BC: Carroll school of mngt

How good is this school in general and MSF program in particular? can you get nice job placement after graduation ? Any graduates from Carroll your thoughts and insights are highly appreciated. Thanks in advance !

Fantastic program supported by Peter Lynch…

I went to Carroll for my MBA. Did it part-time and my employer was paying so can’t speak that much about recruitment/placement, but in general the BC name seems to do very well in Boston. There are tons of alums all over the place. As for recruitment to I-banking or sorts of jobs you might find in top 10 programs, my guess is that it wouldn’t have quite as much to offer. BC usually ranks around maybe 35-45 or so in business school programs, respectable but not impossible to get into- you could get mid-high 600’s on your GMAT and probably feel pretty ok about that. Great campus, surrounding area (if you’re not from boston and choosing somewhat on living conditions). Biggest downside for me was the fact that I hate BC in sports. ACC traitors, GO UCONN!!! MSF program is good- have lots of friends who did it. Shorter than the MBA, but you skim out all of the more touchy-feely classes, get more down to the math/finance side. Professors were good, many in the Boston business community so if you utilize them, some good connections can be made. There are tons of BC events, alumni clubs, etc, so if you make the most of networking while you’re there and afterwards, I would think you’d do fine finding a job. BC grads seems to be VERY into being BC grads. Maybe it’s something with schools with big sports teams or something, but there is some sort of BC pride or something that must come with wearing those yellow jerseys in the end-zone week after week. And hey, you could pick up Matty Ryan as a sleeper QB in your fantasy team this fall and really feel like you’re part of the community. All in all, I thought Carroll was a good school, enjoyed the education I got for my MBA. Make sure to utilize the resources that are there and I’m sure you’d do fine w/ job placement afterwards, especially if you plan to stay in Boston, greatest sports town on earth.

Thank you so much for review Bannisja!

Big Warning on this! I applied to BC’s MSF program as a back-up. DUring my phone entrance interview, I asked the interviewor about the career services at MSF. He explicitly told me that they weren’t good! He said that MSF candidates are pretty much on their own when it comes to finding a job. I know nothing about their MBA progragram, but that’s all I need to know about the MSF.

joemontana Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Big Warning on this! > > I applied to BC’s MSF program as a back-up. > DUring my phone entrance interview, I asked the > interviewor about the career services at MSF. He > explicitly told me that they weren’t good! He > said that MSF candidates are pretty much on their > own when it comes to finding a job. > that was very much the case for me. I did the MSF and graduated back in 04 and basically, the MSF program is the red headed step child when it comes to career services. I had much better luck with monster.com I will say this though, if you make the effort to network with alumni, your efforts will be rewarded. As far as the program is concerned, it’s very good. you cover alot of finance and only finance, non of the fluffer courses. Just about everything I learned there I will be able to put to use when studying for the CFA. Alot of people do both the CFA and MSF at the same time because the courses overlap so much. I guess like anything else, it’s what you make of it…but just don’t expect to get any help from the school in landing a job

Current part-time MSF/MBA student here. Career services will in fact help you but the extent of that help is limited since you are not going to see major A-list type firms coming to campus in droves. You need to be prepared for that and also be ready to network with alumni and also current students, since many of your classmates will be working in the industry. I have met traders, quants, analysts, PM’s, and all types of finance folks, many of which have become trusted contacts and friends. As mentioned previously, the alumni network is awesome and you can expect to get help with anything you need. The interesting thing is that graduates across ALL programs–undergrad, MBA, MSF, Accounting, Education, etc.–are equally willing to help out a fellow eagle. Below is what I have written about the program in the past when these questions have come up: “I’m in the program currently and will have 4 courses left to complete after this semester. Thus far the program has exceded my expectations in all respects. The academic repuation of the finance department was one aspect of the program that I really liked before applying, and on balance my professors have been very good. While the material I’m learning can be at times very technical, it nonetheless has real world relevance. For example, in the Portfolio Theory class I’m taking this semester we’ve covered resampled efficiency, the Black-Litterman model, and other Bayesian methods of portfolio optimization, all in the context of the Northfield and Windham optimization software packages–both tools that are used throughout the industry. This class by the way is also taught in the summer by a PM from Wellington, but her approach is far less technical and is grounded in analysis of industries and others aspects of valuation and managing portfolios. One aspect of the environment at BC that has been a real positive is that a lot of people are in the industry. I work on the buyside and have already met several other analysts, traders, and quants from other firms around town in my classes. Some of these people are dual MSF/MBA students, some are just MSF’s or MBA’s, but making these connections with people at firms that could potentially be looking for an analysts down the road is invaluable. In terms of the alumni network, I believe that BC grads are as fanatical about their school as Tuckies are about Dartmouth. I work with a BC MSF grad and an MBA grad so I see it firsthand. One comment I would make in response to something mentioned by an earlier poster is that the BC program too is highly structured. In that I mean that you have 8 core required classes–with a choice of either Portfolio Theory or Fixed Income–and the other 2 are available as electives. This curriculum doesn’t allow for students to take advantage of the extensive finance electives that are available. This is my biggest criticism of the program–the required courses should be 6 not 8. Also, I believe that BC needs to build a trading room at some point. Bentley clearly has the lead in this area. I also looked at the MSIM program at BU, but thought is too closely mirrored the CFA curriculum and was too expensive. As a charterholder it didn’t make sense. As an interesting aside, I did notice recently that Fidelity was interviewing for equity research positions on the BC career services website, but I have limited knowledge how often those types of positions come up. My guess is that if you are good enough and really want to interview with Fidelity, someone in the department can get you an interview, or at least get your resume to a hiring manager.”

Thank you very much guys for your detailed insights! it’s really helpful. it’s really to hear from you

how does BC’s program compare to the MSIM from BU?

I’m not a big fan of the MSIM program, it would have been better for BU to keep their MSF degree. That said, if you want to pay to study for the CFA exams in a structured environment then maybe it would be a good option. Overall, I don’t think the rigor of the MSIM compares with the MSF if one looks purely at course content. For example, check out the syllabus for BC’s Portfolio Theory class versus the Portfolio Management sample syllabus found on the MSIM page-- they are night and day. The BU class, as expected follows the CFA curriculum’s approach, while BC’s is much more quantitative orientated. Again, if you want a degree go for an MSF, if you want to study for the CFA exams, take a review class. BU: http://www.pdfdownload.org/pdf2html/pdf2html.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmanagement.bu.edu%2Fgpo%2Fmsim%2Fcurriculum%2Fdocuments%2FFI756_FI700Course_Overviews_2008.pdf&images=yes BC: http://www.pdfdownload.org/pdf2html/pdf2html.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2.bc.edu%2F~chapmadb%2FMF803S08.pdf&images=yes

BC MSF>>>>>>>BU MSIM for sure

I did the BC MSF program and finished in 03. I already had my MBA from a different school. If you are interested in the more quant related stuff, I recommend an MSF over an MBA although I am sure some of the top MBA programs have good quant courses. BC’s program isn’t top rated but if you are planning to stay in Boston, it carries decent weight. The alumni network is fairly enthusiastic, which is a good thing. The career services, like everyone said, is not so great. I found my job by scouring websites. Also, in 03, the job market was horrendous so the career services probably wouldn’t have been able to help much anyway.