Masters Degree in Finance
Generally, people with a master's degree earn a lot higher than bachelor's degree holders. In fact, based on the study released by United States Census Bureau, an employee with a master's degree can produce as much as $
2.5 million worth of earnings in the course of a 40-year career, while those who only have a bachelor's degree earn $
2.1 million. (1) This factor alone is one solid reason why many professionals are going to graduate schools.
There are several masters program offered today by different educational institutions, and masters degree in finance is one of them. Usually considered a professional degree, masters degree finance is a non-thesis course, equipping students for the careers involving investment management, corporate finance, and financial analysis. (2) To keep up with the highly competitive and demanding nature of the finance industry, masters degree in finance normally incorporates accounting, economics, mathematics, and other finance-related disciplines in the curriculum. Other fields of study include financial management, managerial accounting, quantitative, and non-quantitative subjects.
Admission to Graduate School
If you are planning to take up masters degree finance, you are not necessarily required to have an undergraduate course specializing in any related fields such as business, economics, and finance. (3) In fact, other schools just require the student applicants to earn prerequisite units or have some relevant working experience. These in turn make the course widely available to practically anybody who wants to pursue advanced education, switch to a finance career, and explore the finance industry.
What to Expect from Graduate School
Your life as graduate school student will essentially be strenuous. Disheartening it may sound, but master's degree is too different from undergraduate education. In the course of your masters degree in finance program, much of your time should be alloted for researching, writing, reading, and analyzing. This is why you have to be extra skillful and analytical. Though masters degree finance is typically a one-year course--relatively shorter than other master's programs--it requires motivation, determination, and perseverance. After all, once you finish the program, you will reap all the benefits that come along with a master's degree: increased marketability and higher salary.
Literary Citations & Article References:
1) http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/departments/elearning/?article=mastersdegrees
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Science_in_Finance
3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Science_in_Finance