M.S. Finance program w/ good potential to become a stepping stone to PhD Finance

[ichihina]

M.S. Finance Profile & questions
I'm 28 yrs, planning to apply for MS Finance and my main motivation is to get proficient in various stat software package and work at research department of financial service firm. As of now, I don't really qualify for those jobs that use stat software package(like SAS) exclusively and my job is limited to transactional works/analyst role.

I can wait & take more math before applying.

Undergraduate: B. A. Economics/B. A. French (University of Texas at Austin)
Undergrad GPA: 3.5/4.0
Undergrad Math: Calculus I, II, III, Econ Stat, linear algebra
Undergrad Econ: Micro Theory, Macro Theory, Int'l finance, Finacial Economics, Econometrics
Other Undergrad Courses: Financial accounting, Managerial Finance
Work Experience: 2 yrs in MBS administration(transactional works, no investment decision making involved), 2.5 yrs in investment research/perfromance analysis(analyst role)
GMAT 740 (97 percentile,Q49,V41, a.w.a: 4.5)
letter of reference: 1 from current boss, 1 from college professor with PhD in Economics from Harvard/not a significant figure in finance or econ.

Others: CFA

I'm considering either George Washington or Johns Hopkins for MSF (I live in DC and am only willing to move few states away within east coast).

I'm mainly interested in M.S. Finance/some other varierty of finance and looking for a program that is not purely academic.

I thought about taking much more math and apply for M.S. Stat, but most programs are not really targeted for finance and seems somewhat academic (like University of Maryland's MS stat offered by Math dept).

What do you think about GW's MSF program(it seems like they have practical edge while being competitive)? Should I apply outside of DC as well?

[oh34]

Aim for U of Rochester (Simon). It is the school with strong econ background. Try to get strong recomms from the professors who teach corporate finance, investment, and accounting. This school manages Journal of Financial Economics. But you need to get ready for 4~5, 3-credit courses per a quarter. And you also need to engage many team meetings since the program goes together with MBAs. Good thing is you can find other students who also want to apply for Ph.D. at the Simon.
I don't know about GW, but JH MSF is not quite strong...isn't it?

[ichihina]

It seems like people who go to GW for MSF is not interested in applying for PhD, but the program is competitive to get in. There is a PhD econ who went to GW to get MSF after working in research dept for a long time(why?).

I agree that JH MSF is not quite strong. I think it is handled by business school which is fresh and not yet great, although their econ dept is great.

Hmm...I'm out of school for more than 5 years and getting strong recomms will be hard, if not impossible.

I just checked U of Rochester's MSF and Phd Finance program. The B-school itself and the PhD program looks great. I'm not sure about MS though. I guess it should be good as it is taught by same faculty right? Somehow it sounds less academic, less quantitative, and more MBA-like compared to GW's program....