Is the worth it to pursue a masters in FE given the current job market?

[MFEstudent]

Hi there,

People talk about how the job market for MFE graduates is getting better. But the placement statistics from top MFE programs doesn't seem very comforting. Long story short, I've been accepted by a masters program ranked as one of the top 3 by QuantNet and of course I was very excited to join the program in the fall and I believed that getting a masters was the right thing to do. This summer I'm doing a software engineering internship that has nothing to do with finance. When I first accepted the internship offer I thought it'd be a good chance to earn more programming experience. As time goes by, I started to love what I'm doing. Coworkers are nice and the pay is good. I think there's a very good chance that I'll be able to get a full time offer from my current employer. Of course they are aware that I'm going to grad school in the fall.

Princeton posted their 2013 placement. While claiming 100% placement rate, some of the positions taken are not in NY or Hong Kong or other financial hubs of the world. Since I also know someone from the program, their placement is not as good as before. Other programs such as CMU/Columbia/NYU also seemed to have trouble placing their students for summer internships based on my understanding.

Going to grad school is a really big investment to me and I'm not sure how I should do cost-benefit analysis here. Any insight would be appreciated!

 

[Canuck]

The fact is that if you don't love the subject or the field you're going to study, you shouldn't be considering doing a masters in that field.
In terms of competition you're going up against people who love the subject. While you're struggling to do the bare minimum since you don't enjoy it, they'll be eagerly putting in an extra couple hours of sto cal or reading extra papers.
They are the ones who will get the internships, not you.
Before doing any sort of "cost-benefit analysis" really ask yourself: Do I want to work in finance?
It is a cut-throat, exhausting and demanding industry, if you don't enjoy it then you will burn out and quit.

As time goes by, I started to love what I'm doing. Coworkers are nice and the pay is good. I think there's a very good chance that I'll be able to get a full time offer from my current employer. Of course they are aware that I'm going to grad school in the fall.

Then why not do a masters in software engineering?

 

[MRoss]

Before doing any sort of "cost-benefit analysis" really ask yourself: Do I want to work in finance?
It is a cut-throat, exhausting and demanding industry, if you don't enjoy it then you will burn out and quit.

Meh. Like any field in the world. If you want a low-medium end salary and are not motivated to move up in ranks or salary then it is not any more "cut-throat" then anything out there. No matter what field you work in your success will be driven by your determination and effort.

It is those who are enamored by finance and love what they do that push themselves the extra mile and as a result achieve great success.

As I have said in multiple other threads. Stop worrying. If you enjoy finance get an MFE. If not, don't. Job searching is not easy; just show that you are worth it and you will be just fine.

 

[Ken Abbott]

1) It's a buyers' market, as evidenced by the fact that the key marketing metric is placement
2) Some firms are reconsidering their recruiting strategies, having found that many MS students lack communication skills
3) The era of "particle finance" is over - regulation is restricting the propagation of complex products
4) Even hitherto unregulated or less-regulated areas are under much greater scrutiny. They are not necessarily "safe havens."

 

[shivgan joshi]

Which domain of software or programming?

I think you might be into Big data analytics / on SAS / or R etc related to marketing or predicticti?

I see that field is common as a 2nd option for financial engineerings.