Haas School of Management , Berkeley offers diploma in Finance ,which is a rigourous 4 month program followed by 4 months of unpaid internship.Do you think it would be a stepping stone towards a future MBA in Finance or MS in Financial Maths? The diploma costs 10k tuition and again you are out of job( experience)? Do you think its worth , especially for a fresher who wants to get into Finance ,and later do an MBA from an ivy leauge school.Any comments ?

Nothing beats work experience, no doubt about it. But you will eventually need to have that degree in your resume for future advancement. Your experience will carry you to a certain place, but to move further up, or to jump to another company, the degree carries a lot of weight. I speak from personal experience, having a lot of experience as a trader and as a quant and risk manager, but no real degree to show outside of a BA. Then, of course, there are exceptions. Besides, you will be getting some work experience. University of Toronto started a similar program in quantitative finace back in '99 and it appears to be doing quite well. So are the graduates from there.