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dentist vs finance

DesmondFargo

Joined
2/18/13
Messages
3
Points
11
Hey everyone,

I will be graduating from dental school next year and have been very interested in options, bonds, stocks, and technical analysis. My passion and dedication to investing has grown more and more. I would like to make a career change, or have finance as a large portion of my career, but unfortunately have no background in economics or finance. I have been reading many options books, live trading and was going to pursue an online degree in finance. I would appreciate your input in this career change and where to start exactly---in particular, what online masters in finance would be suitable for me, and if it would be useful to be working as a financial advisor/analyst and taking the CFA.
 
I have seen dentist changed to MBA. Maybe you can start think about some finance job in venture capital or private equity focusing on healthcare industry. But at least you need some general business training.
 
A medical doctor who graduates from a low-ranked school gets the privilege of working as a doctor.
An MBA or MFE who graduates from a low-ranked school gets the privilege of working as a waiter.
 
thank you everyone for your responses. and i am not doing it for the money, its just something that makes me happy. currently i am taking a masters in security analysis and portfolio management online from creighton. so hopefully that will scratch my finance itch. haha
 
Don't waste time and money getting online certificates or even passing CFA levels.

If you really want to break into finance, go to a well-respected school (think ivy or top ranked program) and get good contacts in the area where you would want to work. Financial Engineering positions might be a long reach. Not to mention that MFE is a very technical role, which you might not enjoy at all.

However, you might have an edge at a VC/PE firm as a partner or an associate. My VC company where I interned during my senior year in college would invest a lot in biotech. Of course, some of our top management people were graduates from Stanford and Johns Hopkins. My experience tells me that you really need that shiny stamp in your diploma, if you want to get into PE.

Finally, it is my understanding that you didn't go to a Dental School in the United States. Because if you did, you would have the following situation:

-- Dental schools don't (usually) give scholarships and they are expensive. Either you are rich, or you would have tons of loans. Thus, the only choice would be to work as a dentist to pay it off.

I have 4 college friends who ended up doing dental school at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (some of them work right now, some decided to specialize further). They already live a very comfortable life ($100K/year) but from my understanding once they open their own practices, they will trump most of the quants at Goldman (salarywise).

Takeaway-- go to a good school regardless of what you want to do. And don't do online certifications unless your program/job has asked you to do so.
 
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