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The last 6-7 minutes were the only ones I watched :)

No, I live in NY :)

I like it so far, it feels better than FireFox but not as great as IE. I have noticed that it has Vista look even on my XP, so I have to get used to having that small title bar in Chrome vs. all others in XP :)

Interesting choice of schools. It is hard to give advice without knowing the details. There is a similar thread on the subject in this forum. Consider all sides of each school like courses, location, tuition etc. Also, I don't think Michigan's FE has higher weight among FE programs than...

You definitely need to take Multivariable Calculus, but Numerical Linear Algebra is a better preparation than (the regular) Linear Algebra. If you follow the applied track, you might get some exposure to programming in C++ or matlab (or whatever else they might teach), which is excellent. I...

It seems to me that Applied Math has the same courses but with the word "applied" in front. If I were you I would choose the applied track since it should have more applications, not just pure math.

And Ph.D. is harder to get. If you enter an MFE you are almost certain you'll get the degree, but it is not true for Ph.D.

By the way, many students from the IE department at UF concentrate in FE, feel very comfortable about it and don't really care about Physics. Their major area of research is CVaR.

I want to stress the option of Ph.D. vs. MFE. Its been discussed elsewhere in the forum that Ph.D. takes a lot of effort and leaves you with not much income for many years, and only those who really want it should pursue Ph.D. In your case with stats background, you might have to learn many...

Regardless of your concentrationi at Stony Brook (I'm assuming it was CAM), QMM won't be of much use to you. If you did some OR or Stats, then you won't learn much. QMM might be good for you in case you just want to study "anywhere" to keep your visa status. Economics is a better choice...

Well, "hot" areas are not necessarily those that require stats background. If I were you, I would be searching for jobs that have keywords "stats" and "PhD" :).

Well, I'm not going to argue against usefulness of the above since I'm a STAT/OR major myself. What I would like to point out is the amount of "need" of these areas in FE. Yes, there are things that can be done using dynamic programming, but they don't even come close to the amout of PDEs used...

Do you mean the difference between OR and IE? It is hard to say :) Some people might say that OR is a subfield of IE.

First of all, those who do Ph.D. intend to work in the area of their concentration. That is, Physics Ph.D.s plan on doing something related to Physics after they graduate, and OR Ph.D.s plan on doing something reated to OR. The difference is that Physics Ph.D.s sometimes work as post-docs...

Knowing Andy, anything > 0 is impossible :)

If you have 3.0/4.0 in math, then gettting > 80% on Math GRE might be a problem. But if you are sure you can do it, then do Math GRE. Math GRE > 80% would look very good on your application, much better than CFA Level 1.

In other countries, like Russia, Ph.D. is much harder to get. Students need to produce a certain number of papers, and their thesis is not evaluated "in house" but gets sent to a special organization that evaluates it on the basis of quality and originality. Also, depending on advisor's...

It depends on what you call decent. There used to be almost no Stochastic Calculus or C++ in the program, but they have made a few changes. They will teach you something but I'm not sure how much real knowledge you will gain. Go there only if you get rejected everywhere else, at least it is...

I don't think they are difficult to get into. Polytech NY is almost open enrollment (i.e., admit almost everyone), but you have to pay high tuition. And yes, there are cases when people have found jobs on Wall Street after Polytech. I don't know much about the other two.

Happy Happy Happy Birthday, Woody!!!

This is a more or less classic statistics curriculum. It opens opportunities to work in many different areas. However, you might want to bring more finance. You need a course on Introductory Finance and, preferably, on Investments/Portfolio Management. Also, a C++ course would be a great...

As far as I understand, there are many more job opportunities for people with a Stats degree than for those with Fin Math. If you have a Ph.D., or even M.S., in Stats you can find jobs in finance. Yes, they won't involve pricing options, but might involve other things. At the same time you can...

As a QMM graduate I can comment on this. Does anyone know if the Quantitative Methods and Modeling MS program is a good and respected program? It is a good program, given that all programs are good, but probably the least known at Baruch. What kind of people are pursuing this type of...

Physics PhD is something very serious, you have to like and understand Physics before even thinking about PhD in it. PhD in Fin Math vs. PhD in Fin. These are two different areas. PhD in Fin Math would require you to do a lot of math, completing all requirements for a regular Math PhD plus...

