Hoping to get some wisdom on my career choices...MSF etc.

Launched April 26, 2006
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Hey guys

I have a 3.2 econ degree from a non target, I am 26 years old with 2.5 years of experience in the financial industry. 1 year as an M&A analyst intern unpaid, 1 Year as a financial advisor and now working for 5 months at a hedge fund as a prop trader but the firm is noname. I've been all over the place taking whatever opportunity I could get basically.

I know to get the job I want I need to go get a masters, but I am not competitive enough for a MBA thats worth the investment, I dont have the grades or the work experience to get myself into a top 10 school.

I was hoping that an MSF would give me a better shot at a decent job. Now my idea of a decent job is corp finance, corp strategy. I would like to work in f500 comapny in the future and I dont see myself in IB, ER, or PM roles for the long term future. High finance is too cyclical and unstable for my liking. I see myself working for Dupoint or IBM in their corp finance department.

The reason being that I know as I get older and start a family I'll want stability and security with a nice stable income and working for a f500 company seems to provide the most opp. I enjoy finance in general so I am not picky on the exact role I have. I just enjoy working with finance esp. in a bigger picture role which is why management is exciting.

My question is that the MSF is a new degree and so far my research has turned up mixed results, with some alumni saying that nobody got any job offers after attending their program. While others saying everyone with them got an offer.

I am confused as to the reliability of the placements from MSF programs. I dont have a very big network of people that I can contact to help me secure a position. Meaning if I get a MSF, I'll be depending mostly on OCR events, job fairs, the internet and reaching out to the alumni base of the school. I dont have contacts who could take my resume and put it on the desk of an MD.

A few MSF degree holders have said that a large portion of the people who earned this degree received their job only because they knew somebody.

I am worried that if I get an MSF that I'll have a degree and a loan without any prospects of a real career like I do now.

Simply put, do most MSF students find jobs after graduation.

Thank you
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