Search results

  1. Salary comparison btw Baruch and olin.wustl

    If you draw that conclusion you should not be a quant.
  2. College Freshman - What can I be doing right now?

    See if anyone in the econ or finance depts needs a research assistant. RAs with programming skills are quite valuable. Also start scheduling informational interviews with people in industry. And get to know the juniors and seniors. They will be in a prime position to help you network when...
  3. a non-trivial R problem

    This post might help too: http://www.r-bloggers.com/what-are-the-most-popular-bike-routes-in-london/
  4. Ask Ellen - Job Hunting and Career Development Advice

    99% of the time I would say this is true, but if one gets another offer that is much, much better then one should discuss that with both employers, but Don't start an auction! And if you're not sure the new offer is sufficiently better, then it is definitely not. Ellen Reeves, How long do you...
  5. Distance problem

    Isn't that assuming that the uphill and downhill parts have the same slope?
  6. Quick question about internship recruiting

    The funny thing is that the cold-call is lower risk in my opinion. There is no record. If you send a really bad email then you get forwarded around the office (maybe world) as a joke!
  7. Where to buy a SUIT

    Senior is exactly the way I would describe their core customer base. ;) I had a salesperson at JAB tell me to come back in ten years!
  8. Quick question about internship recruiting

    Search early and search often. Network network and network.
  9. Our best traders spend a lot of their time pounding away writing code

    If you legitimately have all those skills then you won't need a HH.
  10. joint MSFE/MBA degrees program... is it worth it?

    Did you try searching this yet on the forum?
  11. Why people do this?

    Truth be told quant finance jobs aren't all what they used to be. That being said, they still beat most other jobs out there, especially for young people.
  12. MFE in Texas?

    If you're interested in energy trading then definitely take a look at the MBA programs at Rice, UT, UH, A&M. If you're dead set on a quant role then check out Georgia Tech's QCF program - that's what they call their FE program. GA Tech is not too far from Texas and has a large network of...
  13. What books are you currently reading?

    Slowly making my way through The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation. Really drives home what an incredible place Bell Labs was.
  14. is predicting the stock price a quant's job?

    To beg the question, how do you define "quant"? ;) Is a quant the same as a financial engineer? Try this post: https://www.quantnet.com/threads/master-reading-list-for-quants-mfe-financial-engineering-students.535/ particularly the first reading.
  15. Possibilities of RA-ship in quantitative finance

    Georgia Tech offers Graduate Assitantships. That can be either working for a prof doing research or grading papers. Additionally a few schools offer fellowships where you get money but you don't even have to work! Check out post number 7 here...
  16. Extra things that should be done to improve profile.

    I'm quite skeptical of professional groups. Unless you know for a fact they have events in your city they're pretty worthless.
  17. MSFE and MBA?

    I did an MBA and an MSFE together right out of undergrad. Looking back I have mixed feelings. I got a large fellowship via the MBA program so that helped a lot. I also worked really hard and completed the dual degree program in 2 years instead of the usual three. That being said, today when...
  18. Historical Power Prices

    Unfortunately I don't know of a source for REC prices online. Those are a lot more idiosyncratic than electricity prices. I'd start with the relevant ISO's website and move from there.
  19. "MS in Data Science" the next MFE?

    That's an interesting hypothesis. Hurry up and buy DataSciNet.com! I don't think it will really happen since data science is more of a re-brand of statistics than a new field. An MS in Stats pretty much is an MS in Data Science (although I could be revealing my ignorance with this...
  20. C++, MATLAB, R

    A lot of this depends on what your program will require and also what your career goals are. Some quant finance fields require C++ and others don't. Depends on what tasks you'll be doing. Large data? Statistics? Are you working on models for yourself or others?
  21. Put-Call Symmetry by Peter Carr

    I'll have to review some notes. Peter Carr has a lot of papers about Put-Call Symmetry and barrier options such as this one.
  22. Put-Call Symmetry by Peter Carr

    This is quite useful for pricing barrier options as it allows you to replicate the payoff with a static portfolio.
  23. Busy

    Busy
  24. R Programming language?

    I haven't used it yet but the compiler package is supposed to help with speeding things up without having to go to C++ http://www.r-bloggers.com/speeding-up-r-computations-pt-ii-compiling/
  25. COMPARE Boston MFM v/s UMN MFM v/s Claremont MFE v/s OSU MSQCF

    I'd say TRAB has done most your work for you. But really you are choosing a school for yourself. Call them up. Look at the risk vs reward.
  26. COMPARE IIT MSMF/CGU MSFE/GaTech MSQCF

    You've got a good background and you don't need a visa. You're going to do pretty well. One question is where do you want to work? If your interest is in energy then are you keen on Houston? Are you aiming for NYC or Chicago?
  27. How to correctly compute stock daily return?

