Life After MFE?

[thatsku]

First time poster, long time lurker...

I got an admit to Umich's MFE program but deferred it til next year. I've been reading posts here and also on global-derivatives; and I realized that I don't have a good understanding as to the career paths/options available to MFE grads. I've tried reaching Umich MFE grads, and the few that I've reached had no work experience and consequently didn't seem to have commanding knowledge of the industry.

To be specific, it seems that people tend to look for jobs in banks structuring credit or doing risk management (at least that seems to be the case) while no one speaks of hedge funds, roles in arbitrage, quantitative equity research/trading, commodities derivaties.... etc. (MFE need not apply to the listed?)

Anyway, any comments would help, as I'm rethinking about going to Umich.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

You only have a small sample space to work with. Also, what you hear from UMich grads may have something to do with their location. I really can't say.
Take a look at the job profiles of the recent graduates from many NYC programs. Here is one Baruch - Quantnet Wiki
My experience has been that MFE grads end up in a wide range of firms and positions. Around 2006-2007, many people end up in structured finance as it was hot at the time.
People typically ended up in rating agencies (Moody, SP, Fitchs) due to the high demand for people who can rate deals. Many people also ended up in credit hedge funds that specialize in CDO. Many IB also hire MFE to work in their structured products depts.
Now, the type of jobs I see is more traditional such as prop trading, equity derivatives research, quantitative modeling, risk management.
And more MFE grads end up in IBs than hedge funds compared to before.

That's the picture I see coming out of the Baruch MFE program. The picture at UMich or other programs may be different.
As for a good guide to read, I strongly suggest that you check out this book The Complete Guide to Capital markets for Quantitative Professionals which you can find in Master reading list for MFE - QuantNetwork - Financial Engineering Forum

 

[thatsku]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the reply. I'm looking to be in a hedge fund by the time I'm done with the Umich... a MFE definately looks to be the right course.

As specific to the umich mfe... it doesn't seem like people talk about it too much. I did a search for 'umich' and 'michigan' but didn't find too many threads; luckily it wasn't discussed much in the 'Formerly "Second-rate (and worse) MFE programs' thread.

How does the program stack up? Tier 1, Tier 2? Or not even worth mentioning? I applied as the ross business school and the umich engineering school are highly ranked.

I obtained a pdf from Umich containing salary info of recent MFE grads (latest set of alumni graduated Fall 2007). Again, the data set is very small (five for the latest group of alumni, 25 replies total), so reliability of the pdf is a bit sketchy. Median salary for the Fall 2007 alumni was about $89,000, with the lowest earning $60,000 (but apparently that person is working in asia).

 

[Andy Nguyen]

You refer to this pdf?
QuantNetwork - Financial Engineering Forum - View Single Post - DISCUSSION on MFE programs (Formerly "Second-rate (and worse) MFE programs)

If you have a newer version, update it there.
As for UMich not being discussed here, remember Quantnet is a NYC community. As for how it's ranked, I don't pay much attention nor I care too. People will have their own perception of the program. Any program.

 

[thatsku]

That's exactly the pdf I'm talking about (except I had to request my copy from Umich).

As for the lack of program ranking, I understand that the GD 03-04 ranking is out of date to say the least.