In my opinion, you need to like math in the first place to become an FE. And, yes, math is hard in FE. If you are working as a manager and like it, then MBA might be the right idea.

A Bachelor degree after Ph.D.? Are we talking about the US? It is very unusual to pursue a B.S. after Ph.D. I would rather go for a Master degree in Applied Math or Statistics, or a certificate in Math.

I would say Math + Finance + Programming + many other things. You don't really need to know much economics to become a financial engineer. What you need to know is a lot of math. My advice would be to take as many math courses as possible starting from Calculus, Linear Algebra, Differential...

I would definitely retake Calc 3 in your case. But before you do that, I suggest you to put more effort in passing your current Calc 3 course. If you do well on the final you might still do well in the course.

If you have passed all exams, I suggest to go for the thesis and explore all possibilities in the department. If it is a top 10 program, there should be faculty interested in many areas. Talk to them and maybe you'll find someone with similar interests.

This part is true as I've seen that e-mail myself. It says that a number of well qualified students (like 5 or so) will be able to take certain (like 3, they listed the options) courses at NYU.

As a former student of Poly I have many friends who have BS and MS degrees (including MFE) from Poly. A rumor has reached me that Poly's MFE might be closed because of the merger. NYU is interested in buying the eingineering part of Poly, so it is a big question what will happen to MFE in the...

I could probably take a look at those schools if you provide links to programs' websites. That way I'll let you know my opinion about their courses in general. Of course, I don't know anything about their placement, reputation, etc.

I would be very careful about BS programs in Financial Math. BS is where your basic skills get built. If you concentrate in math and finance at the same time early in your career you might not be able to get solid understanding of math. So you need to make sure you take all math classes...

And by the way, if Masters degrees are in totally different areas that might even hurt your application. People might think that you don't know what you want :)

Ph.D. is not always more money, I know people with only a bachelors degree making more than $100K . If you want to go for a Ph.D. I would advise to go right after masters so you still remember something.

I think it is not unusual to have two Masters degrees in our area. Many people study something else before realizing they want to get an MFE. Some have MS in CS, some MS in Math, some in various Engineering areas, some in Finance. Two Masters degrees give you an advantage only in the case...

I think I used the 2nd book at CMU. It has some material related to personal research of the authors (if I'm not mistaken). I would also give it 4 stars :) For me, it was the least useful course at CMU.

That is very true, Alain :) nobody will tell us anything that would lead to making money :) I'm wondering what they teach in that course? "how to set up trading systems and all sorts of software tricks" ?

There is a course at NYU dealing with algo trading. I'm not sure what background they expect students to have, check their website.

Andy, do you think Baruch has more C++ than CMU? :)

We don't know anything about these routes :) maybe one is via a quiet road and the other via a busy highway :)

Keeping in mind what Andy said, imagine smiles at the end of every 3rd or 5th sentence :) 2. continuation... I'm not sure I follow your question (especially the second part), but here is what I understood. As I mentioned before, FE has OR component, so an OR program can offer a few FE...

Well :) nice post, fffk :) sorry I don't know your name ;) 1. I was using my own definition of Applied Math - meaning numerical methods, differential equations, linear algebra, etc excluding OR - when saying that FE combines parts of several areas. If your definition of Applied Math includes...

Alain, it would be a dream come true if Baruch could add those courses to the curriculum.

If Columbia allows you to major in OR and take most of FE courses, then it could be almost no different from their FE program. :) In that case, I do not understand why the FE program suggests going for OR in case of rejection. I would understand it if by doing so they make you take classes like...

If Columbia allows you to major in OR and take most of FE courses, then it could be almost no different from their FE program. :) In that case, I do not understand why the FE program suggests going for OR in case of rejection. I would understand it if by doing so they make you take classes like...

Well :) I would go to NYU because I like NY, I want to be close to employers, it is probably a bit cheaper than CMU. More important : as a person interested in Stats and with Stats background I would choose NYU since it offers full semester courses in Time Series, Statistical Arbitrage...

I can express my preference but it should in no way affect your decision. So I won't do it :) You need to do a side by side comparison of everything in the two programs: courses offered, course syllabi, schedule flexibility, employment assistance, tuition, location As we all know, NYU...