    As you alluded in your post, information revelation is the key here. Very often people get too distracted by viewing volatility as movement rather than as the discovery of information. At the end of the day, the way we define daily returns is just that - a definition. It's not as though there...
  28. PhD advice

    I have not done a PhD but what I have always heard from friends who have is that it's more about what you want to do for your dissertation and what kind of support the school has for your favored specialty.
  29. [May 11, 2012] R In Finance Conference (Chicago, IL)

    http://www.rinfinance.com/ Anyone else going and interested in meeting up?
  30. Historical Power Prices

    Check the Lacima Group white papers at LacimaGroup.com. I think it requires a free registration to download. They are pretty practical and a get introduction to a number of techniques. Also if you can then you should get to the Energy Risk conference in May. If you're starting out then...
  31. Quantnet MFE Guide

    I'd add: 1. Financial Aid - Merit and need based 2. Dual Degree Offerings 3. Try to break out career placement stats by location and industry 4. Elective courses offered
  32. Econ or Math Finance

    I think Duke has a decent terminal masters in Econ. I know LSE offers a well-known econ masters program, but I don't know if it's targeted more as a way to signal dedication to potential PhD programs.
  33. Importance of PCA

    I found PCA to be one of those things the profs tend to reference but nobody ever teaches. They just kind of assume you will learn it elsewhere. I like Avril Coghlan's booklets available for Multivariate Analysis and Time Series. Both focus on R and are more on the applied side than the theory.
  34. COMPARE Help!! Claremont VS. Florida State

    This is exciting to hear! What course will you be teaching? From my personal observations it is not being an international student per se that holds students back. It is generally the difficulties that international students have with soft skills. They tend to network less and they have...
  35. Historical Power Prices

    Structuring and analytics.
  36. CGU MFE

    You do realize CGU is a graduate level only university right? Typically grad schools are not judged as a whole but by the constituent programs. As far as the MSFE program is concerned there are old placement stats here: http://www.cgu.edu/pages/8648.asp. Also check out the chat session they...
  37. Gaming College Ranking

    I wonder how endemic this is. I find it hard to believe only one school has done this.
  38. Alternatives to MFE

    Yeah for research I wouldn't recommend an MBA. If you're wanting really straight up research then something that involves a good thesis and a good internship is probably the way to go, but there are others here who would know more what to do for this.
  39. Alternatives to MFE

    Be careful using your imagination. Sometimes doing a dual-degree MBA/MS opens you up to even more potential fellowship money as the two departments get to "share" the cost of subsidizing you! Also you have to remember that to a certain extent you get what you pay for. Except as Andy points...
  40. Alternatives to MFE

    It's also pretty easy to complete a dual-degree program with an MBA. You can combine it with an MS in stats or even an MS FE!
  41. R Programming language?

    For interactive plotting I use Manipulate via RStudio. I have found it to be quite grand. Vectorization only goes so far unfortunately. If I recall correctly, even the apply functions are actually coded as loops and have similar execution speeds. What I am doing: Numerical algorithms and...
  42. Financial Engineering @ Claremont Session tonight @ 8PM EST

    Maybe next update to this table could include a break down of expected merit- and need-based aid so applicants have a better idea of actual expected cost?
  43. UCLA MFE UCLA MFE to offer merit-based scholarships in 2013

    So Claremont, UCLA, Georgia Tech. offer merit-based aid. Anyone know any other schools with merit-based aid?
  44. R Programming language?

    This could not be more true. I've tried experimenting with the parallel processing packages for R but to no success. I do find R to be perfect for investigating data though. Beautiful plots and so many statistical tests accessible in seconds with different packages!
  45. Financial Engineering @ Claremont Session tonight @ 8PM EST

    I'm so bummed I missed this. I ended up working late. I'll have to check the replay!
  46. Forward Curve

    Modeling a forward curve is non-trivial. Even modeling the spot price alone for a commodity curve can be pretty daunting. I recomend looking here first. That presentation is a good intro on different frame works. Even if that particular presentation is too basic for you check out the other...
  47. MFE @ Claremont Graduate University Online Chat 01.19.12

    As an alum I agree. The program is pretty good and continues to improve.
  48. New to the game

    Claremont Graduate University's program has some of the least strict pre-reqs but you still need to make sure you take Multivariable Calc and Linear Algebra. http://www.cgu.edu/pages/6417.asp
  49. COMPARE Help!! Claremont VS. Florida State

