Masters Degree

[vikramsj]

Is a Masters Degree any good these days. Most quant jobs want Phds with 5+ years experience. What kind of start up roles are typically available for MS graduates?

 

[Joy Pathak]

Positions:

Associate Advisor
AVP – Risk Analytics & Modeling
Commodities Trader / Quantitative Analyst
Credit Risk Analyst
Financial Engineer
Financial Software Developer
Global Equities
Investment Banking Technology Analyst
Market Data Specialist
Quant Developer
Quant Developer, Associate
Quantitative Analyst
Quantitative Support Analyst
Risk Analyst
Software Developer


Taken from : Employment Statistics | Master of Financial Engineering Program at Baruch College

 

[vikramsj]

Positions:

Associate Advisor
AVP – Risk Analytics & Modeling
Commodities Trader / Quantitative Analyst
Credit Risk Analyst
Financial Engineer
Financial Software Developer
Global Equities
Investment Banking Technology Analyst
Market Data Specialist
Quant Developer
Quant Developer, Associate
Quantitative Analyst
Quantitative Support Analyst
Risk Analyst
Software Developer


Taken from : Employment Statistics | Master of Financial Engineering Program at Baruch College

With what level of experience? I don't think placement statistics are ever really accurate.

 

[Joy Pathak]

With what level of experience? I don't think placement statistics are ever really accurate.

If you looked at the website, it shows statistics for people with 0 experience.

Also, the stats on Baruch website I am sure are as accurate as they can be.

Average Salary of Students with 0 experience for this past graduating class was: 88K with the highest making 97K .

 

[tylor]

what exactly do all of those postions do?

 

[alain]

what they do is really irrelevant because you could end up doing anything once you are at the job. From the name you can only get a general idea but nothing else.

 

[vikramsj]

If you looked at the website, it shows statistics for people with 0 experience.

Also, the stats on Baruch website I am sure are as accurate as they can be.

Average Salary of Students with 0 experience for this past graduating class was: 88K with the highest making 97K .

"21 of 22" with no work experience getting Quant Analyst/Trading jobs...thats hard to swallow.

 

[Connor]

Depends on how they define work experience. Sometimes work experience is considered only full time work as an employee; having done a relevant internship will help in finding a job after completing a masters.

 

[alain]

"21 of 22" with no work experience getting Quant Analyst/Trading jobs...thats hard to swallow.

Why? any specific reason?

 

[vikramsj]

Why? any specific reason?

The state of the economy...and the overall high competition for Quant roles.

 

[alain]

I'm sorry but that statement is meaningless. The fact that economy is in bad shape has nothing to do with some students getting certain type of position. Also, the overall competition of Quant roles has no effect. it is totally possible this batch of students are very good and happen to get those positions.

 

[vikramsj]

I'm sorry but that statement is meaningless. The fact that economy is in bad shape has nothing to do with some students getting certain type of position. Also, the overall competition of Quant roles has no effect. it is totally possible this batch of students are very good and happen to get those positions.

Why is that meaningless...It is possible that they could have all gotten quant jobs, but Im saying thats hard to believe especially with no experience. The competition level and state of economy has everything to do with it... Thats like saying unemployment has nothing to do with the state of the economy.

 

[bigbadwolf]

It is possible that they could have all gotten quant jobs, but Im saying thats hard to believe especially with no experience. The competition level and state of economy has everything to do with it... Thats like saying unemployment has nothing to do with the state of the economy.

Overall unemployment rates don't apply to specific subsets in the same uniform manner. Thus the (official) rate of unemployment is around 9.8% but for college graduates only 4.5%. Likewise, the unemployment level from a specific MFE program might be lower or higher than the industry average. A Baruch MFE has traction in the market; it's not like an MFE from Swampwater University which is profitably (i.e., for itself) churning out 80 graduates a year. It is true that a Baruch MFE has to look a little harder for a job, the placement office has to exert itelf a bit harder, and starting salaries are lower than three or four years ago.

 

[dstefan]

The starting salaries of the Baruch MFE graduates are an interesting snapshot in the compensation for entry level positions (including associate and VPs) before and during the financial crisis:
May'07: 96K
May'08: 88K
May'09: 84K
May'10: 90K

The highest compensation was in 2007, and began dropping in 2008 and even further in 2009, at the height on the employment issues generated by the crisis. A decent rebound began in 2010. While the sample is small, the numbers correlate well with what one would have expected.

---------- Post added at 01:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:04 PM ----------

Why is that meaningless...It is possible that they could have all gotten quant jobs, but Im saying thats hard to believe especially with no experience. The competition level and state of economy has everything to do with it... Thats like saying unemployment has nothing to do with the state of the economy.

Success on the job market depends first and foremost on how strong the candidate is. There will always be entry level quant openings, the issues being will one interview for it, and will the interview be successful.

Given that our students are very rigorously selected from a large pool of strong applicants, and that the vast majority of the admitted students join our program (see the admission stats at Admission Statistics | Master of Financial Engineering Program at Baruch College), it is reasonable to expect they will do very well on the job market, even in very tough conditions.