Balance between MFE and MBA

[joseclar]

I have been going back and fourth in terms of grad options as evidenced by my positing history. I have started to look into actual MBA programs due mostly to contacts in the corp finance side.

My problem is that even the most well known dont seem to be even remotely quantitative, even in the finance area. They seem more like business programs, even less quantitative than undergrad finance or econ majors. NYU seemed to have a decent amount of asset pricing and valuation, but most of the others seems to be dominated by accounting and management courses, even in the finance concentrations.

Is a MS in finance a decent balance between these two? Would it typically provide a decent amount of the hard skills of a mfe and the soft skills of an mba?

Also have I just not found the proper MBA programs, are they more quantitative than what I have seen? If so which are some of the more quantitative ones?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

You may want to look at CMU which may have some MFE/MBA dual program. The existent of that dual program tells you there isn't any single degree that covers both spectrum.
You may overestimate what you will get out of an MBA program. It is not all that.

 

[doug reich]

NYU has a program in which you can get an MFE and MBA at the same time.

Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences NYU

 

[Ka Wai]

From what I remember, the NYU MBA program will allow you to complete up to 15 credits at other divisions of the school, including Courant. So, you should be able to take as many as 5 courses from their MFE program while finishing your MBA degree. However, that can happen only after you finish the core requirements, such as managing organizations, accounting etc...

 

[confusedguy]

Princeton MFin

Princeton Mfin might be the right balance that you are looking for. go for it.

Read an article on Finance programs compared with MFE posted on their website.

 

[bigbadwolf]

Is a MS in finance a decent balance between these two? Would it typically provide a decent amount of the hard skills of an MFE and the soft skills of an mba?

Also have I just not found the proper MBA programs, are they more quantitative than what I have seen? If so which are some of the more quantitative ones?

Specify to yourself what exactly "hard skills" and "quantitative" comprise and then you can answer your own question and start shopping around more discriminately. Make a list for hard skills, e.g., PDEs, stochastic calculus, portfolio management, linear programming, numerical analysis, C#, statistics, fixed-income math, and so on. I don't think there is any "balance," i.e. some sort of "quant lite": these hard areas have to be understood properly or not at all. Having said this, you will, however, find any number of bum MFE progams that are filled with fluff courses taught by idiots.

Postscript: There are many MBA programs that cover texts like Hull and cover some portfolio theory. Overlap to this extent exists.