Online BSc degree in Quantitative Finance

DmitryK · 2/5/15

Hi,

Please recommend a university offering a good online Bachelor's degree (BSc) in Quantitative Finance (or Financial engineering, Computational Finance, etc.). I am looking for a program that teaches skills that can be readily applied at work.

Online - because I want to combine studies with work. I work in market risk management in a bank.

An ideal program would be a double major degree in Quantitative Finance and Mathematics.

Thank you very much,
Dmitrijs

TehRaio · 2/5/15

Dmitrijs Kass said:
Hi,

Please recommend a university offering a good online Bachelor's degree (BSc) in Quantitative Finance (or Financial engineering, Computational Finance, etc.). I am looking for a program that teaches skills that can be readily applied at work.

Online - because I want to combine studies with work. I work in market risk management in a bank.

An ideal program would be a double major degree in Quantitative Finance and Mathematics.

Thank you very much,
Dmitrijs

Bsc degree in quant finance don't exist yet.
what's your background (academic)?

zyz · 2/6/15

Educate yourself for free?

DmitryK · 2/6/15

TehRaio said:
Bsc degree in quant finance don't exist yet.
what's your background (academic)?

Well, they do exist. Her are some examples:

Carnegie Mellon University
BS Computational Finance

James Madison University
BS Quantitative Finance

ITESO, México
BSC Financial Engineering

Stevens Institute of Technology
BS Quantitative Finance

I have taken them all from here: http://www.iaqf.org/academic-programs

And you've asked about my academic background:
1. Bachelor in Finance from Latvian university. Unfortunately, there was completely no calculus or linear algebra. Only statistics.
2. MBA (Finance concentration) with Distinction from Latvian business school.

DmitryK · 2/6/15

zyz said:
Educate yourself for free?

All online degrees I have seen cost ~ as much as on-campus programs. That is - more than I can afford. Getting it for free would be fantastic of course. Below $10,000 is acceptable. But I hope to be eligible for a student grant.

zyz · 2/6/15

Dmitrijs Kass said:
All online degrees I have seen cost ~ as much as on-campus programs. That is - more than I can afford. Getting it for free would be fantastic of course. Below $10,000 is acceptable. But I hope to be eligible for a student grant.

Since you have stated that

I am looking for a program that teaches skills that can be readily applied at work.

It would be helpful to know what do you actually do at work and what are you planning to learn in order to apply at your current bank. I think from here people with knowledge would be able to give you some directions.

The reason is those QF, FE, CF programs usually are not tailor made for only one career path (Market Risk in your case) and you can see this yourself by looking at diverse range of students with different career goals enrolling to those courses.

yetanotherquant · 2/6/15

Labdien, Dmitrijs

Fernuni-Hagen has an extra-mural bachelor program in math.
http://www.fernuni-hagen.de/mathinf/studium/studiengaenge/bachelor/mathematik/welcome.shtml
It is in German but you need not to be fluent in German in order to cope with it.

It is not what you exactly want but believe me, bachelor in quantitative finance is really an oxymoron. At bachelor level all you can do is Cox-Ross-Rubinstein model.
In order to understand the very basic things like Black-Scholes formula (I mean, really understand, not to have it derived from CCR model) you need the basic knowledge of partial differential equation and stochastic calculus.
More advanced topics (like LIBOR model) require a solid understanding of measure theory.

In either case becoming a quant is a big and hard undertaking. Do you really want this?
If you have a Bachelor in finance, why not to deepen your knowledge in this direction?
For instance, IFRS experts are very demanded, at least in Germany.

P.S.
How could you do statistics without calculus?
Probably, just the descriptive statistics?

tfors · 2/6/15

If it is just for skills and not for a diploma, then most logical thing to do would be to go to http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/ocw-scholar/ and such and compose your own program for 100% free.

Xplorer · 2/6/15

Dmitrijs Kass said:
Well, they do exist. Her are some examples:

Carnegie Mellon University
BS Computational Finance

James Madison University
BS Quantitative Finance

ITESO, México
BSC Financial Engineering

Stevens Institute of Technology
BS Quantitative Finance

I have taken them all from here: http://www.iaqf.org/academic-programs

And you've asked about my academic background:
1. Bachelor in Finance from Latvian university. Unfortunately, there was completely no calculus or linear algebra. Only statistics.
2. MBA (Finance concentration) with Distinction from Latvian business school.

Hi Dmitrijs,

I am looking for a similar online Bachelor program, but with great emphasis on Statistics, Calculus, Numerical Analysis and sufficient Computer Science courses, to be able to apply and test the statistical hypothesis programmatically. My goal is to be very well prepared for a Master in Financial Engineering/Computational Finance.

Have you found such an online bachelor program?

I came across this one for Data Analytics at SNHU: http://www.snhu.edu/online-degrees/undergraduate-degrees/data-analytics-bs-online.asp. What are your thoughts around this one?

Regards,
Explorer

DmitryK · 2/8/15

In the end I aim to enroll into MSc MFE and work as a consultant such as this:
https://mckinsey.secure.force.com/EP/job_details?jid=a0xA0000009REGDIA4

or an asset manager / trader.

My obstacle is that I had almost no math/stat courses during my Finance Bachelor / Finance MBA.

My thinking was that in order to prepare well for MFE and not to lose 3 years on pure/abstract math, it would be great to go through a Bachelor in QF, FE, CF - because then I would be able to apply new knowledge at work during the studies. I.e. without waiting for 3 years to get a benefit.

