<p>I'm a CS major + math minor at University of Michigan planning out my future. I can't decide whether I should go for a MFE or a MCsci.</p>
<p>Which would lead to a more prosperous and lucrative future? And what kind of jobs could I work as? Salary? Location?</p>
<p>MS in CS doesn’t really give you any major recruiting advantage over BS/BSE in CS. A lot of people do it to get another recruiting cycle in. Many companies will probably give a small (5-10K/year starting) premium to masters students over bachelors students, but that’s basically it’s use. MFE grads are likely to have approximately the same starting salary as MS CS students, and it probably gives you a leg up for competing for those jobs that MFEs go for, but also limits you to those jobs. However, I don’t know if those are straight out of undergrad students or if they’ve got some experience typically. </p>
<p>MFEs are going to be mostly in NYC, Chicago, SF, and outside the country (London, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc) from my understanding, with very few elsewhere. CS grads can be in a lot more places but are fairly commonly anywhere in California (though a definite bias towards the bay area), Seattle, Austin, Chicago, or NYC. </p>
<p>As for salaries, you probably know about what’s typical for CS undergrad from Michigan. I think the salary statistics say 78K but more typically I hear 100-150K in total first year compensation. MS CS will be slightly higher than that, like 5-10K higher, and MFE at Berkeley (first result that popped up) said that the average first year compensation was slightly over 150K (though those are smarter than the average CS undergrad at Michigan).</p>
<p>If you want money go the MFE route. If you want to do fun stuff, go for MSCS. I can walk into a number of stores and buy stuff that runs my software (internet connected entertainment devices). Working conditions are great, we get to show our stuff at CES, and there’s plenty of innovation to be made.</p>
<p>My understanding of FE is that the Quants pass down the magic algorithm, you code it, test it, pray that it works, then hope for the best. Pays well, but a lot more serious / stressful work than coding graphics, even graphics used by millions of people.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies.</p>
<p>What graduate degrees would max out my pay potential while still being in demand?</p>
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<p>Max out what exactly? Your pay potential starting or for your life? </p>
<p>Either way, it depends on you. Just because field X has higher pay on average than field Y, doesn’t mean you’re gonna get higher pay in X than you would in Y. CS is generally a pretty good field for people who are mediocre at it (over anything else you would be mediocre at).</p>
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<p>However, career lifetimes tend to be shorter for those who are mediocre at it. The general societal expectation of rising pay with seniority eventually prices the mediocre out of the market, even if they were a reasonable deal (from an employer’s point of view) at new graduate pay levels.</p>
<p>Investment banking jobs that MFE programs point you to can be high paying, but also high stress: [Warning:</a> Banking May Be Hazardous to Your Health - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204062704577223623824944472]Warning:”>http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204062704577223623824944472)</p>
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<p>I don’t have enough experience to speak on that, but wouldn’t that also be the case in any other field? Possibly less so in CS because the ratio of mid-career salary to starting salary tends to be lower than for other fields.</p>
<p>Yes, that is likely the case in a lot of other fields, accounting for what appears to be* or actually is** age discrimination in many cases.</p>
<p><em>Not recruiting or hiring an older person who wants a higher pay than the employer is willing to pay.
*</em>Not recruiting or hiring an older person because the employer assumes that s/he wants a higher pay than the employer is willing to pay.</p>
<p>CS may actually be more subject to this phenomenon, since more rapid changes in technology can cause the mediocre to be less able to keep up with the necessary self-education throughout one’s career. I.e. the mediocre who cannot keep up actually decline in value to the employers as they become more senior.</p>