pre-masters cources in Financial Engineering

[Maks]

Hello Everybody

I'm going to apply to master program in FE (top universities) but I think that it will be better to finish some pre-master course in Quantitative Finance.
There are 3 reasons:
1) improve mathematical skills
2) improve english skills
3) make my chances to be accepted to the high ranked university better.

I've found several programs:
1) Quantitative Studies for Finance certificate at Columbia university
http://ce.columbia.edu/Postbaccalaureate-Studies/Quantitative-Studies-Finance-Certificate-Program
2) Fundamentals of Quantitative Finance at University of Minnesota
http://www.math.umn.edu/finmath/certificate/

The main criterias to the program are high quality and high intensity.

Could you please recommend other programs or give an opinion about programs listed above?
Thanks.

 

[onthesc]

You could also look into Baruch's pre-FE programs. I remember them having those earlier in the year. I'd say English skills would be the most important if that is your weakest link.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

@bigbadwolf may know something about the course at UMN
The Pre-MFE program at Baruch is in person, not online program at the moment
http://mfe.baruch.cuny.edu/pre-mfe-program/

 

[bigbadwolf]

@bigbadwolf may know something about the course at UMN
The Pre-MFE program at Baruch is in person, not online program at the moment
http://mfe.baruch.cuny.edu/pre-mfe-program/

I think I've commented enough on that particular program.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I surely know you did but @Maks may not, hence the mention
I look at the Columbia offering by School of Continuing Education. I can not say you will receive "high quality and high intensity" from them. As long as you receive B in all courses, you will get a certificate. If they give the online students one B- or lower, that students won't get anything out of this so who is to say what is the main incentive here.

And the Computer Science component teaches C or Java. Are you serious you want to do this? Why not take a few C++ courses from your local university. It's far cheaper and you can get some decent quality teaching.

Or if you can wait a bit, maybe I can get someone to offer online C++ training that will surely be much better option than what you have right now.

 

[Maks]

@onthesc
Thank you for one more program. Yes, English skills are my weakness. That is why I want to get pre-master and live in english environment at least half an year before master program. I've looked at Pre-MFE program at Baruch. They offer very short course (8 weeks) in comparison with other programs. I'm not sure that it's enough. But it has some advantages: relatively cheap and provided by famous college.

@bigbadwolf
Could you please provide a link to discussion about this program? It's very interesting for me.

@Andy Nguyen
I'm going to be not online student. Columbia School of Continuing Education is attractive for me because they offer solid preparation (Calculus and Advanced Mathematics). But it's VERY expensive. About Computer Science: I'm programmer and so I'm not worry about this component and do not want to have it in my preparation.

To summarize,
The main goals of me Pre-MFE program are:
1) mathematical skills
2) English skills (that is why want to have long-duration course)
3) increase my chances to be accepted to the high ranked university

About Baruch's pre-MFE program: very short course. It would be ideal variant if it lasts longer. Maybe I'm not right and it's enough for preparation. What do you think?

About Columbia: solid mathematical preparation but very very expensive.

About UMN: I'll wait for @bigbadwolf opinion about this program. It lasts an year and it's a good time to learn English and mathematics. It's relatively cheap. But will it have a high weight during applying to top ranked universities for master program?

Maybe I skiped another programs that deserve attention?

 

[bigbadwolf]

@bigbadwolf
Could you please provide a link to discussion about this program? It's very interesting for me.

I don't remember; I was responding to a post in someone else's thread. In essence, you'll be wasting your time and money. If you can get into Baruch, fine: Dan Stefanica has put time and effort into crafting some pertinent short courses.

Also to keep in mind is that at a lot of these programs, you don't polish your English. The majority of students are not American. And the language of the classroom is math or computer code.

 

[dstefan]

I've looked at Pre-MFE program at Baruch. They offer very short course (8 weeks) in comparison with other programs. I'm not sure that it's enough. But it has some advantages: relatively cheap and provided by famous college.

I'm going to be not online student.

About Baruch's pre-MFE program: very short course. It would be ideal variant if it lasts longer. Maybe I'm not right and it's enough for preparation. What do you think?

First of all, a clarification: the Pre-MFE seminars offered by the Baruch MFE Program can only be taken in the classroom, not online.

There are 32 hours of instruction in the four weeks. More importantly, the material covered is directly relevant for MFE graduate studies; see the syllabi at http://mfe.baruch.cuny.edu/pre-mfe-program/

Applications for the Pre-MFE seminars will be received beginning September 1.

