I need some help deciding which graduate degree(s) to pursue. My background in a nutshell is:
Undergrad Finance, 4 years PWM, (squeeze CFA charter in here), 4 years various analytical roles with the last 2 of those doing financial modeling/vba/reporting for non-financial company.
I enjoy the coding side of my job and would like to develop that skill set further. My skills are limited to SQL/VBA but am interested in the new careers that are popping up such as data scientists and data engineers, but I want to be able to use my finance background still and possibly get a more rewarding role doing quant work or data analysis type roles for an investment firm.
The options that have presented themselves to me are:
Get MS in Analytics - heavy statistics and computer programming with business strategy in the mix
Get MS in financial engineering - not sure on this one. I wonder if the analytics combined with CFA essentially does the same thing but opens more doors outside of finance (I do want to stay in finance, just pointing out that possibility)?
Get dual MBA/Analytics degrees
Take online courses via coursera/udemy on programming
if you like coding who don’t you go for masters in financial engineering. These kind of questions are best suited for gmatclub.com where adcoms are present on site to answer your questions and go over the programs in detail with no my-opinion-fabricated-as-if-it-was-fact.
Not lot of schools offer financial engineering programs and I’ve heard almost all of them will place you in front office roles regardless of what you did prior to the program. But the barrier of entry to MFE programs are much higher than that of MBA programs.
I’ve checked out a few, but the only one I’m seriously considering applying to is Georgia Tech’s MS Analytics program because they offer their online version for $10k versus the on campus version which is $40k. Not super easy to get into but from looking at their admission stats, I shouldn’t have a problem. If I don’t get in to school there, I may wait till I change employers and find a company that will pay for my school (considering there aren’t many that offer this low price).
