above the rest score greater than 800 (out of 990) on the Subject GRE Math Test... I mean 11% is a really freaking small number!

Hjort · Answer

Good summary but as I recall the MFin at Princeton can be completed in less than two years.

grazhoper · Answer

It can be done in less than 2 years yes.... but to complete the program in one year you have to meet with the program Director of Graduate Studies to determine on the basis of courses previously taken at Princton or other institution in order to determine which of the 16 required and elective courses will be waived. I did not want to highlight this because I doubt that most people would be in a situation to have courses waived. Princton is not very specific on which courses one would have to have previously taken in order to qualify for this track.

Aside from that fact, I would assume that those obtaining a Masters in Finance would want to complete a program to its fullest... not skimp on courses.

GMATnewb · Answer

MFin at Princeton can be done in 1 year if you feel ambitious--I'd recommend that if you want to save yourself some time and money.

bsd_lover · Answer

Hi Omeloi,

I am looking at this program as well. I wonder what your experience in pursuing this program was ?

I would also be interested in hearing from anyone else who has applied and their experiences.

regards,

Masters in Finance Program at the Princeton University

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