Profile Review For Economics Major

[AjKingBeast]

Hi,

I am an Economics major from Europe, my goal is to become a quant. I was wondering if you guys could rate my profile since I am not too confident about my math background and maybe give advice on extra courses I should follow.

Top 20 European Union School
GPA 4.00/4.00

All relevant courses I have taken:

Calculus 1 (Math Department) A+
Calculus 2 (Math Department) A+
Linear Algebra (Math Department) A
Sets and Combinatorics (Math Department) A
Probability Theory (Math Department) A
Probability and Statistics for Econometrics (Math Department) A+
Econometrics (Economics Department) A
Introduction to Econometrics (Economics Department) A
Programming 1 (Programming in C) A+
Programming 2 (Python) A
Mathematics 1 for Economics (Economics Department) A+
Mathematics 2 for Economics (Economics Department) A+
Statistics 1 for Economics (Economics Department) A+
Statistics 2 for Economics (Economics Department) A+

I have not been able to take a specific Multivariable Calculus course, and I do not have any time left to take one. However, a significant portion of ''Mathematics 1 and 2 for Economics'' included basic multivariable calculus (I do not know if this makes any difference).

Target Schools:
Cornell FE
CMU CompFin
Columbia MFE
NYU MFE
MIT MFin

What do you guys think? Do I have any chance or am I too ambitious?

 

[Skylime]

I think your mathematical education is adequate and the results are impressive. Do you have any relevant internship / work experience ?

 

[Qui-Gon]

How did you take probability theory if you had not taken multivariable calculus? Was this calculus-based probability? Did you cover joint distributions? I don’t think math for economists is going to cut it as a substitute for multivariable calculus, but to really place doubt with confidence I would need to look at the syllabus.

Were stats 1 and 2 for economics calculus-based stats courses? What did you cover?

 

[finkv]

I am Computer Science student. When I was preparing to apply to programs in your list I called many of them and asked if I needed to take multi-variable if I had classes that covered the topic indirectly and the answer was yes. Your profile looks really good and it would be a shame if 1 prerequisite disqualified you for admissions. Also, college courses look way better then online courses but that’s my opinion/what I have heard.

If you don’t have time in college to take it I guess you can find an online course. Good luck!

 

[AjKingBeast]

I think your mathematical education is adequate and the results are impressive. Do you have any relevant internship / work experience ?

Thanks for the reply, it really boosted my confidence. Unfortunately, I managed to just do one internship in Asset Management lasting 3 months, I am hoping my academic results will compensate for the lack of experience.

 

[AjKingBeast]

How did you take probability theory if you had not taken multivariable calculus? Was this calculus-based probability? Did you cover joint distributions? I don’t think math for economists is going to cut it as a substitute for multivariable calculus, but to really place doubt with confidence I would need to look at the syllabus.

Were stats 1 and 2 for economics calculus-based stats courses? What did you cover?

Calculus 1 and Calculus 2 along with Sets and Combinatorics were prereqs for the Probability Theory course, I am from Europe so there might be slight differences between Calculus 1 and 2 compared to the US which might explain the prerequisites ( my Calculus 2 course includes an introduction to multivariable calculus), but I am not certain since I am not familiar with the US courses. I am also not sure if the Probability course meets the level MFE programs ask for, this is what the syllabus says:

''
After this course:

1. Students know the three axioms of probability and associated
basic propositions and are able to use these to compute probabilities of
events.
They understand the concept of independence and can compute conditional
probabilities (directly or with Bayes' rule).
2. Students can compute probability mass functions and density
functions, cumulative distributions, expectations, and variances of
discrete and continuous random variables. They also know important
discrete and continous probability distributions (Bernoulli, binomial,
Poisson, geometric, hypergeometric, uniform, normal
and exponential distribution) and their properties and know in which
context these distributions occur.
3. Students can work with jointly distributed random variables. They
can compute probabilities, use the concept of independence in this
context, compute marginal distributions, conditional distributions,
(conditional) expectations, covariances, and correlations.
4. Students can compute the probability distribution of a function of
a random variable or a random vector.
5. Students know and can apply the central limit theorem.''

Book used:
Anderson, D.F, Seppäläinen, T, and Valkó, B, Introduction to
Probability, Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Stats 1 and 2 for econ were non-calculus-based courses. However, I followed a summer course which is titled ''Probability and Statistics for Econometrics''. This is a calculus-based statistics course, topics include:

• Probability theory
• Random variables
• Common distributions of random variables
• Multivariate random variables
• Sampling distributions of statistics
• Point estimation
• Interval estimation
• Hypothesis testing
• Analysis of variance (ANOVA)
• Linear regression

Books used:
Freedman, D., Pisani, R., and R. Purves (2007) Statistics, Norton, 4th edition.
Larsen, R.J. and M.J. Marx (2017) An Introduction to Mathematical Statistics and Its Applications, Pearson Education, 6th edition.

Do you think these topics (including the probability course) cover the pre-requisites? Thank you very much for your time!