Well, well, well :) I did not mean to do any harm by saying that many courses are avoidable :) Anyway, I put a big smile at the end. Before giving my opinion about OR, I would like to say a couple of things about "FE is just a branch of OR" mentioned by fffk. :) FE is NOT a branch of OR...

There was a discussion elsewhere on this forum about possible reasons NYU does not offer job search assistance to part-time students. Most part-time students already have jobs and don't need job assistance.

Keep in mind that if you take the certificate you will be on your own in terms of searching for jobs, internships, etc. Certificates are usually for people who are either working or studying for a degree but want to increase their knowledge in some areas. This might be good if you, say, have...

MFE is not always a computer "techie" type :) Quant Developers tend to program more, but people in other areas even get to work on deals or models. If you dont feel like programming, then MFin might be the way to go. There is need in people who understand finance and economics. MFE does not...

What else is being offered in the summer? Of course, taking complex analysis won't hurt (it won't help either :) )

Can you, for example, take Differential Equations? Ordinary or Partial or maybe even Stochastic.

It is also a bit hard to believe that many of the courses are avoidable in Columbia's OR. It is a degree in OR in the end :)

It is also a bit hard to believe that many of the courses are avoidable in Columbia's OR. It is a degree in OR in the end :)

It really depends on how lower is lower. Some programs may be ranked lower (in whatever way we rank them) but give you as much knowledge as Columbia, but others may be ranked lower and give you much less knowledge so you will never make it past the 1st interview. We should not forget that...

It really depends on how lower is lower. Some programs may be ranked lower (in whatever way we rank them) but give you as much knowledge as Columbia, but others may be ranked lower and give you much less knowledge so you will never make it past the 1st interview. We should not forget that...

By the way, CVaR has been studied extensively at UF and many many papers have been published by UF faculty on the subject. Also, the Abel's Prize, which is very similar to Nobel Prize but in Math was awardet to UF Math professor John Griggs Thompson. Laureates 2008 So Gainesville is not...

:D That is so strong :) I don't mind setting my foot on FSU campus even though I've been to UF :)

Does that mean you would never go to UF? :) I've heard that people take UF vs. FSU rivalry very serious :)

Reading this thread, I have came up with a question :) Given that you were accepted to 2 equally weighted schools (in terms of everything you care about) but one school has a great Football team and the other does not. Would that really matter to you? :) Would you go to the one with a...

I do not see any problem with this except that you will need to figure out where to get money (for living expences like home, food, clothing) for 2 years vs. 1 year. Also, Fin and OR are kind of far from each other except for those areas of finance that use OR. I'm not familiar with OR at...

I do not see any problem with this except that you will need to figure out where to get money (for living expences like home, food, clothing) for 2 years vs. 1 year. Also, Fin and OR are kind of far from each other except for those areas of finance that use OR. I'm not familiar with OR at...

I would rather go to CMU :) but mostly because CMU is more quantitatively oriented.

I would rather go to CMU :) but mostly because CMU is more quantitatively oriented.

Andy, this is because many countries outside the US have different systems. For example, B.S. graduates might know as much as M.S. graduates in the US. By the time you get to Ph.D. you already know a lot :) and only need to take a few courses to fill in the gaps.

Alain, when I said "along the lines" I meant that you picked different criteria - sport - to choose USC. My criteria is location, since I would rather go to Boston than to NJ or CA :)

Since I don't know anything about placement at these schools, I would go along the lines Alain suggested and pick Boston because of location :)

If you don't see many references to a program, it does not mean that the program is bad. In fact, it may mean the exact opposite. Well-established programs do not need great publicity. I don't know about MS&E (assuming that it means materials science and engineering), but can say that any...

Andy, Bank of America is not the only bank in North Carolina :) HSBC and Wachovia also have offices there :) these are the two that I know of, there might be more.

Well, Andy :) if there are people with similar backgrounds at UCB, then the same question can be addressed to them :) And as you said earlier, people with these backgrounds have almost no problem finding a job, unlike those with engineering degrees. I wonder if Baruch is the most successful...

Same thing is in Russia :) Many job ads start by saying "We are looking for a man ages 25 to 45". So they immediately discriminate on the basis of age and gender. And in many cases being married is good.

" Applications to the full-time program have been growing by leaps and bounds from about 350 in 2005 to 500 in 2006, to over 750 this year. " It says that there are over 750 applications to the full-time program. Well, anyway. My point is that 9% admission rate to one of the top programs...

