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Course Selection help needed

Joined
4/22/21
Messages
1
Points
11

What is the ideal set of courses I could look at?
Profile details :
Undergrad : 8.31/10 in ECE
GRE : 325 - 160/165 (v/q) (probably going to take again)
TOEFl : yet to take
Work ex : 21
Current Work profile: Credit Risk Management & Financial Capabilities
Intended Work Profile : Credit Risk management & Financial Analytics
Programs I'm looking at :
* Data Science, Business Analytics with concentrations in Finance
* Financial engineering ( Q is very low?)
Looking for program/school suggestions + possible suggestions to improve profile​

 
Wow, the font really burns your eyes. There's no need to highlight every word.

Coming to your question, I think you'll get much better responses if you have already shortlisted some programs for each of your desired avenues. Based on your research, try to come up with programs you like or want to attend. Everyone's interests are different, a program could seem desirable for one candidate while the same could be undesirable for another one.
Make a list of all the programs you have an inclination towards, you'll get much better answers.

And yes, your GRE Quant score is low for top MFE programs, aim for 167+.

Hint to short-listing programs: What's the difference between your current job profile versus your interests/intended job profile. What skills would you need to gain in order to land this job? What programs offer this curriculum? How many graduates of this program go into the intended field?
 
Hi,

I am an incoming student of the UChicago MSFM program this fall so probably in the same boat as you are but I'll give you my 2 cents.

I have a very similar profile as yours. I think you can target high ranking schools with these scores and you don't really need to take the GRE again. Plus a lot of schools are already making GRE optional and a lot are planning to do away with it so keep that in mind.

Instead, I would suggest to spend that time doing online courses in maths, stats and programming if you think you didn't have these in your undergrad or didn't score good marks in them. There are a lot of interesting courses on MiTx, Coursera etc and the QN C++ programming seems to be the gold standard in the academia.

As for the course selection would suggest to figure our what kind of a career you want to pursue. If you are dead set on working in a quant finance role, quant finance programs will be a good fit although you will have limited (but not zero) options to purse general data analytics/science roles. However, if you want to keep your options open, would like to work in industries like supply chain analytics, customer analytics or market analytics in addition to financial analytics, a business analytics program will be better.

Key take away from this: think very carefully before investing any more time in retaking the test, can do more harm than good in my opinion. Instead focus on searching what you wanna do after the program and spend time on creating your story which will hold much more value.
 
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