CMU MSCF first post, but a pretty good one. help/advice is appreciated!

[tylor]

i am currently a freshman of engineering and will be majoring in industrial engineering [which is supposedly the #1 major for FE]. here are the courses that i will be taking that will be good for FE:

calc 1,2,3
prob & stats 1,2
micro, macro, and int econ
matrices and linear algebra
i can take differential equations or theoretical math [opinions on which is best?]
engr computing / engr analysis [was introduced to excel, matlab, and c++]
information systems engineering, productivity analysis, probablistic methods, operations research, discrete event simulation

my junior year i am going to apply for a study abroad program at a university in hong kong. while there i can take some financial engineering electives. list of electives i can choose from: [fundamentals in financial engineering, risk analysis for financial engineering, investment science, decision methodology and applications, computational intelligence for decision making, financial decision and pricing models, financial markets, investment analysis and portfolio management, options and futures, financial mathematics]. thoughts on which stand out?

my older brother is currently in finance but nothing major. i'm thinking he can get me a general finance internship, and i should also be able to get a good finance internship while in hong kong through the university.

i figure during my undergrad i will take some more programming classes as electives since it's not part of the curriculum. is introductury to c++ enough or would i need more? thoughts on this please.

my goal is to be as prepared and as good of a candidate as possible for CMU's program. i think i've discovered this MS program early and i have plenty of time to work toward it and plan accordingly. i think i've got it planned out pretty well but would like input from you guys too. i think my weakness here would be the C++, but i'll take a higher level course in the summer if i have to. i think my strengths are that i am smart and good at this stuff but not the typical 'nerd'. i can best describe myself as more of the IB-male type, but equipping myself with nerd-tools as well.

i'm not sure which career path is right for me yet [quant port management, risk management, sales & trading, structured products/strategies, financial analytics] - i need to do more research on all of them. links to thorough analysis on all of these paths would be appreciated.



thanks everyone!

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I got lost trying to find what you were trying to ask.
Is intro C++ enough? You have finite time so you should try to maximize the probability of getting into CMU. Would more math or C++ would help?
I surely can't tell since I don't work with CMU admission. You may have a sense of what they are looking for if you analyze the profiles of the incoming students there. The info should be on their website.

 

[Connor]

Differential equations.

CMU's program is computational finance, so I would lean towards more C++ beyond an introductory course. I wouldn't take too many FE electives in Hong Kong because then what's the point of getting a MFE? Take a few basic FE courses to get the basics and demonstrate your interest and then focus on math/stat and cs courses.

 

[tylor]

I got lost trying to find what you were trying to ask.
Is intro C++ enough? You have finite time so you should try to maximize the probability of getting into CMU. Would more math or C++ would help?
I surely can't tell since I don't work with CMU admission. You may have a sense of what they are looking for if you analyze the profiles of the incoming students there. The info should be on their website.

sorry, that's my fault - i wrote it too fast. it was mostly an introduction saying "hey, this is my plan, this is what i want to do, what are your thoughts/opinions". my best bet is to contact CMU about how much c++ i need, but i feel weird contacting them as a freshman and saying oh hey i'm interested in your masters program can you answer a question for me. other than that does the plan look pretty decent? seems like i'll have the math, finance, and cs...

Differential equations.

CMU's program is computational finance, so I would lean towards more C++ beyond an introductory course. I wouldn't take too many FE electives in Hong Kong because then what's the point of getting a MFE? Take a few basic FE courses to get the basics and demonstrate your interest and then focus on math/stat and cs courses.

thanks for answering the differential equations / theory question.

wouldn't the point of getting an mfe be to get to wall street? i wouldn't think i'd be able to without doing a masters program. i guess once i'm in hong kong i could see what kind of internship and see where it puts me in the financial world. maybe i might not need it.

 

[Connor]

Getting a job on wall street is pretty broad, and you can get a job there without a mfe. It just helps to have a mfe and some quant roles may require a higher level of education (beyond undergrad)