With a combination of the CFA certification, what would make you marketable to a recruiter in a Financial Instituion: a MBA with a Finance Concentration or a MSF with a Finance Concentration?
Well a MSF is usually a shorter degree (1 year) solely concentrated in the finance field. An MBA is usually 2 years across all business areas. The MSF is gaining speed but is not as well known as the MBA. A good MBA usually requires several years of real work experience. I guess it depends on what a recruiter is looking to fill, however a MBA is more broad and can be used to fill different roles. If however they are looking for a trading role or an analyst role, the MSF might be a better fit.
Depends what specific department you are looking at.
I started in banking on the lending side and I can tell you the recruiters didn’t care a lot about the MSF. Lending is not the most analytical side of a bank. I got slightly more pay for having a masters degree but that was it.
Prior to leaving I was talking with the Capital Markets Group. They definitely knew what an MSF was and the difference from an MBA. A few with their MSF would get offended if you thought they had gotten an MBA (and they would let you know it).
The MSF problem is related to what PalacioHill mentioned. I don’t know if there is enough standardization of the MSF degree yet. Mine was a two year degree and much more respected than the state school MBA’s here, but if I was going out of the region I am not sure if people would know there was a difference.
Also, I have never heard of a MSF with a Finance Concentration. It is a Master’s in Finance, not sure how much more concentrated you can get…
I suggest an MSF with a basket weaving concentration
‘Aaand the point goes to MissCleo for the Zing!’
Where I went to grad school both the MSF and the MBA w/o a concentration were 36 hours (12 classes). The MBA curriculum was a joke with all kinds of classes like marketing, project management, leadership…
Since I wasn’t going to a target school and wanted to ultimately complete the CFA program, I chose the MSF. By definition, the MSF does not have a concedntration as it is a Masters in Finance.
The MSF curriculum was much more quantitative with classes like derivatives, investments, portfolio management, financial statements analysis. I predict that the MBA will continue to lose value as more specialized degrees grow in awareness.