<p>I found this masters program searching online today and it piqued my interested. I did a search on CC but only found some old vague threads. Anyone have any experience with it or knowledge about it that they would like to share? I know its not the same/as good as an MBA but it looked like a cool alternative. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>I do not have any direct experience with the program but these are some facts to consider:</p>
<p>1) It’s only for the people who did not major in Business </p>
<p>2) Many people get into the program without working experience(0~2 years)</p>
<p>3) More than 50% students are from U.Va undergraduate</p>
<p>Does anyone know: How is the program viewed in the business world? Do graduates end up going for an MBA anyway? Can you start taking classes before you finish your undergrad if you have the space in your schedule?</p>
<p>Thanks His018! I’ll second Mamlumper’s question of asking how its viewed in the business world. Also, if I were to graduate in three years and attempt to do this with my fourth, would I be in Charlottesville for my class’ graduation? I know most would walk as soon as they graduated but I thought it would be nice to walk with the people I’ve lived with for the last four years. Thanks again.</p>
<p>I am currently a student in the MS in Commerce. </p>
<p>The program is only 3 years old, which makes it difficult to answer some of the questions above. It is very new, and still being modified. The curriculum has been revised every year based on student, professor, and employer feedback.</p>
<p>The MS in Commerce is developing a more positive reputation every year, but I cannot honestly say that it is well known at this point in time. Many of the recruiters I dealt with were unfamiliar with it. After I described the program however, I felt as though it was almost always viewed in a very positive light. Even if the MS in Commerce is not that well known itself, the degree does benefit from the reputations of UVa and McIntire in particular.</p>
<p>Job prospects seem to differ among students. Prior preparation plays a critical role. If you went to a better undergrad school, had a harder major, got more work experience, etc. you will have a much easier time with recruiting. I think that all students are able to get a better first job after the MS in Commerce than they could have the spring before. I have seen that the program allows students to moderately improve their employment prospects. On the other hand, it wont make miracles happen! If you graduated from an average state school with a major in history and have never had an internship, dont expect a job in ibanking.</p>
<p>I think that some graduates of the program will return to school to get MBAs, but again - because of its age, I’m not aware of any who have done so yet.</p>
<p>Work Experience: One of the requirements for admission is that you graduated within the past year. This is why many(100%) of students have 0-2 years of work experience.</p>
<p>It is not possible to take classes in the MS in Commerce before you are admitted/enroll in it.</p>
<p>Finishing Early: I did this, and it was a great choice. Something to note is that the MS in Commerce class graduates in August, not May. Our formal classes end in May, but there is a one month “Global Immersion Experience” that concludes the program during June. Supposedly we also take classes abroad, but from what Ive been told, the GIE trip is more accurately described as a European/Asian vacation with factory tours and visits at international business schools (for a month! Fun huh?). The trip is over before the start of July, and you’re free to start work as soon as you return to the US. So…you would be in town for May graduation, but won’t get to graduate or walk until August, though you would have already graduated in May the year before.</p>
<p>Hope this helps. I’m happy to answer anything else.</p>
<p>Wow! Thanks for coming on here to post that 6281597! I’m a newbie to how business interviews work so please pardon my ignorance if these are stupid questions. In terms of the recruiters you dealt with, did they find you because of the program or did you find them? I guess I’m asking if they recruit kids specifically from the program or not.</p>
<p>UVAs undergraduate decisions don’t come out until the end of the month but I received a likely letter and ever since have been looking up my possible options. That is how I stumbled upon this program. One option I was considering was a double major in Economics (with a concentration in financial economics) and Financial Mathematics. I would then hopefully gain admittance into this program and pursue the Financial Services track. Would that help me in job placement at all or should I just stop at Econ/Math? I’m not sure exactly what I want to do so just in general I guess.</p>
<p>I know my other option would be undergrad business at UVA which I’m strongly considering as well but with the whole non-guaranteed admission thing I’ve been looking at backups.</p>
<p>In terms of graduating early, I meant if I wanted to walk with my UNDERGRADUATE class a year after I graduated (since it would be my original class, after all), would I be in Charlottesville during that time (its usually mid May I believe?) and would that even be allowed by UVA?</p>
<p>Thanks again, 6281597!</p>
<p>When I was looking for jobs, I applied to 20 or so positions on my own, 50ish through UVa’s CAVLink career services system, and maybe another 15 on McIntire’s CommTRAK list. You do get some companies who only recruit at McIntire, but I wouldn’t say that access to these is reason enough to opt for the Comm school vs other options. In general, I think employers view us and the McIntire undergrads similarly. I’m 95% sure that there are not any companies that only try to recruit MS students.</p>
