Seeking grad school and career advice

I'm seeking advice regarding attending grad school and what to do afterwards. I'm a senior in my undergrad at non-target school and will graduate with a BSBA in Finance with minor in math. I was attempting to get a second major in math but the courses from the two departments were conflicting too much with course times. I enjoyed the math at first, and I still do, at least the more applied courses such as Numerical Analysis, ODE, etc.

I was primarily interested in quantitative finance, not so much because I want to be a "quant" on Wall Street, but because I enjoyed the applied math aspects. When I planned my curriculum out, I tried to match Rutger's MSMF curriculum so that I could be on the path to learn similar material.

I apologize for writing so much about my "background," but I just wanted to make sure that you would have enough information to give me a reasonable opinion. As of right now I have a decent GPA in the mid 3s and was going to apply to schools with quantitative finance grad programs such as CMU, etc. because the material genuinely interests me. However, the likelihood of being accepted seems low and if accepted, the costs seem quite high, especially if I am unsure if I'd want to pursue a standard job on Wall Street to pay for it. Because of this, I am considering going to WVU for grad school, which is where I am currently studying.

If I go to WVU for grad school, I should be able to work it so that I will be able to pursue a MS in Statistics as well as a MS in Finance, and I should be able to at least get my tuition waived and possibly a paid GA position and the departmental fees waived as well. I should be able to finish with both MS degrees within 5 semesters. And, it costs me about $15,000 to $20,000 a year to live comfortably in Morgantown.

It seems relatively cheaper and less risky to attend WVU and I would plan to still work towards the CFA. But, my question is, would this be a good decision and what can I do with those type of credentials? In terms of statistics I will have your standard applied stat courses, theory courses, Data Mining, and maybe Stochastic Processes. The finance courses seem to follow the CFA material fairly closely.

If I were to go this route though and attend WVU, what type of job/career prospects would there be for me?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

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