Hello, I have been wondering what decision I should take concerning my next step in life. I lived in Ireland for 1 year and have been in the States for about 5 years now. I have an undergraduate degree (BSc) in Business Management emphasis in Finance and Economics. I took the CFA Level 1 exam this June 2015 and I failed. I have been working as a equity research intern in a small firm, but I have learned a lot. Where I need advice is: I could go to Trinity College Dublin to get my MSc Finance, while I prepare for the CFA Level 1. Or I could just prepare for the CFA Level 1 again. I really want to go to TCD but it is just too expensive, since I didn’t get a scholarship, lets say I would have to take 40K in loans. Why do I want to go to Trinity in the first place? Because I would like to work internationally, hopefully in Ireland, UK, South America or USA. TCD has a great reputation world-wide and I already got in. I am 24 years old and I don’t want to waste time. TCD (I believe) will give me the opportunity to find a good job and will help in networking, interview, job hunting settings. So I did the math and I would have to be making around 7K more each year to make the TCD deal profitable. (Lets say I find a job now with BSc and I make 50k, I would be aiming for 57K at least to make this interesting.) 1)I have no attachments here 2)I will need to get a loan 3)I would love to go to TCD 4)I will get lazy and I wont go to gradschool if I dont go to TCD 5)I don’t have a job and I can’t the job I want to! Thank you, TCDublin
Only reason to go to a MSC of finance program is for the recruiting opportunities that come with it. If you think you can get a much better offer after graduation then absolutely do it if not just stick with your current job if you can convert that into FT and try to lateral out later.
MSc in finance is faster!! and it’s taught so easier.
What’s a better qualification? ACCA, ACA or CFA?
CFP
But seriously, it depends on what line of work you are in/ want to be in.
Thank you all for your responses. But, what do you think would be a better path? Have you even heard of TCD before? I did when growing up a lot, because there was a famous professor -from my country -who went there for his PhD.
Do you think you could turn the ER Internship into a full time job? If so I would try that first, if you can’t get any sorta of full time job you want than you might as well try grad school for a second shoot. I’m curious, do you have a sense of how competitive the finance job market is in Ireland? That could obviously move you one way or the other.
Sadly, they are a very very small firm (4 full time employees), they love what I do, they just don’t have enough clients and the models are already in place. They hired me to create a DCF model, a Discounted Dividend model, and some other stuff. Now I am doing some research in the healthcare sector (mostly ETFs and MF) and my work is pretty much done. So FT job is not a possibility and they told me from the beggining pretty much. To be honest, I have talked to students, alumni and admissions - they all work in what they want, I dont know if they make money or not, but they all work as analysts, researchers, etc. Which is pretty nice. There is a more competitive university in dublin called UCD - Smurfit Business School. But that name is not well-known in South America or North America. My biggest concern is the 40k in studend loans I will need to take in order to finish the MSc and pay for rent. That 40k is without adding the money I could be making that year that I will be studying. I dont know if people will know TCD when/if I come back to the US. It is a CFA accredited, FRM accredited program though, which is nice.
Thanks again,
TCDublin
Cfa is useless without experience.so focuse on ur msc
Yeah from the sound of it you are not gonna be able to use this internship to spring into a full time position somewhere
also I had not heard of TCD before this, but if alumni are getting positions that’s the best indicator of succes coming out of it. Just make sure that the students your talking to are a representative sample, if you ask admissions about students they will direct you to the ones who got jobs, even if it’s a tiny percentage.
Have you looked at the historical placements of the program and average starting salary? To me that’s the most telling things about how effect a program is at placing its students.
(MBA + CFA) is best (better than PhD-Finance in my opinion)
Hey man,
I went to Trinity College Dublin for the MSc. in Finance program and wrote level 1 after that.
I am a Canadian who decided to go there after debating MBA’s in Canada. I went to Ireland for the opportunity to travel as much as for the Finance education.
I graduated in Nov 13’ from the MSc in Finance and came back to Canada and it was tough finding a job. Found something in Risk and now I am moving on to Family office equity research. I am positive that Trinity had nothing to do with me getting either of these jobs.
Also, the CFA accredidation and FRM accredidation really doesn’t mean anything all these Jr. MSc Finance programs teach the same stuff.
Feel free to shoot me a message if you would like to know more.
Hogwash. The CFP is a walk in the park, a no-brainer.
I think it depends on what you want to do. If you see yourself making a careeer in corporate finance, go the MSc in Finance route. If you think you want to be a buy-side analyst or money manager, better to do the CFA.
One thing concerns me, though: failing Level I. If you’re really serious about finance and invested even a modicum of time preparing and then didn’t pass, well, I’m not sure that you can get through the CFA curriculum. I don’t mean that unkindly. Not at all. If you didn’t put in at least 250 hours preparing, then invest that (or more) and retake Level 1. If you fail L1 a second time, then the world is sending you a message–that being a buy-side analyst or money manager is probably not the right choice for you over the longer term.
Thanks. What about the professors? And placements in Ireland? Where are your classmates working at? The idea might be to stay in Ireland.
and yes! I want to know more. What are the pros and cons of the program from your perspective?
please tell me anything that you wish you knew before going there.
I took the CFA level 1 because I got a scholarship. I didn’t prepare until the month before the test. But yeah, I am already studying for level 1 again, and I will take it June 2016
No worries,
Pro’s:
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You are in Ireland
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One year program
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Overlap with the CFA (though mainly level 1 and 3, not much for 2)
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You are learning finance with very smart classmates (also some very lazy classmates though)
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It can be one of the funnest years of your life
Con’s:
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Relatively new program
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Cost
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Professor’s not particularly special
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Is it recognized in the States? For me in Canada it was recognized but people were mainly concerned with my direct work experience.
Heres a summary of my experience:
School
54 Classmates:
55% Irish
20% Chinese
15% German
10% other (Canadian, US, other European countries)
It’s competitive, and you will certainly have some very very smart classmates. There is groupwork in every class and it is choose your own groups, you want to be in the best group possible and keep that group all year long. My classmates were one of the biggest value-added points of the program.
Only about 20% of the class showed any interest in taking the CFA exams. Pretty much none of the Chinese students.
The germans were the class star’s and they all found solid jobs after graduating, the #1 graduate is at Mckinsey in Germany right now others went to various Equity Research, Private equity, consulting jobs either back home in Germany or in London. There is only one German that I know of that is taking the CFA exams, he is on level II now and he is working at HSBC in ER.
The Irish if they could find jobs in London they did (Private Equity, Real Estate) others stayed in Dublin at various Trading shops / Real Estate analysis. MOST of the Irish wanted to get out of Dublin. While it is a great city to go to school in, the financial world is just not that exciting.
I don’t keep in touch with that many classmates but the ones I do have landed good jobs.
The Chinese - I have no idea. 80% of the Chinese students just don’t seem to care.
Professors were good but none really stood out to me. I don’t keep in touch with any of them. A few had their CFA’s for whatever that is worth. The material was focused on the CFA exams but it doesn’t cover the 70% over all three levels, you can’t pass level I just by taking this course and not studying, its a year long course afterall with 6 classes per semester, 2 semesters and a thesis.
Though people will recognize the TCD name it is much more of a factor for you getting a job in Ireland or London than it would be in the States.
Play
You are guaranteed to have a good time partying in Dublin. The Irish guy’s go hard. Don’t drink guiness at a night club.
You can travel in between courses if you want… I visited 15+ different cities throughout the year and even went home for a month during the Summer.
Hope this helps, I would be happy to share more!
MSc followed by CFA.