I think 9% is a good number for NYU considering that 700 people apply. As Financial Engineering becomes more popular more and more people will be applying including those who have no idea what it is. There are schools that have 1% admission rate :) [at least, in Russia] so there is still room...

I agree with Andy. I've seen many post doc ads for Chemistry, Biology PhDs offering low 40K's as salaries. Here is a link to RF CUNY job ads (2nd from the top gives 38-40K and requires PhD). Job Opening And there are many more ads like these and not many of them give more than 50K.

Maybe not many people apply to UCB. Not everybody wants to go to the west coast if they have strong chances of getting into schools on the east coast. Plus some people who think they won't get in don't apply. Baruch's situation is different, it is on the east coast, tuition is much lower, and...

I'm curious how is it possible to have the number of enrolled students be 59-60 every year. One year they admit 92, 59 of them enroll, another year they admit 73, 60 of them enroll.

If you are from CMU, you can use the opportunity to take a couple of courses from the Computational Finance program. They have a number of finance courses that will teach you necessary skills to enter the area of asset management.

Both FE and Finance programs require you to take finance courses. Finance programs just want you to go deeper into finance and learn corporate finance, exchange operations, global finance and others. As I see from another thread on this forum, you are debating between PhD and 2 MS degrees. If...

No, I don't know any others :) In fact, I mostly visit QN, been on Wilmott several times, maybe 5 times on GD, and never been on NP :)

Alain, CMU has more homeworks :) on average. While I'm sure that many professors at Baruch have similar course loads in their classes (Professor Stefanica might even have greater course load), there are courses at Baruch that have less course load. For example, Professor Shreve usually teaches...

Welcome :) hope you find here all you are looking for. And don't hesitate to ask questions or join discussions.

If you just want asset management and don't want any derivative pricing, stochastic calculus or C++, you might indeed be interested in regular finance programs. And as you said, Princeton sounds like a good option. Check other schools and see what they have in finance department.

Andy :) I have to disappoint you, but Stochastic Calculus is taught a little different at CMU than at Baruch. I took it at CMU and at Baruch :) and there is a difference. The biggest difference between Baruch and CMU is in terms of how much is covered in each class and how much homework is given...

If you cannot afford paying for a graduate degree, you can apply to schools that offer graduate assistantships. Most PhD programs offer teaching or research assistantships and some masters programs also offer teaching assistantships. However, I have not heard of any finance or financial...

PhD is something that not everyone is willing or able to do. If you think you want it and can do it, why not try getting PhD first. You can do MF @ Princeton later or at the same time while working on your thesis.

I am not sure about the two categories specified above. Risk Management also goes with Asset Management, so it must be in both :) In addition, derivative pricing uses PDEs, not just Stochastic Calculus. There is definitely less statistics in derivative pricing than in asset management. Also, I...

I think it is good that UCLA MFE administration wants the program to be in top 3. I would be surprised if they started the program to become just an average program. The first couple of years will be difficult in terms of course selection and course content. Every program revises their...

Now that we have the complete picture, we might draw a couple of conclusions. Clearly, Chicago has a very strong programming component and does not allow for any electives. Columbia FE, on the other hand, does not have much programming but offers opportunity to investigate many different...

Side by side comparison: FM program is 30 credits, FE program is 36 credits. FE program is 1 year Similarities: 1. Both programs offer standard introduction to mathematical finance: Black-Scholes, lattice models. 2. Both programs offer stochastic processes courses which include...

I updated Columbia's side by side comparison (see Andy's link). As an undergrad, your son should become a frequent visitor to career services (or some other name they go by) office. Have his resume ready and look for internships while still in school. As far as MS degree, he should check FE...

I agree with Mike, any salary > $0 is good these days :) and it seems to me (from the first post) that graduates don't have many options to choose from. You don't need to be a Financial Engineer to work with credit cards.

I had to reduce the size of the image to fit the tables side by side. I can produce two separate tables if there is need.

side by side comparison of Chicago FM and Columbia FE

Is this the program at U Chicago we are talking about? MSFM - Prospective Students I will compare it coursewise to Columbia's MFE

By the way, someone told me a while ago that it was Polytech who bought NYU Engineering School many years ago (at that time it was the other way aroung with NYU < Poly). And now NYU got it back.

