Quote1. What is "desk politics" 2. What is the primary (qualifying) skillset to become a trader?3. What is the key skillset needed to win as a trader?1. Be a good friend to the boss, an even better friend to your boss's boss, and have the boss's boss's boss as your mentor(not easy at all, given, presumably, the boss's boss will want to take the job of your mentor )2. Write c++ and vba code quickly without bugs, play golf/squash with traders3. will be happy to hear what experienced traders have to say on that one

Quote ... C. Real estate? (This is a running joke for those of you who are not living in the states. After the internet bubble burst in 2002 , a few personal friends who have MBA's from prestigious insitutions went and got their real estate license. )Oh boy.

Chyang, you did not include taxes into tax at all. The opportunity cost should be less

QuoteOriginally posted by: achowAre you sure about this? I think you should conduct a survey before you can say that. It is totally against the experience of most Chinese students who have attended gradaute school in the US, including me!Don't know what to tell ya. Perhaps lady luck didn't favor you. According to the 2004 "open doors" survey, 75-82% of all incoming physical science and engg foreign students in the top 40 graduate schools of the US were supported through university fellowship or assistantship. You can buy the full report for $49.95 or access it through your academic institution.

chyang: if you take the MBA route into IBs (not sales and trading), then you can kiss your social life goodbye. those people work 100-130 hrs per week.

[According to the 2004 "open doors" survey, 75-82% of all incoming physical science and engg foreign students in the top 40 graduate schools of the US were supported through university fellowship or assistantship. You can buy the full report for $49.95 or access it through your academic institution.]I will not read the number without knowing how it is compiled. The number obviously include PhD and within that group almost 100% of foreigners are supported. Therefore the number is highly dependent on the relative percentage of MS that is counted in the statistics. Now:1) Most foreigners will not or cannot enroll without support.2) Some schools do not conduct MS program but nearly all school conduct PhD (e.g. Typical number of UC Berkeley math PhD program is 200 while the number of MS students are about 10! Approx. 33% are foreigner and hence already roughly 20:1 at Berkeley's math)Take away the dead statistics, the only thing I can tell you is that your statement is 100% opposite to what chinese students believe and are experiencing.I shall leave this argument because it is a bit off topics.

Quote chyang: if you take the MBA route into IBs (not sales and trading), then you can kiss your social life goodbye. those people work 100-130 hrs per week. Energy dude, thanks for bring up that perspective and talking some sense into me. I don't know if I could ever get used to that kind of life style now that I am over 30. Though I do know a few who did their "time" at top IBs. And have now joined boutique investment firms. Life style seems to get better, but they are still starting work at 5am. Ouch!By the way, do you get to learn corporate finance (income statement/balace sheet/cash flow analysis) as a part of MFE curriculum? Thanks,

Quote Chyang, you did not include taxes into tax at all. The opportunity cost should be less Ah! Words of Wisdom! NO JOB, No income => SAVE ON TAXES! I feel a lot better now that I would be "less poor" by 30% of salary per year!