I think it's wrong to model any education simply in terms of returns, frankly if you have done an MFE and still think that way, you've wasted your time and money.
Education buys you a bunch of options, so the first term we need to add is risk, education gives you more options when the fan is hit, or if the job you are in is not really what you want. That leads into personal preference, since the right job varies across people. A bit of banking operations that doesn't get much attention is actually exercising options and settling trades and again there is a nice analogy that if you don't exercise the option it has zero value, regardless of whether it is in the money or not. That expresses itself as the need to get a job, not just wait for the careers office at your school to place you, or waiting for a headhunter to call. Even if they do, they will find the roles they think are right for you that they happen to have, it's really very unlikely that this is the best option for you at any given point.
Also options have most value when vol is high, which I think we can safely say is where we are now, but also one day, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years from now it will be worse, if not for the market in general, for you personally.
So bullion is right, you need to stand out from your competitors, even if you're top of your class at a good school because the best jobs are always highly competed for. Don't imagine for a second that the hiring process is highly efficient, you might be the best person for the job you want, but trust me as a headhunter when I say that doesn't mean you will get it.
Last week my son was in a poetry competition at school he seemed to believe that because he'd mastered the text that this was good enough, it's a knockout competition so I explained to him that by the time you reach the finals the crap people are eliminated and to win, you have to beat people that are good. Jobs are like that and small differences are more important.
Soft skills are critical, one of the very first posts I ever made on Quantnet was a way for you to improve them for free.
Take up with some charity and try to get people on the street to give you money, since you're MFEs do it in the local financial district. It's brutally honest feedback, you learn about eye contact, how to spot when people are listening to your pitch and how not to be embarrassed talking to strangers. You will fail sometimes of course, but not in a way that does you any lasting harm and you can try again and again.
