Should I do a masters?

[deadlion]

Hello,

I am currently an undergrad at a non-target school. I’ve got an offer for full time sell side M&A and am a finance, statistics, and data analytics student.

I need to pay off my undergrad and am leaning towards the M&A job, but would ideally like to end up in a quantitative field. I’m not opposed to doing ML/AI work either.

Is it worth it to do an MFE or MS Fin Math? Or even a MS in applied math at a top school if I could get in? I have a 3.6-3.7 GPA, so not sure if that’s possible.

I’ve seen a lot of hate on MFE programs for getting into quant. I’m not sure how much I’d get out of it either - I’ve done a few trading bot projects on my own and competitions and have taken many advanced stats and math courses as well as advanced finance courses. I’m not particularly interested in paying a lot just for the connections/brand, but I do want to work in a quantitative field because that’s what I really enjoy. I think an applied math / stats degree would really set me up long term with the best flexibility and knowledge base, but I don’t know if I want to be in debt more to do it.

Appreciate any advice.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I would advise that you take that first job, work a few years, pay off your student debt and reassess once you have a few of the kind of jobs you do and don't.
There are a lot of misconception about the quant job and many people interested in it due to the high compensation level. There are many interesting jobs in the industry and compensation level may not correlate well with interesting, satisfying career.
You are young enough and with a few years of experience, you will be in a better position to enter MFE programs if you still like to do so.