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Masters in Finance vs. MBA ... which is better?
creepycoug
Member Posts: 23,600
The MS in Finance (a future son-in-law is doing his right now) has become the biz degree du Jour (with permission from our one and only @Doog_de_Jour ) for people who want to get all jacked up in the high stakes world of Finance.
They're usually a little shorter - like 1.5 years including your internship semester vs. 2 full years - and thus I would guess cheaper. As we continue down the path of specialization, is the MS in Finance, and its siblings in other business concentrations, going to displace the MBA?
Which is the better investment? Would it be redundant to get both at different stages of your career? Is that a thing?
https://www.efinancialcareers.com/news/2019/02/an-mba-or-a-master’s-in-finance-a-detailed-look-at-the-numbers-you-need-to-know
They're usually a little shorter - like 1.5 years including your internship semester vs. 2 full years - and thus I would guess cheaper. As we continue down the path of specialization, is the MS in Finance, and its siblings in other business concentrations, going to displace the MBA?
Which is the better investment? Would it be redundant to get both at different stages of your career? Is that a thing?
https://www.efinancialcareers.com/news/2019/02/an-mba-or-a-master’s-in-finance-a-detailed-look-at-the-numbers-you-need-to-know
Comments
He was an undergrad with my youngest. Fairly selective undergrad - eastern equivalent of a Whitman or a Reed - and was all everything there. Literally the best hoopster they've ever had. He's a Lithuanian kid who came over and hosted with a family whose father won a Division 1 national championship. Because of @RaceBannon 's immigration policy, it's been very difficult for him to be able to stay past his student visa. He was working for a mid-tier I-bank in Manhattan who was not able to get him the extended visa because those were being reserved for STEM, and he was an Econ major.
Long story short, he was planning on getting his MBA at a Wharton or some such place and then when the sponsorship extended visa fell through - because of @RaceBannon and his minions in the INS - he needed to find a quick plan b, and he didn't have the funding or ability to apply to an elite place. He also needed to make it STEM-qualified so that when he's done he gets an extra 3 years.
So he went for the MS in Finance solely to extend his visa while he figures out his next move. Eventually the next move is marrying into my family, which will solve his problems, but until then he needed to buy time and needed money. So U of Rochester, which is a great school and a bottom 30-ish MBA, basically covered him 95% for cost, so he's there doing that.
His plan is to come out and work again in the city, only this time his MS in Finance qualifies as STEM and he'll have 3 years to either get married or make his next move. I told him to hitch up with the consulting side of one of the Big 4 so that if all else fails, he can x-fer to one of the European offices ... London, etc.
@Tequilla
I'm creating a little cult here Race. It's not open to the riff raff you like to drink with in the Tug. The Oregon bros have been blocked by algorithm ... now THAT's power.
I won't have it.
Generally speaking, my view on a MBA and Finance is that having a well rounded view of business is required if your goal is to work in a corporate environment or going to be working in an area that requires business valuation where understanding how the business comes together, direction of the business, etc comes together. Any idiot can take Revenues and multiply it by a multiple to get value.
If the goal is going down the path of banking, investment banking, etc then there’s a path that may not require an MBA and guide additional professional designations. This isn’t necessarily the path I took and is hard for me to speak to. I view these areas as being a little more specific to being skilled at certain areas. Investment Banking is an area where you may need real business knowledge to be successful in.
A growing area that I see is being more tied into data science and there’s a pretty big link within financials. I don’t think you need a MBA per se to be successful here however business knowledge may help in workflow and problem solving.
My general advice is to get a foundation to be as flexible to as much that interests someone as possible. School to me sets the foundation for the first 5 years or so for a career. After that the jobs you take are in theory tied to setting you up for the next stage.