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How useful is Oxford Said MFE?

Here's the page http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/MFE/

It's a nine-month programme costing £22000, or $42000 USD. Only 8% of the current class is from the UK, which makes sense when you look at that fee and then the scholarships offered to many non-UK applicants, so I'm curious how a British graduate could afford this straight after completing an undergraduate degree. Bank loans? I'm not so accustomed to any system of funding other than applying to the SLC here in England, you see, whereas I've read that abroad funding is much more varied.

It does seem like a fantastic degree, but how much of this is taught to graduates in training after being accepted by an investment bank?

Core courses

All students take the core courses in corporate finance, asset pricing, financial econometrics and microeconomics. These core courses are all carefully integrated: the economics and econometrics courses apply theories and methodologies to finance, and the finance courses provide the underlying economic principles of financial practice.
Asset Pricing

The asset pricing course covers the theory and practice of valuing claims to uncertain cash flows; for example, stocks and stock options, bonds and foreign-exchange instruments. The course covers standard material such as CAPM and the Black-Scholes formula, and some advanced material such as consumption-CAPM and pricing formulas for "exotic options". About half of the course is dedicated to the application of advanced statistical methods to the area of asset pricing and to practical work with real-world data.
Corporate Finance

Corporate finance studies the financing, valuation and corporate governance of firms. During this course, you will learn the fundamental principles of financial accounting, the valuation of firms' assets and the determinants of firms' financial structures. You will be taught the key components of firms' financial decisions and the operation of financial markets, including new issues of securities, debt and dividend policy. You will learn about the relevance of different financial institutions to the financing of firms, the takeover process, corporate restructurings and financial distress.
Financial Econometrics

The course in financial econometrics provides students with a background in the fundamentals of empirical modelling and testing in finance. This will allow you to better understand crucial concepts like risk, evidence and prediction.
Microeconomics

Microeconomics is the study of how financial and commercial frameworks and conditions impact on individual situations and business units. During this course you will learn to apply the basic tools of market and firm analysis, game theory, incentive theory and auctions.

hmm, no idea why those headings appear as hyperlinks, sorry :p:

Reply 1

Montana

1

A bit new for people to say how good it is...

Reply 2

Drogue

19

The british students on it are often either rich beforehand and pay themselves or have it paid by a company. However the MFE is still an academic programme, as well as a practical one. It's not designed to be for IB entry, it's designed to give people a deep exposure to finance and the underlying economics.

Personally I think it's a great course, it's all academically rigourous while also being focused on the application of that knowledge. For someone who wants an applied education but doesn't want to do a completely applied, generalist MBA, it's a great option. If you want to do something totally applied for IB, then I'd advise you to go to LSE, whereas if you want a totally academic course, look at the MPhil in Economics.

Reply 3

Drogue

19

Montana

A bit new for people to say how good it is...

I don't see why it being any older would make it easier to see how good it is? How good it is depends on how good the tutors are, how it's taught, what it covers, and what priority it's given (whether the schools sees it as an important course). All those it's possible to know now. Said is a really good school, with some fantastic tutors and a well regarded (though very new - get's better rated each year) MBA. The MFE is one of, if not it's flagship course. The MFE is something unique that it offers, and they really stress how much effort they're putting into it.

Plus it's half taught at the economics faculty, which is one of the largest and most diverse community of economists in the world (Oxford has more funded PhD econ places than any other UK university, and a larger faculty and number of students than any US universities I've looked at).

I think it's easily one of the very best degrees Oxford offers. However if you're doing it for IB purely, I think you expecting something slightly different than it is.

Reply 4

jet_dee

OP

I am researching possible postgrad degrees, more out of curiousity really, as the first year of my Economics course at Birmingham hasn't begun yet. Until I've been there a couple of years I can't really say whether I'd want to become an economist or go into investment banking, or something else entirely, but just now I'm trying to find high-ranked courses that could provide entry to both career paths.

Reply 5

Tortle

9

I like the look of the MiF programme at LBS. If you're already working in the city, it can be done part time (two evenings per week). Plus you'll get LBS on your CV.

http://www.london.edu/mif.html

Reply 6

Tortle

9

Or you could take a look at the graduate programmes at LSE, they offer a huge selection of different ones.

Reply 7

fuglyduckling

2

Drogue

I don't see why it being any older would make it easier to see how good it is?

One word: Alumni.

I think it's a great course but holy cow it's expensive! I'd feel shortchanged paying that much and not getting an MBA (yes, I realise they are two completely different courses).

Reply 8

Away from TSR

1

It's honestly not worth the price. I got a place on it this year and turned the offer down. Better to do a similar course at the LSE or even the Mphil in Finance or Economics at Cambridge. Being on their forums, I was quite surprised to find out that they give offers to people with absolutely no Finance/Economics background and expect people to read up a lots of stuff before they begin their course. I can't see how that will not affect the overall performance of the class where half the people know most of intro concepts and half of them are clueless about what's going on! I guess they are still building up and need more time.

If you do plan to go for it, they have a tie up with Barclays for student loans upto 30K.

Reply 9

Away from TSR

1

also, don't forget the accommodation cost, college fees etc. Since it'd be an intensive one year, part time jobs are quite out of question. So the total cost of the course comes out to around 35K (as per Oxford Website)

Reply 10

Drogue

19

Which probably makes it less than LSE. Oxford's a *much* cheaper place to live.

Reply 11

AnishaB

hey i finished the MFE this year..i think any course can only be 'useful' to the extent that it can get you a job interview and help build a certain perception about you as an individual and trust me, the MFE does that..after that there are no guarantees and it depends from person to person..also from my personal experience, the proportion of students hired by banks from oxford vs cambridge vs lse does not vary too much..cheers..

How useful is Oxford Said MFE?

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