The MIT Masters in Finance program is arguably the one of best in the United States at this point. The Financials Times has continually ranked it as one of the top programs globally (#5 globally per the 2015 FT Rankings). Rankings aside, what impresses me about the MIT program is the quality of students it admits and the quality of professional it helps produce. This tells me that the process isn’t just about high scores (although that is very important), but more about admitting students with the right mix of academic as well as personal stats. Add in some amazing professions and relevant professional development and you have a program that is able to consistently place students into the top firms and roles in locations globally.
There have been two Financial Times articles recently that I want to draw your attention to. Both include insights from the MIT Masters in Finance program. The first article is discusses how the MiF can augment the CFA exam (“The MiF can offer an edge over the CFA“). Really in depth discussion of how these two programs intertwine and how they are different. Below is a great discussion from Heidi Pickett, MIT Masters in Finance Program Director:
“Twenty or 25 years ago, an undergraduate degree was enough,” says Heidi Pickett, the program director. “Today you need a graduate degree to be competitive in finance.”
MIT Sloan’s program launched with a class of 26 students. Last year, the school received 1,700 applications for 120 seats. “There’s a heightened awareness and interest in this degree,” says Ms Pickett.
“It’s for people who know what they want to do. They come here, get solid training and then go out and apply their skills in industry.”
The second article really discussed careers and the right certification to go along with it (“Pick a career path and then the right qualification“). Gita Rao, faculty director of the Master of Finance program at the MIT Sloan School, provides a lot of great insights on this topic. Mitch Ackles, president of the Hedge Fund Association, has the following to say about the Masters in Finance degree:
“Certain graduate degrees, in particular a masters in finance, are also sought after by employers, says Mr Ackles. “A masters in finance is extremely useful in this industry,” he says. “Firms need number crunchers. When hiring managers come across a graduate of this kind of specialized finance program, they know that person has studied this material in-depth and can hit the ground running.”
I’ve included links to all the articles so please give them a read if you get a moment. Really informative and great exposure for the MSF degree in general and MIT’s program in particular.
Here is a link to the MIT Masters in Finance Program