    The class sizes are decent, between 25-45 usually for anything shared with MBAs (like corp fin and fin accting) but the pure MSFE courses are usually between 5-20 students (stuff like electives in quantitative risk management, etc). Also, your table at the top looks wrong. You don't take 3...
  50. Career opportunities for tier 2 mfe program grads

    Sorry, I thought you had said you were already attending UCLA. I didn't realize you were debating acceptance. Good luck with whatever you decide!
  51. Career opportunities for tier 2 mfe program grads

    I know you are probably joking but don't give up so easily. Target the firms and positions you want and bust your ass getting to them. You're at UCLA Anderson. Lot's of recruiting goes on their in the MBA program that will tend to include more front office-y positions. Go to those sessions...
  52. Historical Power Prices

    GDF Suez has a very nice tool with most of the major hubs and zones in the US, both DAH and RTH prices! http://www.gdfsuezenergyresources.com/index.php?id=5 Additionally I have found http://commoditymodels.com/ to be a great read. Combined together these two sites could make for some great...
  53. Opinions about some R books

    Where do most of the interests lie for the group or yourself? Equities, Commodities, Fixed Income? Risk, Derivatives, Start Arb, etc?
  54. An Ethical Question !

    This is way too simple and cavalier. The difficulty in discussing the ethics of "financial engineering" is the confusion of what exactly that term means to people. If we are going to talk about something specific and often politically-charged, then let's get all our terms straight at the...
  55. Ranking list 2011

    In short, you really can only interpret to mean that given Quantnet's methodology and the sample size of programs used that Claremont is 20 out of 22. So if this is the universe of programs you are willing to consider and their weightings and practices correspond the same (or very similarly to...
  56. Calling C++ from VBA

    Pointers I'm ok with. Pointers to pointers.... you have gone too far!
  57. The World according to Americans

    I know! Did you know some people just buy pre-made bikes and cars? If you never get the metal, glass, plastic, and other raw materials to build a vehicle how do you expect to be a good driver? What are you going to do when your car breaks down, find someone else to fix it? Next you'll tell me...
  58. Calculating Daily Returns with Quantmod for R

    First, I am still quite the novice when it comes to R in general. I am finding some odd results with quantmod's functions for daily returns. Start with the following code: getSymbols('QQQ',src='yahoo') testRet<-allReturns(QQQ,type='arithmetic') Then I perform the following: > testRet[2]...
  59. Energy & Energy Derivatives Conference @ Claremont

    I'd register at LacimaGroup.com and read some of their white papers. Particularly the ones on mean reversion. It depends on which correlations you're talking about.
  60. Dominic to Java developers: Quit NOW

    VBA with a c++ dll or two. That's all it takes for me.
  61. 2011-2012 Quantnet Ranking of Financial Engineering (MFE) Programs

    This gets looked over so often. I really wish they'd report something like a ratio of previous salary to salary after graduation, or some other similar metric.
  62. Ranked Program Stats

    I know things have occasionally gotten petty in the original thread on the rankings. Let's keep that out of this thread. I am simply trying to assemble a list of the publicly available stats for the ranked programs. I already did some initial searching and have the list below. If I couldn't find...
  63. 2011-2012 Quantnet Ranking of Financial Engineering (MFE) Programs

    There is a plethora of non-confidential information that is also not being revealed.
  64. Events on the West Coast

    It's not the Bay area but for Southern Californians ( or those willing to travel) there is an Energy & Energy Derivatives conference at Claremont coming up: http://druckerenergyconference.eventbrite.com/
  65. 2011-2012 Quantnet Ranking of Financial Engineering (MFE) Programs

    We don't know because Andy won't tell us....
  66. 2011-2012 Quantnet Ranking of Financial Engineering (MFE) Programs

    Thats true, they argue about important things, like where their alma maters' football team ranks in the AP poll...
  67. 2011-2012 Quantnet Ranking of Financial Engineering (MFE) Programs

    You fixed it! Again keep on the crusade for transparency! I wish these programs would give all their stats away openly.
  68. 2011-2012 Quantnet Ranking of Financial Engineering (MFE) Programs

    Dude you're killing me. It's Claremont Graduate University, it hasn't been called Claremont Graduate School for decades! ;) All in all really good. I get that you can't release some of the data, but it says that in some cases you simply used the most recent public data. Do you mind listing for...
  69. Modelling Electricity Prices

    I wouldn't say his approach is bad. It's just a very academic way of looking at the valuation.
  70. Where do you stand politically?

