Prospects for a Quant

[BILLIONS]

Hi everyone, I really need some advice

I have been reading through this forum and I must say, It has been very helpful. I developed a passion for a quant career over the past few months but I would like to know my prospects in this field.

I am from West Africa (Nigeria) and I intend to pursue a Masters degree in Financial Engineering (2008/9) in the UK (University of London, Birkbeck). I am currently in IT consulting career with about 1yr+ of experience - Networking and communications, I have a Bachelors (B.Eng) in Electronics & Computer Engineering. I intend to get a job in the UK/US/Canada after my program: I want to know

- How Birkbeck university London is rated on their MFE program and succcess rate of their grads on the job market (if anyone has those stats)

- I also want to know my success rate on the UK job market (after my proposed program MFE) considering cultural background (black/african) and Education (above). I'm 25 by the way.

My interest is really in quantitative trading and i believe a Masters in FE would give me a good platform to switch to this area

 

[DominiConnor]

Birkbeck is on our "good" list, but only if you are applying for jobs in London, since it's almost unknown in the USA.
It's relatively cheap, which is good.

Your maths need to be checked out, and probably upgraded if you are to make the most of this.

Sadly, people will question your undergrad degree.

 

[AlixKhan]

MFE US vs UK

Birkbeck is on our "good" list, but only if you are applying for jobs in London, since it's almost unknown in the USA.
It's relatively cheap, which is good.

Your maths need to be checked out, and probably upgraded if you are to make the most of this.

Sadly, people will question your undergrad degree.

When I look at the websites for schools offering MFE programs in UK and US, I notice that most US schools simply list the courses that you need to take before you can apply for the program (Calculus I & II, Statistics, Linear Algebra, ODE etc) while UK universities tend of list the requirement as having degree in Mathematics or a quantitative subject.

The advantage of the US approach is that one can fulfill that requirements by just taking the 7,8 required courses while it seems that, in the case of UK schools, one will have to get the whole degree again. Is this analysis true or mm I missing something?

Also, in the US no one cares what your undergrad was as long as you got an MFE but your comment people will question your undergrad degree seems to indicate that even after he gets his MFE, his undergrad will be held against him. Doesn't make the quant field tougher to get into in UK as compared to in US.

Thanks,