Quitting my job to do MSF at Illinois Tech?

[E O Wilson]

Hi, I was accepted into IIT's (Illinois Institute of Technology) Master of Science in Finance program, but I have no relevant industry work experience and my Bachelor's degree is in Chemistry. This is IIT's Masters program in Finance, and not Mathematical Finance, and I would plan on taking High Frequency Finance and Financial Programming as my concentrations. The problem is that I will be giving up my current career where in 3 years time I will be making 100k a year gross, plus about 30k in health insurance, pension, and other benefits. I am pretty exceptional at math and very strongly driven, but I have very little programming experience and even if I get a 4.0 GPA, I am skeptical of whether I would be able to secure a good job in HFT or front office roles.

Is it worth me quitting my 100k/year job to try to go into Finance? Or are front office jobs out of reach for people without a long pedigree of relevant achievement? Is it also the case for middle office and risk management jobs? and would a risk management job be worth quitting 100k for?

My reason for wanting to go into quant finance is that my job will cap off at around 100k, and I would consider it worthwhile to sacrifice it for a possible 200k+ salary, but I am wondering if I am just being swept up in the hype and am at risk of getting a college degree whose utility does not match the substantial price tag.

 

[Lyle_C]

Speaking from the perspective of someone who finished an MSF and looking to apply for an MFE, I highly doubt it will be worth it. Even though the IIT program has electives in HFT and Financial Programming, they are probably going to be dumbed-down version that accommodates students without good math backgrounds. You are not going to learn much and firms won't take your degree seriously. If you have some finance knowledge already, the core courses are probably going to feel like a waste of time (and money). If you just want to show people you know finance, you might as well just do a CFA, unless you just really hate your job and want an excuse to get out.
If you want to get into quant finance, you would be better off spending some time doing whatever is necessary to make yourself a good candidate for a good quant finance program.