Personal Advice regarding MS.

[Magnus Hansson]

Hi!

My name is Magnus and I want to work with quantitative economics and finance. I will try to structure some background information and end with my questions regarding Master degree.

Education
Bachelor of Economics - top 5%.
Bachelor of Mathematics – average.
Exchange Semester – NA.

Extra
Retail Back Office Banking summer experiences.
I will soon publish an article in an American ranked economic journal, within Regional Economics.
Various school initiatives.
Sufficient in R, Matlab, Python, Ox etc.

Motivation and Goal
I am highly motivated regarding my future and my goal to work within economics and/or finance. Central banking and hedge fond analysis is what I’m going to do. At the moment I am also interested in research and doing a PhD.

Questions
1. How does my profile look regarding admission to prestigious mathematical economics programs?

2. I would love to study in the US, but I have limited monetary resources – is it possible if you cannot pay tuition?

3. The schools in Europe I’ve looked at are:
Mathematics-Economics at Copenhagen University.
Quantitative Finance at ETH, Zurich.
Mathematical Statistics at Lund University.

Are these good options, should I focus higher or is it even to hard to get in here?

4. I’ve noticed that you can either study, say, mathematical economics at a science institution without taking GRE. Also, you can study, say, quantitative finance at a business school, and you have to take GRE. What are the major differences?

5. If you have further comments, info etc, I would be grateful!

Thank you,
Magnus

 

[Jae Sang Shim]

Hey Magnus

I believe you are in a very favorable position, but more info about which courses you took in math major is needed

For tuition, not much MFE programs give financial support ('cause MFE programs usually lead to a lot of money afterwards..), but you can rely on student loan I believe.....

And any experience in front roles close to quantitative finance would be nice, since it seems to be the only noticeable hole in your profile

 

[Magnus Hansson]

Hey Magnus

I believe you are in a very favorable position, but more info about which courses you took in math major is needed

For tuition, not much MFE programs give financial support ('cause MFE programs usually lead to a lot of money afterwards..), but you can rely on student loan I believe.....

And any experience in front roles close to quantitative finance would be nice, since it seems to be the only noticeable hole in your profile

Hi and thank you for the reply!

Why would you say I'm in a favorable position?

Math Courses:
Single variable calculus
Several variable calculus
Algebra
Linear algebra
Numerical Methods with Python
Numerical Linear Algebra
Linear Analysis
Mathematical Statistics

and then I have two elective courses, which probably will be:
Numerical Approximation
Probability Theory

I am very curious about my question 4. What do you think is the differences? I am not that enthusiastic about taking the GRE, that is all. But maybe it's fine, and I'll just have to do it?

Yes, I will try to find some more internships, during next summer. Do you think it is possible to get internships in, for example, the US although I'm from Sweden?

 

[Jae Sang Shim]

I said you are in favorable position because you satisfy a lot of requirements for related masters program (math, finance, econ, programming. Not a lot of people from Econ / Business school can do R & Matlab & Python).

But I am a little confused at the moment - do you want to go to MFE programs or just do other Masters like Mathematical Econ / Stat? They are a different in their characteristics

 

[Jae Sang Shim]

I don't have a clear answer for question 4, but I believe business school oriented MFE programs are a little more.. practical? (Not sure..)

 

[Magnus Hansson]

I said you are in favorable position because you satisfy a lot of requirements for related masters program (math, finance, econ, programming. Not a lot of people from Econ / Business school can do R & Matlab & Python).

But I am a little confused at the moment - do you want to go to MFE programs or just do other Masters like Mathematical Econ / Stat? They are a different in their characteristics

I see, thank you!

I am not quite sure if I would like to do a MFE or, for example, Math Econ. What I am sure of is that I would, in the future, like to work as a quant within finance or central banking.

I don't have a clear answer for question 4, but I believe business school oriented MFE programs are a little more.. practical? (Not sure..)

Okay! Thank you for the replies!

Now I at least know that there is a chance for admission.
I guess I have to figure out what program would be the most suitable one.

 

[Yike Lu]

GRE should be fine. The math section is ~1st-2nd year university math, no advanced stuff. Verbal is tough, but not super relevant for MFE.

 

[Magnus Hansson]

GRE should be fine. The math section is ~1st-2nd year university math, no advanced stuff. Verbal is tough, but not super relevant for MFE.

Thanks!
Do you have any comments regarding MFE vs Math Econ vs Math Stat?

 

[Yike Lu]

MFE is designed to get you a job in (most likely since they have the most jobs) an investment bank. For what you want to do (Central Banking), Math Econ seems the most appropriate fit. Math Stat is a bit too general.

However, I don't know the quality of the programs between MFE vs Math Econ vs Math Stat, and program quality is a big deal.

 

[Magnus Hansson]

MFE is designed to get you a job in (most likely since they have the most jobs) an investment bank. For what you want to do (Central Banking), Math Econ seems the most appropriate fit. Math Stat is a bit too general.

However, I don't know the quality of the programs between MFE vs Math Econ vs Math Stat, and program quality is a big deal.

Thank you for the reply!