Question about college major for quant finance career

[Vincent_Z]

Hi all, I am currently in my third year of college major in industrial engineering. At the beginning I thought financial engineering is part of IE, but it turns out they do not really related that much in the college curriculum. I did study some programing language on my own. However, as an international student at US, I couldn't find any finance related intern here with the title of major now due to the work visa issue which I believe is essential component when I applied those top mfe programs in the future.
So I am asking for some advices about how could I pursuit my quant finance career goal? Should I consider change my major to math/stat? Or any other general advices will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Connor]

Industrial engineering (IE) is not a bad major to have for MFE, it just is not the best major to have. It seems late to be changing majors, but if you did decide to go the route of changing majors you would probably be better off adding on another major instead of dropping IE completely.

There are so many applicants (both domestic and international) for MFE programs hoping to break into quant finance that you need to consider that it may not work out. If you go to a top program then you will probably get a job, but not necessarily doing what you want. So the issue is getting into a top MFE program.

What about your profile makes you stand out as different from the next applicant? How can you compete with an applicant that double majored in math/computer science with a 4.0 GPA, 800Q on GRE, and a relevant finance internship?

Don't let me discourage you. You need to be able to answer the above to not only get into a top program but also get a great job.

 

[Vincent_Z]

Industrial engineering (IE) is not a bad major to have for MFE, it just is not the best major to have. It seems late to be changing majors, but if you did decide to go the route of changing majors you would probably be better off adding on another major instead of dropping IE completely.

There are so many applicants (both domestic and international) for MFE programs hoping to break into quant finance that you need to consider that it may not work out. If you go to a top program then you will probably get a job, but not necessarily doing what you want. So the issue is getting into a top MFE program.

What about your profile makes you stand out as different from the next applicant? How can you compete with an applicant that double majored in math/computer science with a 4.0 GPA, 800Q on GRE, and a relevant finance internship?

Don't let me discourage you. You need to be able to answer the above to not only get into a top program but also get a great job.

Thanks for the reply, Connor. Those are all great questions. No matter in which field you have to compete with the ppl around the world. There is no free lunch. It is all about the passion to this career. I will definitely think about all those questions and make myself as competitive as others.

 

[bigbadwolf]

Hi all, I am currently in my third year of college major in industrial engineering. At the beginning I thought financial engineering is part of IE, but it turns out they do not really related that much in the college curriculum. I did study some programing language on my own. However, as an international student at US, I couldn't find any finance related intern here with the title of major now due to the work visa issue which I believe is essential component when I applied those top mfe programs in the future.
So I am asking for some advices about how could I pursuit my quant finance career goal? Should I consider change my major to math/stat? Or any other general advices will be appreciated. Thanks.

There should be some OR courses for you to take (linear programming, optimisation); there should be some stats courses; there should be at least one programming course; there should be the usual calculus and diff eq courses. Take all of them. It's not ideal but it's doable. Finally, nothing wrong with industrial engineering -- I worked as one myself for a while, and it's interesting and valuable work.