Is it possible to break into PE or HF with a FE degree later?

[deFEd]

Now that I have gotten an offer from Columbia MSFE, I need some realistic advice on career opportunities with a FE degree.

It seems that most FE degree holders land in risk management, S/T, various quant roles, or prop trading upon graduation. I realize that competition for quant role is fierce because of the fact that FE degree holders have to compete with Ph.D. students from stat/math/physics/etc. I am not sure if I will find quant roles attractive yet, so my current short-term goal is to land in risk management or quant roles upon graduation.

My ultimate goal is to either break into PE/HF or work in field of asset management. The latter seems plausible according to what I have heard from current MSFE students, but I am not sure if former is possible. I have read numerous posts on Mergers and Inquisitions and Wall Street Oasis that MBA is the best way to break into PE or HF. However, I have zero work experience in financial industry and did not want to wait for another three four years to prepare for MBA admission. Also, the fact that I love math (at least for now ) and more expensive tuition fee were other factors for opting out for a FE degree.

How realistic are my ultimage goals? Could somebody rank three options (PE/HF/AM) from likely to achieve to unlikely to achieve given that I will have a FE degree from one of the top schools? Also, which role would be most ideal to land upon graduation? Will experience in quant or risk management help me achieve my long-term goal? If you could provide details on which first job at what kind of institution would help me the most, I will truly appreciate it (ie. quant role at hedge fund, risk management at bank).

FYI, I have passed CFA Level 1 already and I am willing to commit myself to clear other two exams if needed.

Thank you so much for your input.

 

[ygmwy]

CFA not important. More important will be what you learn in summer and in Fall. Master those courses, and you'll be ready for any interview. As for plausibility of those career goals, I would say that Columbia definitely has what you want, but it depends on the person. I had no prior finance experience, and I got an offer from giagantic PE firm as well as asset management firm in quant roles. Some are more lucky than me. Some are less. It depends on you, how you sell yourself, and what these firms need. Many of them are looking for programmers for example. If your resume has good programming experience on it, you will be a hot commodity.

 

[palindrome]

You say you want to work at a PE/HF, but what exactly do you want to do there? You're not interested in quant roles, yet you're going into a quant program.

I don't know what your perception is, but most hedge funds aren't run by super quant geniuses. They're run by smart people who look at SEC filings, who keep close tabs/relationships with C-level execs of certain companies, and use standard excel functions.

Most shops are bottom-up, value investing firms, which is why you would go through an MBA...such as the MBA at Columbia, which has a specific Value Investing track (begins in 2nd year, and you have to apply to it during 1st year).

Most PE/HF shops, when looking for research analysts, poach analysts/associates from IB/M&A groups at banks. Firms want new hires to be familiar with how to model a company -- ie, breaking down each component of the BS/IS -- as well as understanding the investment due-diligence process.

Columbia allows cross registration into some B-school courses, although it's fairly restrictive, and you may have further restrictions from your program.

CFA: No one really cares unless you get passed L2.

 

[deFEd]

Thank you for your response ygmwy. Your comment aligns with what current MSFE students at Columbia told me. I will PM you additional questions I have in the future.

 

[deFEd]

Thank you so much palindrome, your input is truly appreciated.

You say you want to work at a PE/HF, but what exactly do you want to do there? You're not interested in quant roles, yet you're going into a quant program.

I am interested in risk management for sure, which is why I applied for various FE programs. As of now, I am just not sure if I will be a better fit for various quant roles (since quant roles vary by position/institution) or risk management roles. By breaking into PE/HF, I want to evaluate different investment opportunities and generate revenue stream by winning appropriate deals.

I don't know what your perception is, but most hedge funds aren't run by super quant geniuses. They're run by smart people who look at SEC filings, who keep close tabs/relationships with C-level execs of certain companies, and use standard excel functions.

Most shops are bottom-up, value investing firms, which is why you would go through an MBA...such as the MBA at Columbia, which has a specific Value Investing track (begins in 2nd year, and you have to apply to it during 1st year).

