The Washington University in St. Louis MSF program has been around for a long time now and the program has a number of specializations options for students looking to customize their masters in finance. The program was on of the few MSF’s that I considered when I did my degree over a decade ago and has been graduating students for a long time now. The WUSTL brand is well recognized and this MSF is usually on many applicants target list.
Class Profile
The university has the class of 2023 student profile broken out by the three different MSF specializations they have. Very comprehensive and I laid it out in the same format as the last class profile I posted a year ago.
| Program: | Corporate Finance and Investments | Wealth and Asset Management | Quantitative |
| Total number of students: | 71 | 176 | 86 |
| Average age: | 23 | 23 | 23 |
| Average GMAT: | 676 | 691 | 693 |
| Average GRE V | Q: | 159 / 168 | 158 / 168 | 158 / 169 |
| Average GPA: | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.3 |
| Women: | 38% | 38 | 26% |
| International students: | 87% | 99 | 100% |
| Average TOEFL: | 104 | 104 | 103 |
Comparing this to my previous post the main changes I notice is that the Wealth and Asset Management track has seen a significant increase in class size. GPA’s look to have had a small drop (3.4 vs. 3.5), women has increased in the corporate track and have decreased in the quantitative track, and GMAT averages have remained consistent. This program is heavily (almost entirely) international so I would factor that into your consideration as well. Historically, the wealth management track was more domestic, but that seems to have changed. Not bad or good, but something to consider.
Career Outcomes
The program provides a detailed report every year as well as highlights on their website.
- Median Base Salary – $53,000
- Placement Rate – 67%
- Employed in North America – 52%
You can read a more comprehensive report here. Looks like average salaries increased since I wrote about this last year. As I mentioned then, the thing that is going to impact the salary results for this program is the fact that it is largely international and the majority of placements are not in the financial services industry. Also, almost half of those placed found employment outside the United States where salaries will be lower.
Tuition
Below are is the tuition cost for each of the programs in the 2024-2025 academic year. Please confirm this for yourself as this is from their website as of 9/2/2024.
- Corporate Finance – $76,800
- Quantitative Finance – $99,900
- Wealth and Asset Management – $99,900
The corporate finance MSF tuition is expensive, but in line with many other programs. The quant and wealth programs are more expensive because they include an extra semester (10 months vs. 18 months).
Admissions
The application timeline is just about to start for all the specialized MSF options. The process is fairly standard and the GMAT/GRE is not required.
| Application | Due by | Notification by |
|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | October 5, 2024 | November 7, 2024 |
| Round 2 | November 1, 2024 | December 12, 2024 |
| Round 3 | January 5, 2025 | February 27, 2025 |
| Round 4 | March 1, 2025 | April 17, 2025 |
| Round 5 | April 15, 2025 | May 15, 2025 |
| Rolling Admissions* | After April 15, 2025 | Before program start |
—
That is the update for now. Plenty of time to get your application ready for round one. There are a number of online information sessions being posted as well. Definitely sign up for one of them if you are considering this program.
Here is a link to the Washington University in St. Louis MSF program
