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Hello all,

This is my first post so I feel an introduction is due. I'm going to be a senior in a large state school (good SEC school if you really need to know). I started out rough in college, but have had a strong upward trend. Going into my penultimate semester, I have a 3.2 overall and 3.37 major GPA. I understand that's not stellar, but I've been trending upwards sharply and vigorously preparing for the GMAT to bolster my app. I expect to break 700 based on practice tests-I know, dont count chickens etc... I also think I should mention I'm a non-traditional student in a sense.I entered college with over a years worth of credits, and decided to complete my undergrad economics degree in only 3 years, with a minor in Spanish. The msf option was a major factor in this decision. My parents always told my brother and me that we had four years on their dime (I know how incredibly lucky I am to be blessed with them), attempting to preclude us from taking a "victory lap" for a fifth year. I did some research, figured out I could finish in 3, and get a masters (in finance) the 4th. My parents cleared it and I've been working towards the goal ever since freshman year by taking full loads and summer classes to accomplish it. (I'm going into senior year, but I'm currently 19, turning 20 this month, but I'll be 20 when I graduate). The reason I want the extra degree is to open doors to entry level finance jobs that I couldn't get with just an undergrad degree. I have one internship experience, but it was kind of random in an unrelated industry. My dream job after masters is IB analyst at a solid firm.

I've done as much research as I feel I can gather on my own at this point. I'll start out with what I found, the ask some questions to fill in the gaps.

There seem to be only one or two handfuls of reputable, one year, non-engineering based programs open to recent graduates without work experience. Villanova, Vandy, Tulane, Princeton, Wustl, Florida, Rochester, and Purdue seem to stand out more than others in the U.S. with some new programs like Claremont McKenna. That's basically my short list, minus Purdue and Florida, probably shouldn't be fooling myself with Princeton either, but hey, I'm a dreamer.

I'll share my perceptions now, and ask a couple questions to fill in the blanks.

My questions about the schools are as follow, if you have any information specific to any of the schools I mentioned, I would love to hear from you.
 In no particular order:

1. Faculty- How important is it to a program? Will studying under super professor X at school Y translate into any meaningful results when looking for a job? Additionally, if you know of any rock star profs at any of the schools, now is the time to share.

2. Student life- Just want to know general living conditions at the schools. Are Tulane, Vandy, Nova CM (Princeton) fun schools to go to/places to live?

3. Career prospects- Looking for as much info as I can get my hands on here. Anything. Where do typical graduates end up? Average Starting salary? Industry? Division? Does one company or another have a heavy recruiting presence on campus? How's the placement on Wall st? Whatever you know about anything. You are more than welcome to PM me if you have some insider info you don't feel like sharing out here.

4. What else? any little peccadilloes you can think of that might be interesting.

I'm really interested in whatever you know about Claremont McKenna program. It seems young but I've always had great respect for their consortium, and the location is hard to beat (weatherwise).

If anyone has any additional info on some schools abroad, namely IE, Carlos III, LSE, ESADE, EDHEC, RSM erasmus, St Gallen, Bocconi, cass, imperial, and amsterdam b school. Casting a wide net I guess you could say. Any more general information on these programs, as info is harder to come by on a lot of these.

Well I guess I should say thanks for entertaining this post. Sorry if there's some repeated info, but I'm looking for some more current information.

Quantish2B · Answer

Por Favor?

evanstripp · Answer

First, just to clarify your career goals, you ultimately want to work in an IBD at a BB on Wall Street, correct? If so, this is going to be fairly difficult (but not completely impossible) even with an MSF. Your GPA and lack of work experience are really going to be large obstacles that you will have to overcome. With that said, you might want to position yourself regionally.

Most of this information you have requested can be found on the school's website, or by contacting someone in the department. But I will take a crack and make some generalizations.

1) Faculty - Of course, faculty at a school is important; having professors with a lot experience in the industry can open up doors for you. Your professors can help expand your network. Assistantship ability within a program is definitely a plus.

2) Tulane = New Orleans, Vandy = Nashville, Nova = Philly. All big cities/lots to do.

3) For placement information, its probably best to contact the schools directly.

4) With your stats, you should probably focus on Nova, Vandy, Tulane, WUSTL and Claremont McKenna. Some of these schools might be a stretch, but if you can explain your GPA and get a 700+ on the GMAT you will be competitive. In all honesty, Princeton is out of the question.

Only if you want to work abroad should you look at schools abroad. LSE and Imperial have a GPA cutoff at 3.5.

Hope this helps a little bit. I probably can provide a more detailed response a little later.

MJ2009 · Answer

Hello all,
 I have answered some similar questions and some general ones before.. have a search on the forum and you might find some useful discussions about MSF (I was very keen on doing a MSF and was planning it in 2007-08). The key point is that there are 2 kinds of Masters in Finance (basic finance masters vs Financial Engineering) Some schools name it on the front as MFE, some don't, read Princeton. You have to do your research here and decide which Masters you want to do... Posts about the difference and focus are available, search them

1. Faculty- How important is it to a program? Will studying under super professor X at school Y translate into any meaningful results when looking for a job? Additionally, if you know of any rock star profs at any of the schools, now is the time to share. 
 Schools and programs matter more than anything...If you want to break in to traditional IB (M&A, DCM, ECM etc)-- u will do so at an Analyst level, recruiters at that stage don't care, infact DON'T KNOW much about super professor X at school Y. This important from research perspective and Masters degrees focused on that quite different. For MFE's this might matter but even then... school names and in some cases program names matter more.

3. Career prospects-  Again major difference is between MFE vs. MSF... hell of a difference in career prospects/path/trajectory.. u need to do your research and then decide which is what you want to do and onluy then should u or more rightly will be able to compare career paths from different schools.
Hope that helps

quote]

Quantish2B · Answer

Thanks evanstripp.

I'm still just going into senior year, my third year, so bringing GPA up is still a possibility. I did so by .2 last semester. 
On that note, to what extent will undergrad grades matter in recruiting (both in financial sector and b-school later on) after the msf? I mean if I get a 4.0 at master's will a 3.4 undergrad still haunt me?

Now that we have established that strength of faculty is an important factor, of the schools you mentioned I should target, which do you feel stands out above the rest in that regard?

I also wanted to ask about school location. Would going to Nova be a significantly better decision given proximity to NYC and the networking potentials, despite the higher reputation of say Vandy, or would it really be just setting myself up for working in philly?
 
Additonally, if anyone has any info on the quantitative finance program at fordham, as well as the more general one at MIT, I would be very thankful. The placements are impressive and the locations are hard to beat.

As far as programs abroad, does anyone know much about Cass? I've also been looking for forums that deal more with european msf programs, can anyone point me in the right direction?

And since it seemed to work last time,

Please?

Thanks everyone

evanstripp · Answer

The GPA will not haunt you. But, remember that BB recruiting takes place during the fall. Therefore, unless the program begins in the summer, you will not have a GPA for your masters program when it comes time to apply for these positions (I think most business school programs require at least three courses before you list your GPA on your resume).

MIT is a fairly new program. They have limited information on the placements of the program. It is also quite expensive; around 100K for tuition and expenses. However, the MIT brand name is incredible.

Cass places decently in the City. The location in the City certainly helps Cass when it comes to recruiting. Probably not on the same level as the LSE, Warwick, or Imperial, but respected in its own right. For more information on the European programs, you might want to look at TSR (the student room forum).

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