MSF!

[Philopsher]

Hi guys,

First of wanted to say great job on the site. Although, not specifically an MSF site, great insight available. I also wanted to share I found this other site for MSF if you havent heard about it: Masters in Finance HQ - its awesome and has helped significantly.

So I wanted to share that I intend to apply for the MSF for entry in the fall of 2011. My choices are:

Bentley
Villanova
Hofstra
Duke (the MMS)
Vanderbilt
Claremont McKenna
UIUC
WUSTL (Olin)
Fordham

Probably a good idea if I passed on some info on my profile. I graduated in Politics from a top 20 UK university with a GPA of 3.6. I would like to ideally work in the USA, preferably in NYC, Chicago, Boston but am open to other areas (California, Texas, etc). I have done a lot of research in the past month and narrowed it down to the above.

What I was wondering was:

1) Have I potentially missed any top programs out?
2) GRE or GMAT? From what I found the GMAT may be phased out soon, but many of the websites seem to encourage taking the GMAT.
3) Financial Aid?
4) What is the best way to prepare for the GRE or GMAT? Is it a worthy investment to participate in online classes or just study from various books? What has worked best for someone?

Thanks!!

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Welcome to Quantnet,
@Anthony DeAngelis is owner of the site you linked (MSFHQ) and a member here. I'll let him answer your question as it's more to his niche.

 

[MSFHQ]

UIUC is going to be best if you want to work in Chicago. DePaul is out there also so you might want to check them out.

Claremont McKenna is your main Cali choice. Hit up Kevin Arnold there for more info.

Vanderbilt is a great program and places well in a variety of fields. They have a lot of southern placement so make sure you are ok with working in the south if that happens. They also have a T30 MBA program and you can transfer some classes into that if you end up staying in the area.

WUSTL is a great school with another T30 MBA program. A friend of mine goes there and says that recruiting is no too focused on NYC. Decent firms and good placements. It is a great program IMO.

Boston wise, I would add BC to your list. Bentley is a good school and is well represented in the city. I think BC might give you more of a NYC exposure. I am meeting with some BC reps in a couple weeks and can shed more light.

From what I know Fordham doesn't have an MSF program. Hofstra does and I just put a post up about it. The campus is on LI and I would imagine there are a lot of people going to work in NYC. Here is my issue with recommending it right now. The program doesn't have a cohort and I think that really hurts things. There are about 200 people getting their MSF, some PT, some FT, some with no exp and some with a lot. Just feels like there is no concrete direction.

Villanova places equally well in NYC and Philadelphia. If you aren't cool with working in Philly I would pass. A lot of MM banks come on campus for FO recruiting. You can get in BB recruiting with a little networking. I am a recent graduate of the program and am working very hard with the graduate office to improve and step the program up. The website is being updated to reflect a more career placement focus and once this cohort graduates we will have over 100 MSF alumni.


Now here is a slight problem. You have a Philosophy degree. You might need to brush up on the stats, calc, econometrics, etc. Most of the programs I mentioned above are filled with mainly finance undergrads. By having a unified cohort they can really skip the beginner stuff and go right into graduate level finance. I am sure all programs have admitted non finance UG's, but you need to have the prereq math skills. If you have them then consider this warning not applicable.

Duke's MMS is interesting. It might be a good fit for you if you do not have the math skills for the MSF. Duke just updated their website and by the time you apply it will be filling slots for the 3rd cohort. Placements are diverse, really reflecting the diverse background of their students. You can absolutely get into banking from this program, but you might be one of the only kids going for this. In a MSF program most everyone wants to do something finance related. You need to decide if you want to be in a program with a diverse bunch of careers or something more focused. The MMS is going to be "MBA-lite" so if you want something more quant you might not want the MMS. With that said, the Duke name is great and Fuqua will get you far.


Anything else feel free to PM me or post here.


Anthony