Or, students who get rejected by NYU will be offered admission to Polytech's FE program. As of now, it is more or less open enrollment.

If you don't feel like spending 60K, then finishing your current degree is the way to go. If your current degree is in finance as opposed to financial math, then you will be competing for jobs not requiring stochastic calculus and C++ skills. As Mike pointed out above, you might want to...

One thing is to get a job in finance; moving up the stairs being already in the field is another thing. What kind of job are you looking for? You might, first, want to look for an entry level job, just to get your foot into the door. Look for jobs that require your skills. I had one...

University name is definitely important to some extent. Individual programs' names are also important. Many other variables factor into your success of finding a job: networking, your knowledge of subjects, market conditions, etc. What programs at Columbia and Chicago were you accepted to? MS...

I am not sure whether you need another degree. As a Stats PhD, you already have skills you can use in FE. Depending on where you want to work, you might not need numerical methods or SDEs. Take C++ at your local school and apply for a job :)

Alain mentioned another possible application of statistics in finance. Someone who has taken a course in Multivariate Statistics knows regression (simple, multivariate, multinomial), factor analysis, principal component analysis and can be of great help in portfolio management or risk...

Since R was mentioned, here is something that might be useful for those using R :) R Short Reference Card http://cran.r-project.org/doc/contrib/Short-refcard.pdf

Joe, thanks a lot for your explanation. Now, I'm starting to get the whole picture. When I said "baby stuff", I meant intruductory time series models like AR, MA, ARIMA. They are nowhere near to what John mentioned in his post. I took STA9701 - Time Series - at Baruch where we covered...

Some Russians joke that Chelsea is a Russian football team and should play in Russian Premier League :)

John, thanks for your pointers :) It seems to me that AR, MA, ARIMA, GARCH and other similar things are "baby stuff" compared to what is needed for stat arb. It would be great to have a course that would help to sort out things needed for stat arb, just like you pointed out. I know one stat...

Andy, first, it is not appropriate to ask how old you are or if you are married at interviews, second, you look at least 5 years younger than your real age :)

If I were you, I would apply for a job in finance right away. While looking for a job, you can take/audit core finance courses at your current school.

Joe, what do they usually ask? Stat Arb is one of the areas I consider getting into :) and I think I've mentioned adding a Stat Arb course to our MFE curriculum like a dozen times.

Andy, Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday :) Nice to know that you were also born in March :)

There are people who say that you must know C++ and there are those who say you don't need C++. My opinion is that you need C++, however, the amount of C++ you need depends on your position. Also, I think that all quants must know statistics as well, but many people will disagree. As a future...

Just as a side note. My undergraduate advisor once told me that it is better to go elsewhere to do a masters degree. His argument was that students need to get familiar with many places :) And yes, the reason I joined the program is patially due to the fact that I got my first M.S. at Baruch and...

There are new courses offered at NYU compared to what was offered a number of years ago. It seems to me that NYU is keeping up with industry demands.

It says that internships are provided by and assigned by the people running the program. This gives me a feeling that these are rather projects but not internships.

Usually, if an IEOR department exists, it offers a MSOR degree. I am sure that hiring managers know that MSOR program is under IEOR :) They also know that MSOR is not quite MSFE. But if the position only requires skills that are part of MSOR, the person can be hired.

No, but that was because Financial Math was not well known at that time.

The higher the better. I think it also depends where you GPA is from. Other factors are GRE scores, personal essay, recommendation, basically the whole admission packet. Obviously it is better to have your undergrad in a technical discipline rather than in humanities or social sciences.

A lot depends on your personal preferences. Compare the courses in the two programs. You might not even want to go through OR in the first place. Obviously, placement into financial sector is better through FE. But people get jobs in finance with OR degrees, I personally know one person with...

Well, I do not restrict myself to NYC only :) and would be happy to learn about other programs.

I see your point :) otherwise I would suggest FSU as as safety school. Boston is a good choice. Also check Polytech, they seem to be a "safety school", but I don't know much about their employment stats, except that my friend got his MFE there and is working now, but not in a quant role.

Very nice, I will be on a break from school and could come to join you at least once :)

I agree, "hundreds of miles away from any point of civilisation" might be crucial when deciding where to go. So unless you are from that area, it is better for you to visit the campus and see for yourself.

I see that you are from FL, have you looked at FSU's program in Math Finance? There used to be one a few years ago.

