Appropriate target schools with my background

[Dataminer]

Hello, I'm interested in applying to MFE/MFN/Math Fin etc...

I'm currently doing masters in statistics and operations research and I have about 3.7 gpa and GRE of 800Q 750V 4.5 .

I've taken graduate courses in probability,inference, regression, data mining, machine learning, algorithms, linear programming, non-linear programming, discrete optimization, stochastic process, Monte Carlo simulation, c++ up to object oriented programming and about half dozen more stat courses.

In terms of math courses, I've taken calc 1,2,3 ODE, PDE, linear algebra and some other high level courses, all undergraduate of course.

I have 1 internship in non-US IB ( Equities and derivatives trading)

I'm thinking about applying to
1) CMU 2) Columbia 3) Princeton 4) MIT 5) NYU 6) Cornell and maybe UCLA and Chicago?

What do you guys think of my chance of getting in to any one of the 6 schools is? Am I aiming too high? I'm a bit worried because after looking at the tracker, it seems only people with extremely high gpa with honors or people with work experience tend to get into those programs...

 

[IntoDarkness]

try to find a job with ur stats master...

 

[Dataminer]

Anyone else have any thoughts on this? I will of course look for a job, and I'm looking for a job and also internships, but i'm planning on applying to schools just in case I can't find anything to my liking. I guess I should have included that in the first post.

So this is what I'm thinking

1). Get a good job
2). If I can't do 1), get a good internship
3). If not 1) or 2), do mfe? maybe Mfin?

 

[C S]

Anyone else have any thoughts on this? I will of course look for a job, and I'm looking for a job and also internships, but i'm planning on applying to schools just in case I can't find anything to my liking. I guess I should have included that in the first post.

So this is what I'm thinking

1). Get a good job
2). If I can't do 1), get a good internship
3). If not 1) or 2), do mfe? maybe Mfin?

It's a lot harder to accomplish 1 or even 2 if you're already thinking of 3. As with any advice from a random guy on the Internetz, take it with a grain of salt: But I would advise you as a number of other people have agreed with, get a job with what you have, it's more than enough. Most of the people in these MFE programs end up realizing that they should have instead learned what you have learned. Finance has undergone severe changes since 2008, but this has not been recognized by the wider world yet, including people running MFE programs. There's a reason Quantnet is holding this Big DATA MOOC.

Final advice: Read Bodie-Kane-Marcus for basic finance knowledge (read some chapters on markets, instruments, and portfolio theory). Read Johnson's book on algo trading and DMA (again, read some introductory chapters -- enough to not look ignorant about order books, flow, liquidity, etc). Read Kerry Back's book for the Black-Scholes stuff (it's probably the quickest read I know -- you'll want to read most of this). Read Bloomberg and The Economist regularly (don't read passively either -- always think, "What would I long? What would I short?"). Get the quant interview books and go for it.

 

[ygmwy]

I agree. You are already in a masters program. Even thinking about prolonging your schooling means you are not putting full effort into finding a job, and I think you can land one given your current background. Becoming a professional student is not the answer. Don't think that MFE is a magic ticket with a job attached to it. You're just going to be spending more money, and in the end, it won't really add much value to your profile for the price tag. (I would not say this for someone right out of undergrad with less experience than you.)

That being said, the jobs are out there in the finance industry for qualified stats people. If you are having a problem getting interviews, you are not networking hard enough, trying hard enough. Even if you go to a completely unknown school (and I assume this because you are complaining of not being able to find jobs), I don't think it should be a problem for you.

 

[Dataminer]

I agree. You are already in a masters program. Even thinking about prolonging your schooling means you are not putting full effort into finding a job, and I think you can land one given your current background. Becoming a professional student is not the answer. Don't think that MFE is a magic ticket with a job attached to it. You're just going to be spending more money, and in the end, it won't really add much value to your profile for the price tag. (I would not say this for someone right out of undergrad with less experience than you.)

That being said, the jobs are out there in the finance industry for qualified stats people. If you are having a problem getting interviews, you are not networking hard enough, trying hard enough. Even if you go to a completely unknown school (and I assume this because you are complaining of not being able to find jobs), I don't think it should be a problem for you.

Well, I guess another option is to do part time MBA while working if I feel like I need to take some courses in finance. Damn, so many options.

Also with my background, assuming I can get into a good MBA program, would MBA be better than MFE or Mfin?? A former classmate of mine who does HFT nowadays suggest MBA instead of MFE if I really wanted to do more studying, since there is a bit of overlap between MFE and Stat/OR.

thanks for the opinions btw.

 

[ygmwy]

You don't need an MBA to do those kinds of jobs. Many financial institutions will take engineers with little to no background in finance, but the truly motivated engineers that want to enter finance study on their own, manage their own portfolios, watch CNN, and follow the news, and stuff like that. That's the kind of stuff an engineer an talk about during an interview. I think you should consider that more school is not always the answer. Not saying that an MBA is definitely not the right choice for you, but I think many will agree that chances are, it's not. It seems like you just want to be a professional student for the rest of your life. Are you avoiding getting a job?

 

[Ken Abbott]

Don't do another masters degree. You'll find that you may have already covered a lot of the material. I found my MS in Stat to be more than adequate, the only difference being that I did it at night and had 11 years of experience by the time I finished it in 1994.

 

[Dataminer]

Well thanks for the opinions. I didn't know my masters degree would make getting MFE or Mfin obsolete. I always wanted to do MFE or Mfin from the get-go when I was in college, but decided to do masters in stat instead of staying in school for 1 more year for second major in stat. Guess I'll go do some job hunting.

thanks guys.

 

[ygmwy]

Good luck! Your focus now should be to identify the gaps between your education and the jobs you want, and figure out how to address those points. There is a lot of learning to be done outside of the classroom on your own when searching for a job like this. You'll find the best people always have something to offer during the interview that school didn't give them. (ie. their own personal trading experiences, a programming project they work on in their free time, some research they did for fun, ect...)