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Life at Illinois Institute of Technology -MMF program

Joined
11/5/13
Messages
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113
Heloo All

Great to see all of you!

I am a current student of IIT Chicago -MMF course. You can ask me questions about the program. I will be helpful to answer your doubts. I love my School and program. So, Please, avoid bitching about other programs in the thread.

I am more than willing to help you about the course.

You can also find more about Life at IIT MMF at my Blog.
Student Life at IIT Chicago -Masters in Mathematical Finance


Please, post your comments in this thread.
 
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Hello,
I have a question that is not very related to IIT MMF and I am really sorry if you mind me asking. Anyways I had my unofficial GRE results and these were V165 Q164 and I am really wondering if my subpar Quant score is going to stop me from getting into good schools. Would be very grateful if you give me some advice in general or from the prespective of IIT student.
I asked the question in this thread, but havent gotten any answers yet:
https://www.quantnet.com/threads/score-evaluation.31273/
 
Hello,
I have a question that is not very related to IIT MMF and I am really sorry if you mind me asking. Anyways I had my unofficial GRE results and these were V165 Q164 and I am really wondering if my subpar Quant score is going to stop me from getting into good schools. Would be very grateful if you give me some advice in general or from the perspective of IIT student.

Hi ivendetta

This is how I will approach if I were in your situation.

1. Select Universities, which you are interested in.
2. Go to Tracker <tab> on this website.
3. Analyze the GRE scores of the Seniors or Peers for the same course
4. If you see, the scores are competitive then work on other parts of the application.
5. GRE is one of the gauging factor, not the only gauging factor
6. If you have good work experience, computational experience Recommendation letters, certifications or SOP to support that you have good analytical skill. I think that should suffice.

Please, Let me know if you have any questions.

Regards
Kutala JayaPrakash
 
Are you going to continue the blog? It would be useful for students who are interested in enrolling in the program.
 
Hi oathbreaker,

Thanks for creating this thread! I just got admitted to the MMF program at IIT. I am wondering how you think the program will suit someone who eventually wants to go into quantitative portfolio management someday.

How is the internship term during the summer? How is the support for that? How are the courses overall? What is the reputation of the MMF program at IIT in Chicago?

Thanks!
 
Hi oathbreaker,

Thanks for creating this thread! I just got admitted to the MMF program at IIT. I am wondering how you think the program will suit someone who eventually wants to go into quantitative portfolio management someday.

How is the internship term during the summer? How is the support for that? How are the courses overall? What is the reputation of the MMF program at IIT in Chicago?

Thanks!
Hi Matt

I am wondering how you think the program will suit someone who eventually wants to go into quantitative portfolio management someday.
This program is a very decent program. Coming to jobs, it totally depends on your profile, your experience, and your skill set. But, Quant jobs are hard to crack. Professor T.Bielecki will refer top 6 students in his class for internships.

How is the internship term during the summer?
I don't understand this question. You can start your summer internship from May until August and can be extended as a co-op for next 6-12 months(depends on the company that hires you).

How is the support for that?
Internships totally depend on the skill set of an individual. We have a career management service catered to help students. I got my internship from career management. I think only a few persons get their internships from CMC. As I said earlier, it totally depends on your profile, your experience, and your skill set.

How are the courses overall?
Courses are tough. You have to spend at least 8-10 hours every day(even on Sunday's) to clear the courses with good grades. I have seen students fail in Stochastic calculus and retake class next semester. It is one of the toughest course in the program. Most of the students are from China. If you are not from China, be prepared.

What is the reputation of the MMF program at IIT in Chicago?
It is decent and you can check alumni profiles on Linkedin to get clear pictures.

Regards
Jaya Prakash Kutala
 
Thank you so much for the reply oathbreaker, that was very helpful. A couple more questions:

So from what I understand obtaining an internship during the summer is quite difficult, especially for someone with no work experience like myself?

If graduated students have a difficult time breaking into quant analyst roles, where do they typically end up working?

Where did you work for your internship if you don't mind me asking?

What did you like most about the program?

Why did you choose this program?

Would you recommend this program who is trying to obtain an entry level position as a junior quantitative analyst? Is it possible to obtain this position through this program?

Thank you for your time!
 
My partners and I run a small cryptocurrency trading firm and we are interested in expanding into cryptocurrency options trading. We all have equity options trading backgrounds, but would like a mathematician to come and investigate the differences in adjusting an equity options model to cryptos. If you are interested in doing some hardcore work at a start-up, please email me at mam@bhwcapital.com.
 
My partners and I run a small cryptocurrency trading firm and we are interested in expanding into cryptocurrency options trading. We all have equity options trading backgrounds, but would like a mathematician to come and investigate the differences in adjusting an equity options model to cryptos. If you are interested in doing some hardcore work at a start-up, please email me at mam@bhwcapital.com.
What's the future of crypto? Is it not just one big bubble? I would say is that the math is the least of your worries.

What's the underlying and who has it?
 
What's the future of crypto? Is it not just one big bubble? I would say is that the math is the least of your worries.

What's the underlying and who has it?

Right now, the primary underlying is BTC, but we would like to develop a model to allow us to price any requested options pair, as is being proposed on various different exchanges.

As for the future of crypto, that remains to be seen. I could make an argument for a bubble as well, but that is irrelevant; the money that can be made when a bubble pops can be astronomical.
 
Updating your blog may be a good way to help potential students. Also, you could answer the questions Matt A asked.
 
So from what I understand obtaining an internship during the summer is quite difficult, especially for someone with no work experience like myself?
Yes, It is a bit tough to get a summer internship but not impossible. If you can top the class, Prof. Igor or Prof. Bielecki will refer your profile to some firms. I have seen few students getting summer internship without prior experience. All you have to do is to network and attend as many conferences as possible. But, You don't get much time in the first year because you will be learning basic stochastic calculus, Financial Mathematics, basic derivative pricing and also programming either C++ or Python or both.

If graduated students have a difficult time breaking into quant analyst roles, where do they typically end up working?
Please, check the LinkedIn profile of Alumni of IIT MMF.

Where did you work for your internship if you don't mind me asking?
Sorry, I can't disclose my role on the public forum.

What did you like most about the program?
I really liked all the courses. Pricing options and other derivates is an eye-opener. The project on hedging realtime options using Black-Scholes and other basic models is very good. I learned a lot from the course.

Why did you choose this program?
First, I was just looking for courses either in Newyork or Chicago because of location. But, I picked Chicago because of personal family preference. Second, the finance classes happen at downtown campus and maths class happens on the main campus. Even if you get an internship in Chicago, you can continue the internship throughout the second year and attend the classes in the evening. You don't have to commute much or leave your internship. It could be potential full-time.

Would you recommend this program who is trying to obtain an entry-level position as a junior quantitative analyst? Is it possible to obtain this position through this program?
I can't comment on this part because it totally depends on your skill set. But, getting the entry-level job is not impossible. As I said earlier, networking, meeting people from industry and volunteering for conferences that happen in the city will help to understand the opening and skill set companies are exploring. Quant industry requires many skills such as maths, finance, programming and last but not least communication.
Thank you for your time!

Sorry, for the late reply, I didn't get time to respond because the coursework was very hectic for past one year.

 
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Updating your blog may be a good way to help potential students. Also, you could answer the questions Matt A asked.

Hi Blue Berry

Thanks for the reply. I replied to Matt post. Currently, I am working on my blog and will post it by tonight or tomorrow.

Let me know if you need anything in specific about the course.
 
Hi, I have a question. Could you do me a favor?
I was offered an admission from both IIT(MMF) and USC(MFE).
Which one do you think I should choose?
and WHY?
 
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