Am I making the RIGHT move?

[Deep]

I am 35 years old, with MSc degree in Applied Science in Irrigation from a non-US university. I have been a math school teacher for the last 5 years I have been here in the U.S. I want to switch a carrer and want to move to the Quant field. I have taken Cal I, II, III, Linear Algebra and Diff. Equations, Macro and MIcro Economics here in the U.S and I have them all A's. I have little to none exposure to business courses, eventhough I grow up in a family who owned busnesses. I am preparing to apply for MSc in Quantitative and Computational Finance at the Georgia Tech. I have taken GRE and scored 730 in the quantitiative part. There are over 550 applicants for this fall for 50 seats at this university. My questions is, if I am accepted and finish the program, what is the job prospects given the fact that

1. I am graduating from GaTech, and not CMU or Stanford, or those type of University and I don't know how GaTech is rated in this field eventhough it is one of the top 5 universities in the US in Engineering. Because I hear people saying if you don't graduate from top university it's hard to find a Quant job.

2. I just became a citizen and have pretty much thick accent

Since I am 35, I have zero margin of error when it comes studying for years if the job prospects are not promising to me. How do you see my decisions? Thank you.

 

[alain]

(2) it's not as big of a problem as you are implying

Age is not an issue either. It all depends on how good you are and how willing are you to learn.

 

[Ken Abbott]

If you have a family to support I would not recommend making a career switch. There are now 50-70 QF programs, all churning out graduates. Many of these grads have real experience, which makes them marketable.

 

[joel_b]

Get accepted, then consider your options, otherwise you're just frustrating yourself with speculation,no? Also, shouldn't you apply to more than one school?

 

[Deep]

I am planning to apply to New York University, too. Thank you for your responses guys.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Let's begin with the assumptions you made when you decide to go to this field and we will see if you are on the right path or not.
1) How much more do you think you will make with your next job, providing you can get in, finish the program and find a job?
2) What exactly do you want to do in the quant field?

And given that you have 730 Q GRE and GaTech has 550 applications last year, it does not bode well for your chance.
It is hard to find a job wherever you graduate from. Going to the top programs just means they may give you a better support for you to find a job. And I won't count on it too much from what I have been learning about these MFE programs the past 4,5 years.

So back to the first thing: what about the current job that makes you want to change?

 

[Deep]

Andy,

What makes me change from my current job is because I don't like it. I never enjoyed it. I am currently teaching because I had no idea what to do when I first got into the US and I am stuck since then for 5 years now. The reason I chose to study MFE is because it can be done on overtime basis without quitting my job since I have a lot of responsibilities. I also want to do something quantitative (Math based programs). I am not really after the money (eventhough wouldn't hurt), just want to do something I like to do.

Andy, if you have any other program/s in mind that suits my situation, please let me know. Thank you.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

We have a few recent reviews of the GaTech QCF
Review of Georgia Tech QCF program | Quant Network

As far as i know, Georgia has two programs, GaTech and Georgia State University.
You can take a look at our list of other programs at Quant Network Program Selector | Quant Network

 

[ThinkDifferent]

right move or not, not having PhD and with just an MFE degree from a second/third tier school will not get you far in terms of job search.
....not saying that you are not intelligent enough to do the job or will not be able to pass the interviews, it's just that it will be difficult to get any inteviews at all.

 

[MilenaTzang]

I myself have switched career too. I was luckier than you in the term of age, since I realised that I did not like what I was doing in academia just a short time after I graduated and got the first job in academia. I am not sure if my experience could help you to see how career changing process looks.

I moved from academia to industry. The most difficult thing I have had to face was to get an interview. Job agents were reluctant to find interviews for me, when they saw my CV with full of academic/research experience. So, I had to be very proactive, e.g., actively call the agents up and talked to them about my abilities, etc. I graduated with distinction grade from a very good and well-known university, but that was not so helpful. I saw the recruiters paid more attention on my working experience than awards, medals, grants I had or university I graduated.

 

[Yos Feit]

Have you considered.....?

Deep,

Your post is necessarily brief, and you did not provide a detailed explaination for your decision to pursue training in Financial Engineering. While I was not able to find hard numbers, I strongly suspect that the World economy supports a very small number of financial engineers or "quants". There are jobs that I will call "quant-oid" like financial engineering computer programmer, and that will account for a few more jobs. In my experience here in NYC, a fair number of MFE graduates from all schools end up in non-quant work like general financial analysis and sales. If you are sensitive to job prospects and have "zero margin for error" I urge you to further research your decision.

As an alternative, consider a degree in Computer Science which has a very large job base and a good growth forecast:

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos303.htm#outlook

Or look at a general finance degree.

If you take a job in the finance industry , prepare yourself for a big change in lifestyle. You will have to move to some other part of the country. Your hours will be radically different, because they will be longer and less predicable. The pressures and expectations are different. There are no unions and employment is at-will (your employer can fire you for no reason at all). There is no set, published pay scale and no seniority. There is no overtime pay. There is no per-session pay.

I don't mean to discourage you, after all many of us love the work, the challenge, the pressure, and if you are better than so-so, the money. I am just encouraging you to take a closer and harder look.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Yos has sound advice. Clicked Like.

 

[Deep]

Thank you for your advice guys; but I have couple of questions though: First, if the job prospect in the industry is so grim like you guys are suggesting, why is it there are hundreds of applicants or <10% acceptance rate in almost all universities or quant programs? Second, who is the ideal candidate for the quant program or quant job? Thanks
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[alain]

Thank you for your advice guys; but I have couple of questions though: First, if the job prospect in the industry is so grim like you guys are suggesting, why is it there are hundreds of applicants or <10% acceptance rate in almost all universities or quant programs? Second, who is the ideal candidate for the quant program or quant job? Thanks

how many people play the lottery? why do they play? how many win? similar logic applies.

There is really no ideal candidate. Everybody is different and bring something else new to the table.

 

[Connor]

I agree that there is no ideal candidate, but I would say that much of the general advice you will find here on this forum and online in general is more towards a "cookie-cutter" candidate. Common advice is to study math and take xyz math courses as bare minimal prerequisites, to have some programming knowledge and at least a basic understanding of finance/derivatives. I think this is a fair generalized picture of many candidates going into MFE programs and as has pointed out many times, they don't have any experience and are almost like MFE robots when they come out (sorry for the gross generalization).

To work in the quant field you need a certain level of math, programming and finance. But to have a good chance of getting a job and to really be successful you need to be different. What knowledge/skills/experience do you have that the guy next to you doesn't?

A MFE isn't a wonder drug that will you (or me) rich and successful. And it isn't risk free either. A less risky option that could also potentially lead to a quant role would be subjects like computer science, applied math/statistics or finance.