 

[DominiConnor]

I don't have any official role as a gatekeeper to this line of work, but I do have to ask Maks why you think this line of work is for you ?

We all have holes in our skills, but at some point you move from being a boat with a hole that's fixable to being a fishing net that sinks.

I'm not saying you are at that point, I'm saying you should ask yourself what your skills equip you to excel at.

 

[Maks]

I don't have any official role as a gatekeeper to this line of work, but I do have to ask Maks why you think this line of work is for you ?

We all have holes in our skills, but at some point you move from being a boat with a hole that's fixable to being a fishing net that sinks.

I'm not saying you are at that point, I'm saying you should ask yourself what your skills equip you to excel at.

I'm sure that I have the skills to this program because of my education in Engineering and International Finance and my professional experience in Computer Science but also I'm sure that additional preparation before the program is highly recommended. That is why I'm looking for Pre-master courses. A hole in my boat is English. But I believe that it's fixable.

I consider Baruch Pre-MFE seminars as very useful and interesting. So does enybody know what IELTS score is needed for this program? I have 6 average score now (W:6.5 R:6 L:6 S:6) but I suppose it's not enough.

Thank all guys who found a time to take part in this discussion.

 

[dstefan]

There is no IELTS score requirement for the Pre-MFE seminars. The application consists in a brief statement and resume submission.

For the 2010-2011 seminars, we enrolled between 35-38 students in each seminar, out of 70-80 applications for each seminar.

 

[Marc W.]

Hi Maks, I'm also going through the same internal debate as to which program is more ideal for my situation: Columbia Quant Studies or Baruch Pre-MFE courses. I'm 24 y.o. working in a BB IB (in the IT department supporting Market Data) and looking to go back to school at a top MFE program in pursuit of my ultimate dream--to become a quantitative trader. I'm not sure if it would be worth it to go full time in the Columbia Quant Studies program, give up a year's salary and support myself with little to no income (although I'm in the lucky minority having left university 2 years ago debt-free) in one of the most expensive cities in the world--not to mention that the program is >$40K. The reason I'm looking at these differing programs is because I graduated from Stevens in Hoboken, NJ (not quite a target school, but a great education nonetheless) with a non-Math or C.S. degree and looking to bolster my background in these subjects (taking Baruch C++ course now as well).

I'll detail some of the pros/cons that I see to each program below, but please anyone w/ more insight (or preferably someone who has attended either) feel free to comment.

Baruch
Pros: MFE-centric, short but intense, cheaper
Cons: Not sure if the program has the name recognition/brand appeal that a Columbia would (among the Top 10 MFE programs)

Columbia:
Pros: Name recognition, more courses (not sure if this is a net positive), and finally flexibility--While the program does have a core course curriculum, their admission office stated that you can replace courses you've taken already with other courses offered in the graduate school
Cons: Longer program, MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE

 

[kevinxu]

As I cannot open a new thread (haven't figured out the reason yet) and had a similar situation with the OP and Marc W, I would like to ask for some suggestions from anyone who has an opinion( I have been here for only a couple of months, but really got a lot and aware that we've quite a few gurus here).

My situation: 1. International student 4/yr W/E in home country, GPA:3.6/4.0 and GMAT:710
2. Master in finance (Non-quant) in a second-tier university in USA and two internships in non-famous Manhattan companies.
3.Wanna switch to quant role career so applied a few MFE/CM programs for 2013 entrance. But rejected by all 3 applied(maybe too good for me) and only have time to apply for another two on late February.

Question is: Only with two choices: SMU (singapore management university) MSQF & UWash CFRM online program (AO said too late to apply, no slots available in classroom)

My goal is to work in a US company as a quant role (risk management or trader) preferably in a big company. But I am not sure those two would lead me to this goal. So I'm considering an alternative: take pre-MFE courses( circle back to the topic of this thread finally, sorry about babbling on my background). As I don't have classroom education of programming and my math is lack of Advanced probability (but my math grade of other courses are excellent and learned shreve when I took MSF during the last yr), I took two online courses (coursera) on R and probability, leanred intro to Java from Stanford Open course, but still got feedback from some AO that they need more concentration on Programming. How could I compensate for my lack of exposure to PROGRAMMING?

So basically my question boils down to: No grogramming+ Non-math/EE background (Eco+Fin), but want to break into Quant Finance career track. How to prepare (considering I'm out of school and cannot take UG courses anymore).?
I'm personally now tend to take pre-MFE courses but struggling about which one.

Any idea or suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[curiousgeorge]

Good questions that id like answered as well. 40k is expensive as fark.