MFE with a Finance Degree

[Turking]

Hi everyone,

I'm interested taking the MFE route however I need advice coming from non-ideal background. I obtained a BS in Finance 3.8 GPA last year with minimal math courses and no coding courses. I pretty much need to fill all pre-reqs that MFE programs desire. I've been taking coding classes for the past year and work a job in Corp. Dev/ in-house M&A for a leading tech consultancy. My question is can I fill my pre-reqs with MOOC/ Udemy/ Coursera courses then take a MFE Pre-program course? Thank you!

 

[MLV]

That's pretty much what I did - major in finance then pursue a quant degree. You may not have the math background (which you can get on the side - just talk to a school's admission department about your options), but you have something that the vast majority of MFE candidates do not have: experience in finance.

You'd make a good candidate for a lot of schools, so go for it!

 

[Turking]

That's pretty much what I did - major in finance then pursue a quant degree. You may not have the math background (which you can get on the side - just talk to a school's admission department about your options), but you have something that the vast majority of MFE candidates do not have: experience in finance.

You'd make a good candidate for a lot of schools, so go for it!

Wow I was expecting to get roasted. Thanks! On the side do you mean MOOC or going back to school since the later will be quite expensive? Thanks again.

 

[Kurz]

I have been working as a research analyst and PM at an asset management firm for 6 years. completed my quantitative courses this year, and just got accepted into Cornell FE. Took me about 2 years to get all my prereqs as I stopped after calc in undergrad. Most of the programs specify that you MUST take the prereqs from an accredited institution though, Coursera, UDEMY, MOOC are good but according to the applications they don't replace the required courses.

 

[MLV]

Wow I was expecting to get roasted. Thanks! On the side do you mean MOOC or going back to school since the later will be quite expensive? Thanks again.

Not sure what each school will require, and I've been out of the loop for a while now. I would literally pick up the phone and have a conversation with the admission departments of my target schools and stop speculating on this forum.

When you speak to them, make sure to play up your CorpDev experience - universities have thousands of applicants that check all the math boxes but extremely few ones that know about finance per se, let alone M&A. If you can speak to the screening analysis that you do in your job pre-acquiring a business (key metrics, potential synergies, whatever you look at), M&A process and execution, and integration post-merger, I suspect a lot of universities will want to have you in their programs (especially if your company is highly reputable and acquisitive - don't be afraid to drop names of any deals you've announced). They'll probably be more lenient on formal requirements if they decide to make a push for you, or offer attractive scholarships to offset (to a degree) any costs that they'll make you incur to get said pre-reqs. Remember the whole admissions process is a two-way street - you have to be an attractive candidate, but they also have to be an attractive program for you (only then can they actually get solid candidates). Again, I was in a similar situation and something similar happened to me.

DM me if you have any other questions.