MSF or MFE

[Angela Zhao]

Hi, how are you doing. I am a college student in Finance major. I go to Universitiy of Oklahoma. I will graduate in December. I don't know how long American student usually spend on their bachelor degrees. However since my mother supported my tuitions and life in US so I only have three years to spend on college. Because of language and too many classess every semester, I didn't have any intern or engaging in any actities on campus.( Sorry if it sounds like an excuse ) Plus my GPA is 3.0 so that I lost a lot of chance of getting an intern( is it ture?)
I thought I was going to get another degree, master of Finance if I can't find a job before my OPT ends( visa problem, 12 months) because my father said he would support me of a master degree. But now I think MSF needs a lot of communication skills which needs perfect English which is hard for me so I think MFE might be a better choice. Also MFE could give me additional 17 months OPT for working in US.
I don't think I am good at math and programming, but I got A for calculus 1 &2 and VBA class in college. Does it mean I can handle an MFE degree?
I am not sure what's the finance industry like...Actually I am trying to know more about the career of Finance.
Thank you for reading too much words. I am too confused...Hopefully you could understand what I said and gave me some advice of MSF and MFE

 

[Zhenfeng Leung]

Only calculus is not enough for MFE.
IMO, calculus is more likely for high school students.
What other math courses have you taken?
You need to take more math courses and do some programming, especially object oriented programming.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

@Anthony DeAngelis wrote an article on this exact topic in our QuantNet Guide. It should give you more perspective on which degree is more appropriate for your career.

 

[Anthony DeAngelis]

Thanks Andy! Sounds like a lot of things flying around right now. IMO, you don't currently have the stats for an MFE and you wouldn't be a particularly strong candidate for many MSF programs. I believe Oklahoma State U has an MSF that would be close by and something to look into.

I would site for the GMAT and see how you do. That is going to drive your MSF competitiveness.

 

[Angela Zhao]

Thanks Andy! Sounds like a lot of things flying around right now. IMO, you don't currently have the stats for an MFE and you wouldn't be a particularly strong candidate for many MSF programs. I believe Oklahoma State U has an MSF that would be close by and something to look into.

I would site for the GMAT and see how you do. That is going to drive your MSF competitiveness.

Thank you for reading my questions very much. I got 650 GMAT. Actually I took one stat class which my major requires. It's like basic of stats so I don't know whether it counts or not. Is MFE program looking for candidate who took a lot of stats, programming and math? I would like to go other place close to coasts instead of Oklahoma. I really appreciate it if you can give me some suggestion about either MFE or MSF programs. Thank you so much.

p.s. I made a brief list of the classes that I took in college. I don't know which are more suitable for MFE so I will show many of them. Hopefully it would be helpful.
They are:
--Financial Data Modeling
--Elements of Stats
--Business Finance, Financial Intermed& Markets, investments, commercial banking, financial& energy risk MGT; Corporate Finance
--calculus 1&2,
--Principles of Econ-micro and macro; Intermed Micro
--Intermed Accounting 1&2

 

[Angela Zhao]

@Anthony DeAngelis wrote an article on this exact topic in our QuantNet Guide. It should give you more perspective on which degree is more appropriate for your career.

Thank you so much. It's so nice of you. I am finding the article.

 

[Angela Zhao]

Only calculus is not enough for MFE.
IMO, calculus is more likely for high school students.
What other math courses have you taken?
You need to take more math courses and do some programming, especially object oriented programming.

Thank you for being patient. Mmm...All the programming course I took is only VBA. I am finance major. Maybe I could take C++ or java which MIS major requires in our business college. Do you think it would be helpful toward MFE? Thank you so much.

 

[MelD]

If that's all the math you took in college, I'm pretty sure it is not enough for an MFE. You'll likely struggle a lot with the curriculum in an MFE.
If you have to chose between an MFE and an MSF, I'd say go for the MSF.
However your GPA and GMAT aren't amazing, you could maybe get some work experience first to make your profile better?

 

[Zhenfeng Leung]

Thank you for being patient. Mmm...All the programming course I took is only VBA. I am finance major. Maybe I could take C++ or java which MIS major requires in our business college. Do you think it would be helpful toward MFE? Thank you so much.

QuantNet offers an C++ online course designed for Financial Engineering, which is also a pre-MFE course of Baruch. I think it will be more than helpful for you toward MFE.

 

[PTN]

Thank you for being patient. Mmm...All the programming course I took is only VBA. I am finance major. Maybe I could take C++ or java which MIS major requires in our business college. Do you think it would be helpful toward MFE? Thank you so much.

Hi Angela Zhao,

You need to be certain on your ultimate career objective.

(a) Most MSF or CFA would lead you to investment/retail banking/ asset management (less quant role)/ insurance/consulting.

(b) MFE is a heavy quant role requires more than just single variable calculus.

(c) MSF/CFA suits you based on your first degree background.