I've had a few calls from headhunters, but mostly, as you said, I get e-mails about "great positions of admin assistant" in many places :)

People who have PhDs, as you pointed out, have already proven that they can do independent research and can come up with solutions to various problems. When they get hired, they can develop new models. In case of MFEs, they (almost) never do independent research and don't usually get research...

I agree. There is an introduction to Stochastic Calculus, which I think only gives a general idea about stochasticity. Normally, Stochastic Calculus is taught after a full-semester course in probability. Other courses are very similar to Baruch's MS in Finance.

It might be that Fordham has a system similar to what CMU has, but a bit more complicated. It is not clear how to equate credits of those 2 credit half-semester courses. I would say, those 20 courses, 2 credits each, should be equated to 18 credits. Adding 3 courses from outside and the...

If you want to make business decisions, you might want to consider an MBA. MFE is highly quantitative, it will be good for you if you like to work with numbers, program. You might not necessarily find yourself in a position of making decisions after MFE.

By the way, one of the professors who might eventually become my PhD advisor has PhD in EE, and his area of interest is Applied Probability, so he knows Stochastic Processes really well. And as far as I know, all EE PhDs must know Probability and Stochastic Processes. This tells me you are...

I am curious how do you estimate 2 or 2 1/2 years left in the program? As Alain said, this is very similar to MFE timewise. However, there are fixed time-lines for finishing an MFE. If you study full-time, you can graduate in 3 semesters, if you are a part-time student, you graduate in 5-6...

While Baruch is the best in terms of "what you get" vs. "what you pay" , some people pay attention to other indicators. Since "Name-Brand" was mentioned above, I would add that some people simply want a degree from Columbia, NYU or CMU, and high cost won't stop them even if their chances of...

I agree with Alain :) 1.5 months for Shreve's Stochastic Calculus is not just not enough. I think not many people can even handle that book on their own. Simple reading is not enough, you need to be able to solve most of the problems. But how are you going to know whether your solutions are...

Interesting question. The answer depends on the person you talk to, and also on the importance of Ph.D. for you. If you have a Ph.D., you can find quant jobs, the types of jobs will (hopefully) be different than those you can get with just an MFE. If you really want to do a Ph.D., then you...

Doing a PhD thesis is good on its own. Optimal Control is a great area. And if your question is "should I do a PhD thesis in Optimal Control or don't do PhD", then the answer is do it.

Some schools don't accept GRE scores older than 5 years. So if you apply for 2009 or even for 2008 admission, some schools might ask you to retake it.

I agree that C++ is necessary for an MFE program but it is not the most important subject. The most important is Stochastic Calculus.

Financial Engineering is very broad. People trained in FE have skills to handle Risk Management. Actuarial science is not as broad as FE. If you choose an actuarial career, you will be restricted to "do only this". Where as the beauty of FE is that you know a 1000 different things and you can...

Weekly drinking tournaments? :D what are they drinking? I might stop by one day to participate (well, you know that vodka was invented in Russia :) ).

But what if the start up goes bankrupt in 1 year? :) As Gus said, I would research the company and people who run it before making a decision. Unless it is my own start up :)

Well, let me say a couple of things. People with MS in Math or any other quantitative discipline can find a job in finance, and I know several people who happen to work in finance or were offered jobs in finance having MS in Math, Stats, OR. There are two points here that need to be...

I've never heard about JMU program :) In any case, if you are going for an undergrad degree, make sure you take as much math as possible, computer science would also help. Take a couple of intro finance classes. But as Erica said above, it all starts in graduate school.

Great job, Andy, I want to learn how to program that nice GUI some day :) I wonder what volga is :) is that a Russian river? :)

Well, looking at the number of my posts... I'll mark the "die-hard fan" choice :D

You are never old to be a quant, the issue is that some schools have their internal age limits. Even though they may not say it explicitly, some schools do not admit many people after, say, 35. Baruch is a nice exception.

I don't know which one to vote for :) I'm far from being die-hard fan, but I try to visit Quantnet whenever I get a chance and it is usually more than 2 times a week :D

I don't remember my preparation time. Some people need 2 weeks, some need 2 months. It all depends on your schedule. Regarding new words, my number is zero :)

Indeed, it might be more efficient to follow managerial route. Quant finance is more for people with quantitative skills who want to work in the area of finance.