    You have some wiggle room by saying "nice" (perhaps a true scotsman fallacy?), but no not all theories about free market economics are based on the same assumptions.
  71. Best MFE program to get into S&T

    I stand corrected here. I suppose from all the debate it doesn't matter as much which degree you get. Just make sure you go to a targeted school and really master the market you want to be in.
  72. Best MFE program to get into S&T

    Definitely do an MBA to go into sales and trading. The less "quant" stuff you have on your resume the better. When people see that you have the quantitative skills its very hard for them not to put you in a corresponding role.
  73. Will taking GMAT hurt my application?

    If you can only afford to take one then take the GRE. If you can afford to take both then do so. Some people are just better at one or the other. Get your scores and see which test places you further relative to the schools admittance stats.
  74. MFE Programs Transparency Project

    I am shocked and chagrined! I know you like to play the older, wiser, experienced, educated, "I'm a pimp", whatever card, but give people a little more credit. You might share a condition with Stan Marsh. Often people are using simple metrics like how much a school is "liked" as a proxy for all...
  75. Customized Excel

    What do you use as your front-end? A gui or console? Who else uses your programs?
  76. Am I on the right track? Please help

    Who you calling indecent? ;)
  77. R Finance 2011: Chicago April 29th & 30th

    Ah, but you won't have that Midwestern charm. ;)
  78. R Finance 2011: Chicago April 29th & 30th

    I just started using R a bit at work and then came across the website for this conference. I think I'll be attending next year. Incidentally if anyone is really good at using R with hourly time series data I'd appreciate some pointers. I'm finding it to be rather unruly (perhaps this would be...
  79. COMPARE Columbia MSOR vs. BU MSFM vs. Rutgers-MQF vs. Claremont MFE

    check out this thread for more on CGU: http://www.quantnet.com/forum/threads/ucla-mfe-vs-usc-mfe-vs-cgu-mfe.5996/page-2. I know nothing of Rutgers but if you really want to work on the east coast then probably go to school there (save money on flights for interviews/networking).
  80. COMPARE UCLA MFE vs. USC MFE vs. CGU MFE

    Also I just want to make sure we're all clear on what we are talking about. There are two programs that can sometimes get confused with abbreviations. Claremont Graduate University (CGU) offers an MS in Financial Engineering (MSFE). Claremont McKenna College (CMC) offers a Masters in...
  81. COMPARE UCLA MFE vs. USC MFE vs. CGU MFE

    This sounds old to me. I attended and graduated recently from CGU's dual MBA/MSFE program. I have heard rumors of about 4-5 years ago the program being like you describe. I know of maybe 2 FE students who got jobs through the school (profs or the career management). There were some issues...
  82. Is Law School a Losing Game?

    I have to agree. Generally when an MFE grad doesn't get a job it is because they can't find a finance job. Usually by the end of one year post graduation they have found some numerical and/or programming gig that allows them to pay off their debts, albeit probably rather slowly and not with...
  83. Top 10 cities for a career in Finance

    Y'all need to get out more. NYC may have a number of great things but you couldn't pay me enough to live there longer than a year.
  84. 2011 Gadgets Wishlist

    Archos Android tablet
  85. PhD is a waste of time

    No-name - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary
  86. Wikileaks.org

    Sweden issued the Interpol notice, unless you have some documents to leak yourself?
  87. combined MBA/MFE programs

    That's one side of the equation. They also offer the dual programs because there are talented students that want them. Some schools like GA Tech have graduate assistantships (GA) available for masters students. I *think* that all else being equal you are more likely to get one if you apply as...
  88. Too late to switch into finance

    Pretty good advice I'd say. What city are are you in bachan? THe region can determine a lot about what type of finance firms are accessible.
  89. Too late to switch into finance

    I don't know what your financial and family situation is but have you considered doing a one-year finance masters (if youre not necessarily looking for a quant position) as a way to kick start your switch?
  90. Worth it to get MFE at tier 2+ school w/o work experience?