CasanovaJ · 2/8/15

If the goal is an MFE, a full online Bachelors would probably be overkill... all you really need is about three semesters or so of calc, two of probability/statistics, one or two of differential equations, and the C++ Quantnet course.

DmitryK · 2/9/15

CasanovaJ said:
If the goal is an MFE, a full online Bachelors would probably be overkill... all you really need is about three semesters or so of calc, two of probability/statistics, one or two of differential equations, and the C++ Quantnet course.

Thanks for your opinion. Maybe you are right and a full-scope Bachelor is a sound of perfectionism... I just wanted to make sure I really understand the math, not just memorize the formulas and frameworks.

Do you guys think learning calculus/LA/statistics/DE/C++ through free online courses (such as Coursera and edX) and then goung through pre-MFE courses (such as in Berkeley, Baruch, or University of Washington) is good enough to be admitted to MFE? That is - without any college credits in calculus/LA/statistics/DE.

DmitryK · 2/9/15

yetanotherquant said:
Labdien, Dmitrijs
In either case becoming a quant is a big and hard undertaking. Do you really want this?

Labdien!
Yes, I really want it. I am devoting much time to self-studying.

yetanotherquant said:
If you have a Bachelor in finance, why not to deepen your knowledge in this direction? For instance, IFRS experts are very demanded, at least in Germany.

I have already had enough of light-math finance in banks during last 8 years. I want to excel in quantitative finance - that excites me. IFRS is not my thing, I know this for sure.

yetanotherquant said:
How could you do statistics without calculus?
Probably, just the descriptive statistics?

Sorry, did not get the question. What do you mean?

DmitryK · 2/9/15

Xplorer said:
Hi Dmitrijs,

I am looking for a similar online Bachelor program, but with great emphasis on Statistics, Calculus, Numerical Analysis and sufficient Computer Science courses, to be able to apply and test the statistical hypothesis programmatically. My goal is to be very well prepared for a Master in Financial Engineering/Computational Finance.

Have you found such an online bachelor program?

I came across this one for Data Analytics at SNHU: http://www.snhu.edu/online-degrees/undergraduate-degrees/data-analytics-bs-online.asp. What are your thoughts around this one?

Regards,
Explorer

If you aim for MFE then why would you want to apply for BS in Data Analytics? It is very broad and not directly related to financial markets.

Xplorer · 2/9/15

Dmitrijs Kass said:
If you aim for MFE then why would you want to apply for BS in Data Analytics? It is very broad and not directly related to financial markets.

Hi Dmitrijs,

same as you, I am looking to get a good foundation in Calculus, Numerical Analysis, solid Statistics and Computer science skills. I believe that a Data Analytics/Data Science program can provide this expertise I am looking for. For example, this Data Science program at Warwick aims to have the right ingredients:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/statistics/courses/datsci/course/

The next steps will be to specialize in the finance field, through an MFE. My concern is if I pursue a Computational Finance/Quantitative Finance/Econometrics bachelor at this time, it will specialize too soon in finance and it will not give me the solid Math and Statistics foundation I am looking for.

If you are looking to get more in-depth skills in Math/Calculus/Statistics, there are a ton of good books out there, plus MOOC courses which can augment your learnings. Pursuing a new bachelor with your experience could be overkill, if you are only looking to understand Math in-depth. Just a thought...

Regards,
Explorer

DmitryK · 2/9/15

Xplorer said:
Hi Dmitrijs,

same as you, I am looking to get a good foundation in Calculus, Numerical Analysis, solid Statistics and Computer science skills. I believe that a Data Analytics/Data Science program can provide this expertise I am looking for. For example, this Data Science program at Warwick aims to have the right ingredients:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/statistics/courses/datsci/course/

The next steps will be to specialize in the finance field, through an MFE. My concern is if I pursue a Computational Finance/Quantitative Finance/Econometrics bachelor at this time, it will specialize too soon in finance and it will not give me the solid Math and Statistics foundation I am looking for.

If you are looking to get more in-depth skills in Math/Calculus/Statistics, there are a ton of good books out there, plus MOOC courses which can augment your learnings. Pursuing a new bachelor with your experience could be overkill, if you are only looking to understand Math in-depth. Just a thought...

Regards,
Explorer

Hi Explorer!

Thanks for answering. I now see your point. Actually I very much like it! Gaining BS and MS in two different, although connected areas will broaden your knowledge, give a competitive advantage and make you eligible for a much broader range of professions.

Warwick program is on-campus only, right? Please post a link to an online Data Science BS program if you find a good one (in addition to SNHU).

Thanks!

yetanotherquant · 2/14/15

Dmitrijs Kass said:
Labdien!
Yes, I really want it. I am devoting much time to self-studying.

Good. Actually, I also mostly studied by myself.
But then you do not necessarily need to be enrolled at the university

Dmitrijs Kass said:
I have already had enough of light-math finance in banks during last 8 years. I want to excel in quantitative finance - that excites me. IFRS is not my thing, I know this for sure.

"to excel" is probably a little bit too ambitious.
The learning is long and the competition is high.
On the other hand you have experience in financial branch, which is a big plus.
But still, if you wanna be quant, you will have to start with a junior role (and respective salary). And don't expect a (big) positive spread between quant and lite-math financiers.
It often was the case before the crisis but nowadays (nearly) nobody wants complex derivative products...

Dmitrijs Kass said:
Sorry, did not get the question. What do you mean?

Just the fact that no serious statistics is possible without calculus (and no multivariate statistics without linear algebra)

DmitryK · 2/15/15

Thanks, yetanotherquant!

I also understand that quantitative skills are not the most important skill even for a quant. The are useless without good communication, presentation & leadership skills.