I am aware of this, which seems very interesting for the time being. As I mentioned in the original post, if I were to pursue MBA, I would delay my career in financial industry by at least five more years, which is not something I want to do. Since I know that I enjoy risk management, I was hoping to leverage that knowledge or something else I have learned in FE to reach my ultimate goal.

I realize that most people who break into PE/HF are from IBD analysts or associates, typically an undergrad from target school or a MBA graduate. According to information I have gathered (please correct me if I am wrong), PE/HF are harder to break into the longer you work for IBD. I know going to an MBA is most logical way to reach my ultimate goal, but I wanted to utilize my previous engineering degree to some extent. Given this scenario, I wanted deeper insights from graduates of various FE programs to gauge if my goals are realistic or not.

 

[IntoDarkness]

op ur so confused...

 

[Fer Carranza]

It really depends on what you want to do. I don't think that's very clear from your responses. Do you want to work for a quant fund and you enjoy programming? Or you'd like to pick stocks based on information you gather, looking at fundamentals, etc? (To put it in basic terms).
Depending on what you really want to do, you'd either do the MFE or an MBA.
MBAs want work experience, it doesn't have to be necessarily finance-related because an MBA is not a Master's Degree for a finance role in the first place. I have a friend who played football for the CFL for 5 years and is now doing an MBA, I know someone who had a bar and is now doing an MBA.

 

[deFEd]

op ur so confused...

Very true indeed. I have sent you a message. Could you please check?

 

[deFEd]

It really depends on what you want to do. I don't think that's very clear from your responses. Do you want to work for a quant fund and you enjoy programming? Or you'd like to pick stocks based on information you gather, looking at fundamentals, etc? (To put it in basic terms).
Depending on what you really want to do, you'd either do the MFE or an MBA.
MBAs want work experience, it doesn't have to be necessarily finance-related because an MBA is not a Master's Degree for a finance role in the first place. I have a friend who played football for the CFL for 5 years and is now doing an MBA, I know someone who had a bar and is now doing an MBA.

I see your point. I am not clear on long-term directions beacuse I enjoy both. I feel that having technical skills (programming/quantitative) is a great niche, hence I want to start my career in a role that grows my technical skills. At the same time, I do not want to do technical work for rest of my life.

To me, what I can do in long-term matters most as opposed to becoming a millionaire by mid 30's and retire ASAP. I want to work as long as I can in a field that I really enjoy (kinda cliche). I see graduates of FE going into risk management, S/T, HF trading (rare), and various quant roles, but never saw a post discussing where they were 5 or 10 years down the road (Maybe the information is too sensitive, I am not sure). I started this thread to see what kind of opportunities FE provides in long-term. I hope this made more sense than the initial post.

 

[Cornholio]

It's not unheard of that people go into M&A (gateway to PE and fundamental HF/AM jobs) after doing an MFE, though definitely not the norm.

I see your point. I am not clear on long-term directions beacuse I enjoy both. I feel that having technical skills (programming/quantitative) is a great niche, hence I want to start my career in a role that grows my technical skills. At the same time, I do not want to do technical work for rest of my life.

To me, what I can do in long-term matters most as opposed to becoming a millionaire by mid 30's and retire ASAP. I want to work as long as I can in a field that I really enjoy (kinda cliche). I see graduates of FE going into risk management, S/T, HF trading (rare), and various quant roles, but never saw a post discussing where they were 5 or 10 years down the road (Maybe the information is too sensitive, I am not sure). I started this thread to see what kind of opportunities FE provides in long-term. I hope this made more sense than the initial post.

If you would like to know what MFE students do 5 years down the line, try using Linkedin to find people from here:

http://iafe.org/html/documents/FullTimeResumeBook.pdf

 

[deFEd]

It's not unheard of that people go into M&A (gateway to PE and fundamental HF/AM jobs) after doing an MFE, though definitely not the norm.



If you would like to know what MFE students do 5 years down the line, try using Linkedin to find people from here:

http://iafe.org/html/documents/FullTimeResumeBook.pdf

Wow this is a great resource. This will help me iron out a lot of questions I have. Thanks you!