Options with MFE

[Edward_Moran]

Hey guys,

I plan on going for my MFE degree soon. I am interested and have spoken with places such as IIT, UCLA, and other schools with a decent MFE program.

I was wondering what kind of jobs I can get when I graduate with this degree. I would like to take my CFA, and go into analyzing for either an Investment bank or Hedge Fund of some sort, making my way up to be a PM or MD. I do not necessarily know if I would like to be a quant, but I would like to do something with an IB or HF.

If you could, please reply with some potential career paths I can take with a degree in MFE, I would truly appreciate it.

 

[aaronhotchner]

You're pretty much naming the entire spectrum as a possibility for yourself. Investment banking and asset management are what you would logically go into because they capture practically every suitable job. CFA is way more important for asset management than it is for investment banking. The best fit for MFE tends to be research, data analysis, etc.

My personal bias is toward statistical analysis for asset management. Hedge funds are currently scrambling to get good people for big data teams, which is something you might consider. I took the IT route and became a developer for a mutual fund. There's a huge pay premium for being multidisciplinary -- most programmers are blocked from the market because they don't know finance, and most finance grads are blocked because they don't know computer science.

You should talk to people in the industry and ask them about their jobs. Most people are happy to talk to students.