Might be an interesting book to read. I looked at the table of contents, some chapters promise to be enlightening (like "Neosubjectivism").

Courses in FE are easier than Mathematics PhD courses. They aren't easy, but not as hard as Math PhD. Many courses are easy in nature but require a lot of work. For example, if you are not comfortable with C++, you might find it hard to code even elementary operations [and this has nothing to...

I see that part of it is computational geometry, but don't know about the rest.

Well... a number corresponding to the first quartile of the MFE salary distribution should be the one new MFE's with no work experience should look at *before* they start their MFE journey.

I can only answer (2). Yes, it is usually recommended to go to a school in NYC. You will be close to many important things. Part of that is job search; imagine having interviews [towards the end of your study] at companies in NYC but attending a school, say, in California. You also get a chance...

Awesome :) and why am I not surprised that he is from CMU :) Andy, how many Blue-Ray movies do you have :) I have a feeling the number is > 100 :)

But some people already have their feet in the door and still want to get an MFE. So there must be some positions they are thinking about that require MFE.

Very well said :) If we go by "which industry pays more" to choose what to study, we might wind up nowhere. Layoffs in finance should not discourange anyone from getting into it :)

Well, I wish I could make money as a soccer player playing for teams like Manchester United, Chelsea, Uventus, Milan, etc :) but I can't because I play much worse than any kid in the respective youth teams.

A good follow up question might be: which of these you can get after getting a degree other than MSFE. For example, you can be a Data Analyst after getting a degree in Computer Science or Statistics or Math :)

I searched for 3DMark and found a program called 3DMark03, it is used for graphics benchmarking for gamers :) Well, anyway, it crashes when benchmarking my Dell :) Some planes are flying and the program closes at the end asking to send the data to Microsoft :D At least, my Dell allows me to...

"but quantitative scores were slightly higher for lower-ability examinees who had more time." - quote from the link. If I score 800 under regualar time constraints, I will still get 800 under relaxed time constraints. So everybody who scores 800 anyway biases the curve. Things are different...

Alain, its not so simple with medicine :) first, you have to study for a number of years and then pass a million exams, and then an error you make can result in health issues of a patient. Not everybody wants this. But MFE, on the other hand, is only 2 years, no exams to pass, and you are on...

Andy, what benchmark software do you use? I want to see how my 1-year old Dell notebook compares to others.

Videocard alone costs more than PlayStation :)

I wonder how much it cost :)

Now is a good time to play it :) before the next semester starts.

I think playing games "professionally" on a PC is not a good thing, if someone wants to play games with cool graphics they should buy PS2/3 or XBOX :). I sometimes (like once a week) play my FIFA games, recently switched to NBA, and my videocard is OK for those games.

I was not aware that 768MB videocards exist :) I'm comfortable with my old 256MB. I can't recall all of my PC specs since I'm not home. I have something like 3.2GHz Intel Pentium (4 or D), 1Gb of RAM, 256MB videocard, 250+80Gb HD.

At work, you might need lots of "monitor space", but at home? :) in that case you need a big room as well.

As I like to say, given enough time, almost everyone can get 800 on Quant GRE :) So it becomes more of a test of how fast you can do the problems, and I don't think it is a test of mathematical abilities. It is definitely not an indicator of how well you can do PDEs in grad school :) but maybe...

I wonder why do you need 2 monitors :) I have a 15.4" Dell Notebook that is doing great so far, the only upgrade I have made 1Gb RAM => 2Gb RA.

Search for practice exams online and in book stores :) the more problems you do, the better.

The certificate program at Stanford is more suitable for people who already know enough and just want to add something to their portfolio. I might actually consider taking a couple of online courses in the area of Statistical Finance :) but thats because what I'm interested in is not offered at...

I did it manually :) drawing pictures. 1) Look at arrival: Arrival between 15 and 20 minutes implies that the hour hand was between 11 and 12 [since it moves from 10 to 15 in 60 minutes]. 2) Look at leaving: (1) imples that you left 11 to 12 minutes after 3, so the hour hand was somewhere around...

They do not disclose their placement information. I know someone with a Ph.D. got a job at American Express and some one else got a job at Deutsche Bank. But many people find jobs at universities (thats is what Ph.D. is for) :). I was there at the Stats department (that by the way gives Teaching...