    Your characterization of finance as just moving money around and not contributing to society tells me this isn't the field for you. Maybe go take some econ classes and see if your attitude changes. You need to understand what capital is if you want to be anything in finance. Maybe use your...
  91. List of Facebook and Twitter accounts for MFE programs

    CGU MSFE https://www.facebook.com/pages/Financial-Engineering-Program-at-CGU/126163287255
  92. UCLA MFE UCLA Anderson to raise tuition

    As to legality, do you mean with respect to laws or the rules a university sets in place? For public schools though the line gets very blurred. One way departments and programs get around these policies though is that both programs charge the same price but then one of them gives (more)...
  93. combined MBA/MFE programs

    Exactly. What sort of career are you after? In addition to the schools you said, Georgia Tech. and Claremont Graduate University both have dual degree programs. Depending on the school, you may not have to pay an extra application fee to apply to both programs, moreover their admissions...
  94. US College closes oversea MBA program due to rampant cheating

    If something is not only sanctioned, but officially encouraged, then it is by definition not cheating. I believe most of these comments should distinguish between these things. If you believe that these discussions produce students with good grades, but a poor understanding, that is more a...
  95. Student reviewers of MFE programs

    Isn't this website basically that book? I suppose there's more that could be done along the lines of "offical" info from the schools, like Princeton Review does but you seem to me to be doing quite fine as is. Maybe just making a seperate index page of all the reviews would go a long way?
  96. First Month in New York City

    Sounds like you're taking to things like a fish to water. Happy for you man. Congrats on the Q Strat position too by the way. Sounds like you haven't even started the actual classes yet and your resume is already rivaling some people with a couple years of work experience!
  97. Financial Engineering research

    Has this person even taken one physics class? That's a pretty blanket recommendation.
  98. Win or Go Home, A Quant student blog

    Ahh, makes more sense. I thought because this post had such a focus on the necessity of describing lesser-known programs that you were applying the NK label in that regard. But yes that does make much more sense in regards to media black out, which is definitely not exclusive to any type of...
  99. Win or Go Home, A Quant student blog

    "Reporting from inside North Korea"??? That's really telling that you choose North Korea as analogous to a non-first-tier program.
  100. MFE or Bust!

    Rich, given that Mannya is going all the way back to complete a whole other bachelor's degree I find his story to be a bit out of the ordinary, thus very much warranting chronicling. Besides, it's not like his articles will really be crowding out others.
  101. MFE or Bust!

    Just out of curiosity, why did you choose to do another whole undergraduate degree? Why not just take the necessary math courses (calcs, lin alg, dif eq, and prob) part time or online?
  102. Things You Need to Know to Follow the Financial News

    While this is a good introduction, it would have been better to leave your editorial opinion out of this. It's important to let new people get to know the vocabulary and mechanics of the financial system before attempting to spin their opinions. Also many some of your criticisms of different...
  103. Energy Trader new to QuantNet got some Q's =)

    I've got some experience in power structuring. Where are you based?
  104. Quant Job Prospects Post 2011

    I've always resented people looking down at asking "is this on the exam?". Yes I want to know if I need to learn this topic NOW or can look at it later. It's just like prioritizing your projects at work based on required dates.
  105. Spring Admission- FE Programs

    I believe CGU is rolling admission for both Spring and Fall.
  106. Nothing Has Changed, Paul Wilmott Says

    You're treating the supply and demand as though all MFEs were interchangeable. Quality is a big separator.
  107. MBA vs. MFE

    Anderson's reputation in finance is stellar. You will have little problem starting your career, plus an mba avoids the possibility of getting thrown in the back office path, which it sounds like you don't want.
  108. Internships and other Summer Activities

    Some of the FE programs have excellent placement records for summer internships, but what about students at 2nd and lower tier schools? I wonder what would be the best strategy for these students. Ought they desperately try to get any sort of internship, even if it is not really finance, but...
  109. UCB MFE Review of UC Berkeley MFE program

    I wonder how much to discount the review of someone who attends UCB and has no full time offers. They're placement is usually well above 90%?
  110. The Dynamite Prize in economics

    Quite a biased list......
  111. Claremont Graduate University

    C++ is not explicitly integrated into the classes right now at CGU. The classes feature a lot of Matlab and VBA. There is a student-led course on C++ each year plus students can take classes at HMC as pointed out earlier. I would also say that C++ is a bit over-rated on these forums. It's...
  112. Funny Quant story for Quant Apply @ Morgan Stanley

    You wouldn't get a job from this answer, that's for sure! What's the third person to do? in this way, you save 50% max! IlyaK8 did the right solution, although his reasoning was not perfect! advice: think the solution through before you answer it - one thing is to come up with a solution...
  113. pHd vs MSFE

    i don't understand If something does not interest you for 4/5 years why would you choose it as a career?
  114. Quantnet positions are now Open

    Hi Andy, Please sign me up for the Finance Forum moderator. Thanks, Frank Response by the Quantnet Team Frank, We appreciate your level of participation, energy. You deserve the position. Your interest in the position has been granted. You now have access to the private forum. We look forward...
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