North Carolina State University Financial Mathematics program

North Carolina State University Financial Mathematics program

As a graduate from FM program at NC State, I would like to say that it really plays a crucial role on my career path. By learning the courses like Statistics, Financial Math, and Risk Management, I got the fundamental and advanced theories in this field. Moreover, these courses helped me prepare for the CFA exam which was useful in the job market.

In addition, I also improved my coding skills like C++, R, SAS, and Matlab. By learning related courses and doing projects with the director, I applied what I had learned into practice, which was really helpful for job interviews.
I enrolled in the program in Fall 2017. It's quite a rigorous program that you really can learn a lot here. They will train you in computer programming, finance, mathematics, and statistics, all of them can play an important roll in your career pursuit. What's more, you will spend some of your time searching summer internship. However, it's no worry because FIM500 and FIM 601 are designed to help students with the job hunt. They will enhance your background in resume writing, interview, network and technical skills.

Now the director is Dr. Pang, who highly cares about students. He spends lots of time assisting the student with job hunting. Anytime you want you can just email him for advice or just reach to his office.

In your first year, you will be trained in some programming languages which are highly useful in industry. You are supposed to get your SAS Base certificate, which is very useful in this field. Besides, you will have chance touch MATLAB, Python, VBA, as well as R. Anything you want you can find. If not, you can choose computer science courses as your elective. It's a little bit tricky but you can ask for help anytime as I referred before.

In general, I will rate this program 5 stars. I really attained a lot of skills and knowledge. If you are a person who highly interested in the field of financial mathematics, this program deserves your consideration.
I am a second year MFM student at NC State. The program gives good exposure to core areas of statistics, programming, derivatives pricing, and risk management. Students are typically excellent programmers with solid industry knowledge and project experience by graduation.

Students can choose electives from an extensive list of courses offered in adjacent departments of statistics, computer science, MBA, etc. This, combined with excellent core courses gives both foundational knowledge and room for specialization/concentration.

Networking and career services are generally excellent. The school is disadvantaged to not be located in a financial center, but still manages to get industry professionals in front of students on a regular basis.

The leadership under Tao Pang is also excellent. He implements changes rapidly in response to feedback and gives students a good blend of coursework, projects, and networking. Unreasonable administrative hurdles are never an issue.

The biggest con comes from a lack of research professors studying quantitative finance. This results in a shortage of thought leaders, and there is no powerhouse economics/finance college to fill the gap. However, the excellent network with local and national industry professionals easily compensates for this.

Overall, a 5 star masters program. Being a state college, it is among the best ROI of any programs available.
I am currently studying Financial Mathematics from NCSU. My journey so far has been pretty good. Before joining this program, I have over seven years of experience in derivatives trading. This program enhanced my skills to a new level. The icing on the cake, through Friday's seminar I am able to make connections from industry professionals

Pros
CECL and Backtesting engine - these two projects improved my coding skills on python and give more insight into the current/upcoming risk management practice.

Program director Dr Tao Pang understand each student needs and always try to meet the current industry demand by conducting webinars, workshop and so on. For example- python, SAS and R workshop conducted for students who want to improve their coding skills.

Cons
The program is very intense, sometimes we have to do multiple things at the same time.
To get a degree we have to score minimum B in cores subject this constraint which I think can be relaxed as it is possible that some


Overall, I am happy with the program and I am giving 4star ratings
because nothing is perfect in the world and there is always scope for improvement
I am a 2020 graduate of the NC State MFM program and with a year of experience in credit risk modeling I can confidently say that this program more than prepares it's graduates for modeling work in banking, insurance, and other quantitative financial roles.

The technical courses offered (Monte Carlo, Machine Learning, Time Series, etc.) give students lots of programming experience. These topics and skills are reinforced with research projects related to current financial events like the implementation of CECL and rollout of SOFR. By the end of the program most have strong technical skills and a big picture understanding of markets, which are always in demand.

The career development program goes a long way to get people prepared for interviews and helps many graduate with multiple offers.

The program is rigorous but the pay off is worth it and I'd recommend NC State to anyone interested in a role in quantitative finance.
I graduated from this program in 2019. My reasons for recommending NC State include eclectic choices in electives, proximity to the Banking industry and the small class size.
There is flexibility to choose from a broad range of electives in Data Science, Statistics, Programming and risk related courses taught by industry experts.
Having come from a different professional culture, I was new to the idea of networking and exploring job opportunities through it. The course on career development taught me how to work on that. The weekly training session covers professional etiquettes and important lessons on soft skills. We also have speakers from the industry who give insights on the hot topics in their specialized fields.
The program organizes great opportunities for networking through workshops such as the two-day CECL summit, attended by regulators, consultants and banking officials. It also provides a platform to present our projects and get feedback from the attendees.
The program equips the students to be industry ready. Overall, it’s a great learning experience in terms of technical knowledge as well as professional skills.
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