<p>One disadvantage of the program is that the first semester is a general introduction to all of the core business disciplines. This means that you won’t get the bulk of your finance coursework for several months. Unfortunatly, finance interviews begin in September. It can be a tricky situation when you get into an interview and start getting asked technical questions. Unless you’re willing to learn the material beforehand, you kind of have to say something along the lines of, “I don’t know this stuff yet, but I can promise you that I will in 6 months”. For many interviewers that won’t cut it. In comparison, when a fourth year McIntire student is looking for jobs, they have already had a year of business classes and probably a related internship. To the program director’s credit, there have been efforts to front load track-specific classes to help make up for this.</p>
<p>Both the Financial Economics and Financial Math options would make you competitive for finance jobs. If you doubled up, you’d probably have about as good a chance as if you went the McIntire route. Both are fairly difficult, but there’s some overlap. To double major in those, then go for the MS in Commerce might be overkill. If for some reason you think you want another shot at recruiting, it would make sense as a backup, but I don’t think I’d go in planning to do it.</p>
<p>Don’t worry too much about non-guaranteed admission to McIntire. It is not THAT hard to get in. If you’re serious about the prereqs and don’t mess around, you should be fine. Also, taking high level math/econ classes will help. Consider mathematical microeconomics your first semester with Maxim Engers – it’s fantastic.</p>
<p>As for the graduation question, no clue…</p>
<p>“Both the Financial Economics and Financial Math options would make you competitive for finance jobs. If you doubled up, you’d probably have about as good a chance as if you went the McIntire route. Both are fairly difficult, but there’s some overlap. To double major in those, then go for the MS in Commerce might be overkill. If for some reason you think you want another shot at recruiting, it would make sense as a backup, but I don’t think I’d go in planning to do it.”</p>
<p>That’s extremely reassuring. I appreciate the honest advice!</p>
<p>“Consider mathematical microeconomics your first semester with Maxim Engers – it’s fantastic.”</p>
<p>I just looked it up and Econ 201 is a prereq for it. So I’ll probably do 201 first semester and then take 311 (mathematical microeconomics) my second semester.</p>
<p>Any other class suggestions or professor suggestions in the math/econ departments? :)</p>
<p>For math, try to test out of the 100s Calc series. These are weeder classes and notorious for being harder than they need to be. Most people say Calc 3 is easier. I did honors Calc 3, and thought it was pretty hard but generously curved. Most of the math professors at UVa are so-so. The only ones I really liked were Kuhn for basic real analysis and Maybee for APMA 311. If you want an easy class, try linear algebra or financial math(I heard this got harder recently?). I didnt take a ton of math classes, so thats about all I can say.</p>
<p>I majored in Econ, and loved all of my econ professors except Ron Michener, which I think is pretty amazing. Every year in high school I had at least one teacher who I couldn’t stand. If you dont place out of intro econ, go for Elzinga. Hes sort of a UVa tradition. Other than mathematical micro, my favorite classes were Public Sector with Olsen, Health with Miller, and Labor with Johnson. These are 400 level and have prereqs… I always wanted to take a class with Holt, but never got the chance. The econ faculty is great, and its hard to go wrong choosing a class.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://thecourseforum.com/]theCourseForum[/url”>http://thecourseforum.com/]theCourseForum[/url</a>]
Is also a great source. It gives reviews and past grade distributions, so if you see a professor only gives 10% As, dont take his class! (or take it credit/no credit)</p>
<p>No further questions, your honor!</p>
<p>I really appreciate you taking time to help an anonymous friend out 
Thanks!</p>
<p>^^Mathematical microeconomics is only offered in the fall, but you can take intermediate micro in the spring (my understanding is that intermediate uses less calculus??)</p>
<p>As an update to those searching for information about the program this year, I want to say that the program has recognized the downside to early recruiting for those in the Financial Services track. This year they began some double-sessions for finance students to prepare them for interviews. I am in the Marketing & Management track, but it does seem that there may have still been a disadvantage for the Financial Services track. They certainly received invitations to interview with fantastic firms, but the success rate didn’t seem to be as high as the undergraduates who have the advantage of a year of courses before they interview. The program is, however, constantly evolving. As much as some of us complain about parts of the program that we don’t like, the Graduate Programs Office and attending faculty director of the program thinks of our input as actionable feedback to continuously improve the program.</p>
<p>I’d say the result is pretty apparent already. Our class this year has higher incoming stats and great job offers (even this early on). For Marketing & Management, I’d say you still need to be a top undergrad student to receive an offer from a top consulting firm (BCG, Bain, McKinsey, Deloitte), but I’m happy to say that we’ve had students receive offers from all of those firms. I’ve heard from other students who will be working in other cool firms like IBM, Amazon, and Capital One. </p>
<p>For anyone who decides to do the program, practice interviewing as much as possible (case and behavioral interviews). McIntire opens the door to interviews (in the early phase this seems biased to those who went to UVa undergrad and those with high undergrad GPAs from any school), but it won’t land you the job if you’re not prepared.</p>