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New to quantnet; would appreciate advice

Joined
3/3/19
Messages
4
Points
13
Here's my profile:

Dual degree business and economics at Canadian university
GPA 3.7
GRE Q 166
GRE V 163
GRE AW 5.0
No finance work experience

Applying to Master's for September 2020.

Where can I get: would prefer U of T MFE or Waterloo MQF for proximity and cost, but also interested in USA. How can I improve to better my chances wherever I can't go?

Thanks
 
What does your math, stat, and CS background look like? What courses have you taken/topics covered?
 
CS:
I know R well, python intermediate, matlab beginner
stats : will graduate with two intermediate econometrics and one advanced econometrics
math: calc x3, linear algebra x1, real analysis x1
 
I think your background is interesting, although you have some major holes to fill:

Stat: Some sort of mathematical statistics/calculus based probability (must-have) & Intro to stochastics (highly highly recommended although not always required)
Math: Differential Equations (both ordinary and partial are usually required although some programs are looser with their requirements than others), and Numerical Analysis (very important)
CS: As Andy suggested learn to code Python is huge and is usually a prereq for a lot of these programs (many programs want C++/Java although I'm unsure how useful that really is or if it's really the best use of your time)

How about finance? You say business major, do you have finance coursework? Particularly involving derivatives?

Edit: Didn't see you had Linear Algebra already
 
Yes I'll be doing derivatives before I graduate. What sorts of programs do you think I could conceivably get given what I already have + ordinary differential equations? In order to get the best programs I imagine I'd have to take an extra year in undergrad (which I'm not opposed to)
 
Honestly, I think with your profile you're a longshot for anything in the top ~15 as it stands right now. I'm less familiar with other programs so maybe someone else has input. Work on getting ODE and calculus based probability /mathematical statistics (this is crucial, I would argue it's more important than ODE).

You mentioned taking an extra year in undergrad, I can't directly recommend this but it's a personal decision for you. You're in Canada so I'm not positive how the costs work out (Compared to the US where we're paying an arm and a leg for university but thats a different topic) but I don't recommend putting yourself in crippling debt just to make yourself more competitive for these programs.

Let's say you do take an extra year and you try and lock down some of these critical prereqs. I think you'd need to boost your GPA (hopefully around 3.8 but an upward GPA trend is also good) and your GRE Quant (just a little higher, I think 167 is a good target). If you get some good letters of rec, strong personal statements and interviews along with all the above, you probably have a good chance at Fordham, GA Tech, BU, and Tandon and an outside shot at some of the higher ranked programs.

I'd also like to reiterate what Andy said about learning how to program. I think thats a good focus to at least break in to the field. These Master's programs are not the be all end all of quantitative finance. If, however, you do decide to pursue a Master's, then there are certainly some steps to take to become a more competitive applicant.

I suggest you look into each program on the quantnet rankings into what they're looking for from applicants (Berkeley MFE has a nice itemized page of all their prerequisites as do most schools, for example UoT can be found here: mmf ★).


One last note, you say you don't have any finance work experience, what about any internship experience? You're presumably a junior, do you have any plans for this summer? A relevant internship (especially one where you do a lot of coding) is definitely a major plus.
 
Yes I have some internship experience in a company's strategy department. No set plans for this summer.
 
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