MBA or MFE or M.S in Actuarial

[MissionFCAS]

Hello everyone,

I'm in a dilemma and need some advice from the board members about my situation. I am a non-U.S. citizen residing in U.S for various unavoidable reasons...I have cleared CAS 1-4. However I cannot be employed in this country because of visa issues. The best course of action for me is to go to school to pursue a graduate degree. This would enable me to enter the work force without a visa for at least a year. Now I'm not able to decide which degree to go for. The actuarial degrees cover materials for paper 1-4 and tas such do not add any value to me. Even if I want to pursue it purely because of visa issues, the program directors would not admit me.

I have been exploring financial engineering and MBA programs as alternatives. What I want to know is that with either of these degrees, if I were to go looking for an actuarial job, would the employers question the relevance of my degree or would it strengthen my resume?

On the flip side, if I were to look for a job in the financial services sector, would my actuarial background be relevant there? Are there any areas of overlap between actuarial and financial engineering?

And lastly between financial engineering and MBA, which is more relevant to an actuarial career given that I have to pursue either one of the two.

If anybody has any other suggestion for me, I'd be more than happy to know about it.

Thanks

[ingvar]

Originally Posted by MissionFCAS

Hello everyone,

I'm in a dilemma and need some advice from the board members about my situation. I am a non-U.S. citizen residing in U.S for various unavoidable reasons...I have cleared CAS 1-4. However I cannot be employed in this country because of visa issues. The best course of action for me is to go to school to pursue a graduate degree. This would enable me to enter the work force without a visa for at least a year. Now I'm not able to decide which degree to go for. The actuarial degrees cover materials for paper 1-4 and tas such do not add any value to me. Even if I want to pursue it purely because of visa issues, the program directors would not admit me.

I have been exploring financial engineering and MBA programs as alternatives. What I want to know is that with either of these degrees, if I were to go looking for an actuarial job, would the employers question the relevance of my degree or would it strengthen my resume?

On the flip side, if I were to look for a job in the financial services sector, would my actuarial background be relevant there? Are there any areas of overlap between actuarial and financial engineering?

And lastly between financial engineering and MBA, which is more relevant to an actuarial career given that I have to pursue either one of the two.

If anybody has any other suggestion for me, I'd be more than happy to know about it.

Thanks

Being an actuary with an MBA is a killer, that's my plan eventually. You can still take a different route - get married to an American citizen, receive a green card and find a good paying job... but what do I know, I've only passed 2 exams

[tommie frazier]

tough decision. if i could get into a top mba school, I might ditch the actuarial stuff. same with a great MFE.

the MS in act sci on the resume will tell a potential employer something they will already know about you-that you need sponsorship for a work visa. almost no advantage to getting one of these since you have 4 exams already. imo

[MissionFCAS]

Ignvar - I'm already married...so that option does not exist...i wish it did though
Tommie - I agree with you..even I dont see any advantage to getting an actuarial science degree. And true, if I get into a good MBA or MFE school, I might ditch actuarial too depending on what options it opens up. But as of now, I dont know much about finance or business...just a little bit about actuarial so assuming I would still want an actuarial job post graduation what do think would be more useful- MFE or MBA?

[radix]

Originally Posted by MissionFCAS

Hello everyone,
Even if I want to pursue it purely because of visa issues, the program directors would not admit me.

I came to the US with four exams in Fall 2005 and enrolled in the MS in ActSci program at The University of Iowa (Georgia State, UIUC and Temple also accepted me with four exams). I combined ActSci classes with MBA finance classes and completed the MS in 1.5 years. Being in the MS program allowed me to contact many companies that recruit at Iowa. I got several internship offers while doing the MS and also several full time ones at the end of my MS. I work now for a Health Care consulting firm under OPT and will switch to H1 this October.

[PennyLess]

To the OP. Definitely do not go for the MS in Act Sci if you already have passed 4 exams. For top MBA programs, they usually require 4+ years of full time experience. Did you take that into consideration? You will be competing with some people with years of experience in finance and IT for admission. An MBA from a less prestigious school does not give you much competitive advantage in getting a job after graduation.

I suggest trying the MFE route, and continue taking exams in school until you reach ACAS. MFE admission should be less competitve now, after so many hedge funds closed down in the credit crunch. I know a few people with MFE going into the actuarial field. After you graduate you can interview for both actuarial and quant finance jobs.

[DW Simpson]

Originally Posted by MissionFCAS

Hello everyone,

I'm in a dilemma and need some advice from the board members about my situation. I am a non-U.S. citizen residing in U.S for various unavoidable reasons...I have cleared CAS 1-4. However I cannot be employed in this country because of visa issues. The best course of action for me is to go to school to pursue a graduate degree. This would enable me to enter the work force without a visa for at least a year. Now I'm not able to decide which degree to go for. The actuarial degrees cover materials for paper 1-4 and tas such do not add any value to me. Even if I want to pursue it purely because of visa issues, the program directors would not admit me.

I have been exploring financial engineering and MBA programs as alternatives. What I want to know is that with either of these degrees, if I were to go looking for an actuarial job, would the employers question the relevance of my degree or would it strengthen my resume?

On the flip side, if I were to look for a job in the financial services sector, would my actuarial background be relevant there? Are there any areas of overlap between actuarial and financial engineering?

And lastly between financial engineering and MBA, which is more relevant to an actuarial career given that I have to pursue either one of the two.

If anybody has any other suggestion for me, I'd be more than happy to know about it.

Thanks

Bumped to get additional opinions.

[Jack]

I agree with the MBA comments. MBA's from schools outside the top 5 aren't worth the paper they're written on.

[eagle_halo]

Originally Posted by MissionFCAS

And lastly between financial engineering and MBA, which is more relevant to an actuarial career given that I have to pursue either one of the two.

It depeneds whether you want to be a quant or a management staff,

MFE would generally open door to hedge fund, I-Bank or financial institutions more broadly. The type of jobs would be more quantitatively oriented (like research on a trading strategy or risk management).

MBA would generally open door to private equity, management consulting, investment banking etc. These types of job would be more management focus (like M&A or restructuring)

And there are jobs that fall between these two categories.

[Beach Bum]

Originally Posted by Jack

I agree with the MBA comments. MBA's from schools outside the top 5 aren't worth the paper they're written on.

A little extreme Jack, at least give credit to the top 10 schools or so.