Masters in Finance @Oxford/Cambridge?

Water Cooler Careers
#1

Situation

  • Employer’s started offering interest free educational loan if I pursue MFin at either Oxford/Cambridge

  • I have a bachelors engineering degree, have passed Level 1 exam for CFA and FRM

  • Been doing well on the trading floor (3 yrs combined exp)

Question

  • Is a MFin worth it if I intend to complete a CFA anyway?

  • Is it worth taking a year out and paying GBP40k+living out of my pocket? It’s not just abt 40k, its 40k plus foregoing a year’s worth of bonus and base

#2

You already have a good quantitative background, so the added benefit of the MFin would most likely be the brand equity of the school where you complete it. So, if you already have a degree from OxBridge, another one probably won’t be additive in terms of “branding” on your resume.

#3

It’s not just abt 40k, its 40k plus foregoing a year’s worth of bonus and base, and it’s about everything you would learn that year and missed opportunities for promotion.

Nuts.

#4

I’m leaning towards your view as well(esp about giving up this year’s bonus) and I really don’t think this will teach me anything I either don’t already know or won’t learn on CFA programme. But,

  • Pretty much every trader’s job advert that I’ve seen at my competitors’ ask for a Masters degree - which makes me think, maybe I should get one. I just don’t understand why but goldman, deutsche, morgan stanley, require a masters to do what I do here.

  • The brand name: I don’t have a OxCam background and may go a long way in terms of building a network/reputation to go to one.

#5

Branding is the only thing and having spoken to traders(colleagues and competitors), I’m feeling that if I ever want to make the partners list then I have to go to Ox/Cam atleast once. I really don’t know of a single partner in the bank who hasn’t been to ox/cam or harvard/mit.

Now, I just need to decide whether PV of that is more than my what I’ll have to forego

#6

Is this one of those degrees that - four years later - automatically turns into a Ph.D.?

#7

Nope - sounds a bit funny though! How do you mean “turn into a PhD?”

Here’s the link for what I’m considering - http://www.cambridgemfin.com/

#8
#9

MSc programs are just money makers (for ox/cam) in what is really just a vanity degree. the content is likely to be little more advanced than CFA L1.

if you really want to do an MSc go with lse or cass. interest free offer is probably being covered by the uni, not your firm.

#10

Honestly, no degree is going to add value now - I know enough theory and what I don’t know, CFA’s gonna take care of it.

After giving it a lot of thought, I’ve concluded that going to grad school or potentially doing an mba down the line is just about networking and getting a heavy ass name on my CV. I’m thinking 20-30 years down the line…it could be useful to have shared a few pints with some big guns…

#11

OP- So what have you decided?

#12

Not doing for now.

#13

good choce

#14

^Cheers mate

However after L2 exam, I will try to find a decent distance learning degree in maths so I can fill the knowledge gaps necessary to do some heavy lifting quant work.

When markets are quiet, focus is on improving models, etc and that’s when I often find myself in situations where I think “…this calculus is way too complex for me…”.