Tepper School of Business
MSCF Career Paths
Graduates from MSCF work exclusively in the financial services industry. Careers vary but usually revolve around derivatives pricing and trading, financial risk management, structured products, analytics software development, and quantitative portfolio management.
Some develop proprietary trading strategies for the hedge funds. Others build and assess risk management models for the banks and brokerage firms. One manages a credit derivatives desk, another trades volatility at one of the large banks, another is involved in fixed income research, another is an options trader on the floor of the AMEX. While many remain after graduation in the New York area and most in the United States, others take positions in London, Hong Kong, Singapore or Tokyo.
Our graduates are highly sought after in the marketplace. Notwithstanding this year's tumultuous financial markets, our December 2007 graduates fared well with 79% placed by graduation (94% had offers) and 96% placed by mid-March (98% had offers). Our Summer 2008 Internship Program was 97% placed.
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Quantitative Portfolio Management A career in quantitative portfolio management employs quantitative techniques and models rather than fundamental analysis to earn investment returns on other people's money. Read more about the roles and companies. |
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Risk Management A career in risk management is focused on evaluating the models used and the exposures generated at a fund or investment bank - often the huge portfolios of a bank's mortgage or trading groups - and determining how best to assess and, to the extent desired, hedge those risks. Read more about the roles and companies. |
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Sales & Trading A "quant" career in sales and trading usually involves working in on the derivatives desks either in working with and responding to customer needs and/or making trades - either for a customer ("flow") or for the firm ("prop"). In addition to straight bonds and equities, products usually also involve swaps, options, forward and futures contracts and a host of plain vanilla and bespoke structured products. Read more about the roles and companies. |
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Structured Products/Strategies Careers in structured products usually involves creating specialized derivatives investment vehicles to meet specific customer needs. As these products are more often sold and hedged with prices determined by models rather than markets, knowledge of mathematics, statics and programming in these roles is essential. Read more about the roles and companies. |
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Financial Analytics Careers in financial analytics tend to more technically oriented, applying one's programming skills to the derivatives industry in a myriad of different and ever-changing ways. Read more about the roles and companies. |