Well... what is the answer? :) New Year's laziness does not allow me to fully work out the problem.

STA 9700 and STA 9701 are usually offered in the Fall. It looks like FIN 9790 with Prof. Aronson is already full.

You become a Ph.D. candidate only after "advancement to candidacy" -- kind of means that you are almost done -- which will happen after you pass exams and satisfy other requirements depending on your school. If you are admitted to a Ph.D. program, you are not a candidate but just a Ph.D...

3:11:20 PM (maybe plus something small that I'm lazy to compute). The meeting could not last for 55 minutes :) he said he was late, so the meeting had started prior to his arrival. If it started at 2pm, then it was at least 1 hour 11 minutes :)

If you are looking for a PhD in FE, ty Document Moved (PhD at the University of Florida that I happened to attend which has excellent placement rate). Their program is built around IE/OR, they do a lot of portfolio and risk management but not much of PDEs. And by the way, each program is built...

No, I think it is the opposite, he is probably using a 14" notebook :) everything that is small is almost invisible on 14".

You definitely need to retake the GRE. While 780 is high, there is still room for perfection. The verbal part definitely needs an improvement. :)

Dominic, thank you for your input. I've heard about signal processing being used in finance but was not aware of where and how. Someone who I know is familiar with signal processing but not familiar with finance, maybe we will benefit from each other.

Ideally, I would like to see Econometrics, Time Series (by MFE program), Statistical Arbitrage, Algorithmic Trading offerd at Baruch. Dominic, could you please explain a bit more about Signal Processing. What part does it play in finance, how important it is?

This is where my personal view of the situation gets in the way. I personally don't like the fact that the core is supposed to be about pricing options. Sooner or later, even high school students will know how to price options. By "models" I mean something like CAPM. How about this: if we...

Well :) option pricing is not the only one thing studied in MFE. Anyway, I was referring to purely theretical knowledge of how exchanges work vs. partially practical knowledge of how to build models that help (directly or indirectly) to make money :)

If you do really bad, you get fired the next day :)

I wonder if it is possilble to offer a course on Statistical Arbitrage at Baruch :)

MS in Finance is somewhere between MBA and MFE. As it was pointed out, if you are not friendly with math, MFE is not for you. If you are not friendly with management and interaction with people, MBA might not be for you either. If you want to do MS in Finance be prepared to learn Corporate...

Isn't the recent Baruch average Verbal GRE close to the average Verbal GREs from Columbia/NYU/CMU? In that case, you have lost a chance of applying to Baruch as well. Actually, the chance to apply is never lost. Anyway, apply to all schools that you want to get into.

It is good to have the CQF if you are already working in finance industry. I would personally prefer a masters degree instead.

I think quality/reputation/job prospects are almost the same for all mentioned programs. CMU is the oldest program, NYU/Columbia/CMU have well known professors teaching courses (Chicago might have as well). If these four are the only schools you get accepted to, you might want to think in...

"how good" is very subjective :) I can say, the difference in terms of "how good" between U Chicago and NYU/Columbia/CMU etc is not statistically significant :)

That is great :) In some cases, Baruch is a better choice than Columbia/NYU/CMU.

Well... it is not hard to get 800 on Quant GRE and many people score 600 or above on Verbal GRE... but GPA = 3.27 is kind of low. I personally would not admit anyone who had a "D" in math :)

Looking at all available options before getting into a program is a fun and interesting thing to do. But things will change once you get into a program. You might find a million obstacles on your way like certain classes being offered in certain semesters (not when you want to take them)...

I disagree with that. I've only had a few interviews in my life, and most of them were through headhunters. You just happened to be one of the lucky ones to find a job through school contacts [as I understand] :) We need to have all sources available to us. If Huxley Associates or any other...

What do you mean by "horrible stories"?

There aren't many of us here who have written "statement of research interests" :) Try thinking of your own interests and not copying someone's ideas :)

I think everybody should apply to Baruch: those with GPA's around 4.0 and GREs around 1600 might consider applying just in case they don't get admitted to Columbia/NYU/CMU etc :) and those with GPAs around 3.0 and GREs around 1200 might consider applying just in case their profile is good in...

Physics and Nuclear Engineering? :) Awesome! How serious are you about getting a job in finance? physics majors are ones of the most successful on Wall Street.