MBA vs. MS Finance Compendium

Many students have presented questions regarding an MS Finance degree as a substitute or stepping stone to an MBA. Now seems as good a time as any to address this important topic.

First, some broad generalities

1) Master of Finance degrees take less time than US-style MBA programs (Roughly 1 year for the MS Finance vs. 2 academic years for the MBA)

2) The Master of Finance degree will have much lower work experience requirements than a high cluster MBA program (many MS Finance programs have no work requirement at all)

3) The Master of Finance will place far less emphasis on leadership or leadership potential than the typical "high cluster" MBA

4) The Master of Finance will tend to be far more specialized than even MBA programs that allow students to develop a "track" or "specialization"

5) Quantiative skillls are even more highly prized in Masters of Finance programs than in the typical MBA program

6) It is generally more difficult to find comprehensive employment data for MS Finance graduates

Second, note that MSF programs come in many different "flavors." Here are some broad types of MS Finance programs

1) Mathematical Finance

"The program creates an integrated curriculum spanning four disciplines: economics, mathematics, econometrics/statistics and computational/numerical analysis." USC

2) Financial Engineering

"Financial Engineering is a multidisciplinary field that request familiarity with financial theory, the methods of engineering, the tools of mathematics and the practice of programming." Columbia

3) Comprehensive Finance

"Unlike mathematical or computational finance Master programs, we teach all of finance. This means for instance that we teach accounting, corporate finance, behavioral finance, etc., in addition to stochastic calculus, derivatives pricing, financial engineering, etc. We believe that our broad multidisciplinary approach to finance is an important advantage of our program, and that our placement record reflects it." Princeton

Third, universities have different administrative structures for running MS Fin programs. Here are some examples:

1) Finance programs sponsored by the Mathematics or Engineering department (e.g. University of Chicago and Columbia University)

2) The Hybrid programs that are shared between Mathematics/Engineerng and the Business School or Economics Department (e.g. University of Southern California)

3) The Finance program provided through the Business School or Department of Economics (e.g. University of California Berkeley)