Help me make a decision: UCLA MFE / Babson / JHU Carey / UCSD / UCI

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crazypiano

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Hi folks,

I am graduating this year with a Sloan Fellows MBA (Its a 1 year accelerated, full time MBA for senior execs). I have worked for 14 years (in my mid-30s now) in tech & mgmt consulting at Director level. I want to make a career transition to IB / PE / VC but if that's not possible then to FinTech roles in Tech or Finance firms. I felt I needed a deeper finance education as a lack of formal finance training (I have a BS in Computer Science) always proved to be a hindrance whenever I have tried a career switch. I am an international student and tbh the STEM certification of the Finance programs is also a draw for me for Visa reasons.

I have been admitted to UCLA MFE Program (without any scholarship), to Babson MFin with 15k and to Johns Hopkins Carey MFin with 70K Scholarship. I am virtually certain of being admitted into UCSD and UCI MFin but I don't know the scholarship amounts yet (most likely around 20-40K if I were to hazard a guess).

[I have been dinged by Columbia & USC, got discouraged and did not compete my application for Princeton]

I understand people might have varying opinions on the benefits of doing a finance masters after a MBA, but my question here is in terms of quality of program, placement opportunities given my career goals and scholarship amounts, which one would you pick as the top choice among my options?

Thank you for your insight folks, I am very grateful for this community's views.

CrazyPiano
 
crazypiano said:
Hi folks,

I am graduating this year with a Sloan Fellows MBA (Its a 1 year accelerated, full time MBA for senior execs). I have worked for 14 years (in my mid-30s now) in tech & mgmt consulting at Director level. I want to make a career transition to IB / PE / VC but if that's not possible then to FinTech roles in Tech or Finance firms. I felt I needed a deeper finance education as a lack of formal finance training (I have a BS in Computer Science) always proved to be a hindrance whenever I have tried a career switch. I am an international student and tbh the STEM certification of the Finance programs is also a draw for me for Visa reasons.

I have been admitted to UCLA MFE Program (without any scholarship), to Babson MFin with 15k and to Johns Hopkins Carey MFin with 70K Scholarship. I am virtually certain of being admitted into UCSD and UCI MFin but I don't know the scholarship amounts yet (most likely around 20-40K if I were to hazard a guess).

[I have been dinged by Columbia & USC, got discouraged and did not compete my application for Princeton]

I understand people might have varying opinions on the benefits of doing a finance masters after a MBA, but my question here is in terms of quality of program, placement opportunities given my career goals and scholarship amounts, which one would you pick as the top choice among my options?

Thank you for your insight folks, I am very grateful for this community's views.

CrazyPiano
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I believe there are a few people on this forum who have the specific experiences you are looking for.... I would rather contact people on LinkedIn with similar profiles to what I am looking for ...
 
It’s not clear that the path you’ve outlined will help you with VC / PE / and dear lord, IB. IB is a pipeline heavy field where you kind of get in early, pop out after 2 yrs for MBA and then get back after it. Most MFE programs are heavy on derivative pricing, time series analysis, which isn’t hyper useful in a qualitative / deal based environment of VC / PE. MIT has hooks into a lot of asset management shops, but it’s not clear what kind of role you want / would be qualified for. Running money might be a stretch, which leaves you with program management / IT? Maybe check w AMG in Beverly or BRight Sphere in back bay for a strategy gig? Not one to discourage- just want to make sure you goal and your path are aligned. I would say none of those programs are intuitive feeders into VC/ PE. If you want fintech, maybe check w David Shrier and Sandy Pentland - not sure if their program is still at MIT, but worth a shot?

Just saw international part - Babson does a lot of entrepreneurship, and they have fairly good training through quant university. Again though, not sure this is direct path to PE/VC?
 
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