Recent content by GoIllini

  1. The next market crash is just around the corner! My guess: 2016

    I think math/models can help us prepare for it a little bit better, but they can't predict or prevent them. I think the development of the model really comes down to wisdom. Back in 2007, it was customary to exclude tail cases from economic statistics as outliers and to assume that most random...
  2. Would being a quant a good choice for me? How do I prepare? (Math/Stat Major)

    Quants often have relatively nice lives but there are some caveats that vary by firm. The caveat is that we are often surrounded by people who make more than us. On the sell side we often have to operate as geeks in a very non-geeky culture. On the sell side- at least on the trading floor-...
  3. Hi Grasin. Columbia is also a great program that would give you the same opportunities. You...

    Hi Grasin. Columbia is also a great program that would give you the same opportunities. You could also steer an M7 MBA fairly quantitative at MIT, UChicago or maybe Wharton.
  4. MIT MFin or others -Profile evaluation

    The problem, again, with MIT is that it is a very, very young program. If OP were straight out of undergrad he'd have an excellent shot but his age hurts him here. OP would fare a lot better with CMU and NYU IMHO. If he were a trader at a BB in India, he'd also do well with Princeton...
  5. Do you even lift? What are your hobbies outside of the quant world?

    Hang Gliding (USHPA Hang 3 Pilot) SCUBA diving off the NJ Coast, Long Island, and in Lake Michigan Some motorcycle racing I exercise some. We are the one profession in banking where you get paid pretty darned well, get a lot of free time and don't have a high-stress job.
  6. MIT MFin or others -Profile evaluation

    You're clearly in the running for CMU's MSCF program, but you are a little old to be starting at MIT in 2015. MIT is a younger program that prefers to focus on placing people in the sell-side rather than the buyside. You clearly have a very interesting background for finance. It is possible...
  7. Columbia MFE Indians Joining Columbia MFE

    Well, this sure beats my attempt at forming the "US-born Students' Stochastic Calculus Club". We only got two members and nobody could help us understand what this Calculus thingy was until we allowed foreign students to join. :) (I hope this joke managed to tiptoe through the cultural and...
  8. Modeling civilisation collapse

    Well, now I have some ammunition against the doomers. The best indicator of population collapse is decreasing wealth in the face of rising population. That doesn't seem to be happening in our case.
  9. COMPARE MIT MFin vs Columbia University MAFN

    Sure. A front office job in banking is Research, Sales, Trading, or working on some deal team in M&A or IPOs ("Investment Banking Division") They are the people who talk to clients and make money for the firm. Quants work in all of these divisions. They can also work in risk management or IT...
  10. COMPARE MIT MFin vs Columbia University MAFN

    MIT is a stronger program if you just want a front office banking or consulting job. Columbia has a great program, but it's getting too confusing with their plethora of graduate MS degrees. MSFE and MSOR are both great programs. MAFN I believe has a lot of part-time students who are working...
  11. Another PhD in maths/stats?

    Oh come on. Most quantitative PhD programs are as selective as Princeton MFin (not Princeton PhD). If you got a funded PhD, you are not allowed to put people from master's programs in a separate camp than you. (It would be a lower camp) :) One other thing you need to be working on is written...
  12. Undergrad preparation to becoming a quantitative analyst

    I would take a class in derivatives pricing. At a US-based school, this would typically be a 400 level class and a bunch of business majors and finance people will invariably be complaining that it's "impossibly hard". The day after your professor introduces the Black-Scholes formula and...
  13. Undergrad preparation to becoming a quantitative analyst

    CS+ Stats or Math + Stats are a powerful combination. If you really want to work for an insurance company, there is nothing wrong with Actuarial Science, but you will have no trouble finding a job if you study Computer Science and can pass a coding interview.
  14. Software Engineering Job at Tech Firm vs. Bank

    Fixed that for you.
  15. Software Engineering Job at Tech Firm vs. Bank

    At an established tech firm you will be working on a specific aspect of a specific problem. Projects will run for months. There will be a lot of testing. At Google, you're cruising along in a Cadillac convertible; the top is down, life is a breeze. In finance, projects run for 48, maybe 72...
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