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With two month into our first semester of the Master of Finance program here at Frankfurt School we got to know our fellow students and campus, our professors and their style of teaching and the idea of studying in a three-day model. We developed certain habits of how to deal with the courses and assignments and got an idea of what our first semester would look like. However, with the info session about the concentrations last Monday, it is now time to decide what our next one and a half years of studying in the finance program should look like. While some of us had already made up their mind about their further course of studies some of us were still waiting for the info session before making a final decision about which concentration to choose. For those of you who were unable to attend the session, here is a brief summary of how I felt the professors presented their respective concentrations:
First up was professor Vilkov to present the capital markets concentration and, just like you would excepct him to, he reminded us of the necessity of a solid understanding of the mathematical principles in order to perform well in this concentration. Pointing out the advantages of a sound quantitative training, he explained that those willing to face the challenges of quantitative analysis of the products in the capital market can expect to be eligible for a variety of professions, including risk and asset management or trading.
The risk management concentration was then introduced by Professor Packham, who emphasized the ever increasing need for experts on risk management. In the light of recent global events firms are expanding their risk departments and channel an increasing amount of their resources towards risk management, so students of this concentration will be able to either work in one of the big governmental institutions such as Bafin or ECB or pursue a career in the financial risk managament department of a firm.
Professor Zeng presented the corporate finance concentration and the broad band of professions it prepares you for, including advisory, investment banking and management as well as national and international governmental institutions.
Last but not least professor Löw introduced the new concentration in financial accounting and advisory. Supported by two guest speakers from KPMG and Roland Berger, Professor Löw emphasized the practical relevance of this new concentraion – it was conceptualized in coordination with the leading audit and advisory firms and is designed to provide students with the necessary qualification in this field.
For me personally, the info session helped making the final decision between my two preferred concentrations. For those still uncertain about which concentration to choose, let this be said: it is not an ultimate decision and just because you did not choose corporate finance does not mean you have no chance of ever getting into commecial banking, but by choosing your concentration you are definitly starting to shape your future career. In a way we have all made a similar decision in our past, when we decided what to study for our bachelors, what internship to apply for and what master studies to pursue. When we started our undergraduate degree the variety of choices was much broader and ranked from archeology to veterinary medicine, but as we advance in our studies this variety becomes smaller and smaller but at the same time we are also getting closer to singling out the one profession we want to pursue.
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