How hard is it to get into a program?

[WilliamRFrost]

Right now, I'm way to early in my education to be thinking about grad schools and such, but I am anyway. Basically I stumbled upon this (a while ago actually), and just wanted to find out how hard this is to get into. I am at a fairly prestigious university in an engineering program. It's not MIT or anything, but a well known and respected university. I plan on taking many math classes (beyond what my major requires) but I am not a genius. I'm not going to be coming out with a 3.7 GPA or anything like that. I'm not going to have straight As in all my math classes. I'm not going to have some incredible work experience, research experience, or anything equally impressive. However, I assume an 800 GRE math section isn't too hard though?

Anyway, for someone who would hopefully be looking at solid but not top programs in financial engineering:

A. How hard are they to get into? What sorts of GPA range/score range (and what tests?)/work experience/anything else should someone have going in?

B. Is it worthwhile to get an MFE from a university that's not at the very top? Will there still be recruitment from financial companies and such for me or will I have to go out an seek out some mediocre job in some unrelated or only mildly related field?

C. How is this weighed against an M.Finance? Are there a number of places which have finance degrees without extensive work experience required? Do they land the same type of jobs, and if not how different would someone with a strong math background and an M.Finance be from someone with an MFE? That's another thing I might want to look at.

Thank you.

 

[chaoticrambler]

What is the motivation for you to get into this field except for the $$ ? Have you read any math related to MFE ? Does it look interesting ? You don't have to so negative about your abilities and prospects. It is not too hard to do a semester long research project during your senior year on related topics. You have to stand out to get anywhere and show both aptitude and motivation. Remember you will be competing with PhDs in Math/Physics/Engineering for the same jobs.
Meanwhile, college is the best time to develop programming skills, so get on with it.

 

[WilliamRFrost]

Finance in general sounds interesting to me, and I like math. I haven't looked specifically into math used in Financial engineering, but I haven't taken a Linear algebra course yet either (yes I know, I'm way too young to be thinking about this already) so I probably wouldn't be able to do any of it yet. Programming skills I should be able to develop considerably, but how developed do they have to be?

I want to try to clarify something about what I would be hoping for job prospects wise. I don't expect that I'll go work for some top financial company and make 250K a year. I would however want to work in a field where the degree in Financial Engineering (or Finance + strong math background, or something like that) is necessary. If there are PHDs in Math, Physics, and Engineering competing for all of those jobs and slots in schools, then this isn't going to work out for me. I'm being realistic, not overly negative.

So, how about the Masters in Finance?

 

[bigbadwolf]

So, how about the Masters in Finance?

As a general rule of thumb, the less quantitative a degree (or field) is, the greater the applicant - vacancy ratio. If the MFE is looking dicey, a master's in finance will be even more so.

You're wasting your time thinking (or fretting) about these things considering where you are at the moment. The areas of finance and financial engineering are continuing to change and it's impossible and futile to make long-term plans in such tumultuous conditions. It's not within your control. Concentrate on an applied math education and see where things stand when you've completed your undergrad degree.