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MSFE, MSQF, MSCF, MSQCF - Please Describe

Joined
11/17/07
Messages
21
Points
11
Hello Everyone,

I read through the excellent (thank you for providing the link) Careers in Financial Markets guide providing details on the various sectors within the industry. I've also read through the many programs listed on the Global Derivatives website. I'm looking for concise descriptions of MSFE, MSQF, MSCF and MSQCF programs because it seems that directing a career in this industry depends a lot on from where we start.

I have a Bachelor of Computer Science and that I can learn a lot of the advanced software development myself and must figure out how to balance between gaining more computational skills and learning what matters a whole lot i.e. Financial Mathematics towards Quant jobs. What's most interesting is a choice to drive towards increasingly specialized or generalized roles while working in a highly research-oriented industry. Although, what I fear is the risk of building a knowledge base that isn't my core competency to begin with meaning that a broad coursework develops a professional who can adjust into many roles and hence a lot more opportunities whereas a focused knowledge base in Financial Mathematics without an extremely strong previous background in Mathematics could be calling for trouble when competing with Ph.D.s and working professionals having years of experience applying the related Mathematics pursuing entry-level jobs.

Essentially, I'm trying to figure out what areas of learnings differentiate these programs and that what are the most transferable areas across the different sectors? I do plan to acquire a lot of different skills over the course of my career but that I plan to be AAA in one computational and in one mathematical area along with broad knowledge base in Financial Markets before applying to jobs. In this regard, where do all these different qualifications intersect? It almost seems that knowing one specific area of derivatives extremely well is much better than being a jack of many trades?

I've found some info here:

Sample Programs of Study

Program in Quantitative Finance

Applied Mathematics and Statistics
Stony Brook University

Financial Engineering Emphasis

A derivative is a financial instrument whose value is a function of the price of one or more underlying financial instruments or on one or more economic factors, for example an option to buy a stock at some future date at some fixed price or a swap of a payment based on a fixed rate for one based on a variable one. There is also a class of financial instruments called collateralized obligations which separate the cash flows of a pool of obligations such as credit card debt or mortgages into separate streams having different characteristics. These financial products break down the risk and reward components of a security that so they can be reallocated more efficiently in the market.

A Master's student wishing to emphasize financial engineering within the Quantitative Finance Track would take a sequence terminating in AMS 517 - Advanced Options Theory. Other electives chosen from within the Department would focus on the areas of stochastic processes, differential equations and numerical analysis.

A more serious student contemplating a Ph.D. would take the sequence AMS 570 - and AMS 571 - Mathematical Statistics I and II instead of AMS 576 - Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences and would be ready to take AMS 517 - Advanced Options Theory.

Computational Finance Emphasis


The class of problems in applied mathematics that we can solve using computer-based numerical methods is far larger than the one for which we have direct analytical solutions. In financial markets, the firm that can price an exotic instrument, optimize a complex portfolio, estimate the risks of a set of financial positions or simulate a range of economic scenarios more quickly or accurately than other firms has a tremendous competitive advantage.

A Master's student wishing to emphasize computational finance within the Quantitative Finance Track would start out taking the usual sequence of courses. Electives would include AMS 514 - Computational Finance plus additional electives from withing the Department in mathematical programming, numerical analysis and computer science.

A more serious student contemplating a Ph.D. would work closely with other students and faculty working in Computational Mathematics. Although all of the courses within Quantitative Finance involve some programming components, students in wishing to emphasize this area would be expected to develop strong programming skills, including a knowledge of parallel computing.

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Thank You,
Shakti
 
That descriptions applies to the Stony Brook program only. Most FE programs don't have that many confusing options to choose from.
Get into a program first, and then worry about which option to pick (chances are you probably won't have a choice). You wouldn't have a clue what is going on looking outside in. They probably makes sense to you as you take about one year into the program.

Wouldn't it be easy if some program have Front Office, Mid Office, Back Office tracks ? It would be so much simple for applicants to click on their application.
[ ] Yes, I want to specialize in Back Office Track and I know what it is.

Most serious FE programs will provide you with skills and tool to be useful as a financial engineer. I wouldn't go as far as saying any program prepares you better in one sector than another. MSFE, MSQF, MSCF, MSQCF are similar in nature so don't get confused with the alphabet soup.
 
Looking at all available options before getting into a program is a fun and interesting thing to do. But things will change once you get into a program. You might find a million obstacles on your way like certain classes being offered in certain semesters (not when you want to take them), having workload that you cannot handle, lacking certain knowledge in order to understand the material in a class. All these and many other things will make you change your mind about your curriculum a thousand times :)
 
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