Please join us via Zoom to learn how the Options course is helpful to graduate studies and interviewing for quant finance internships and full-time roles.
May 16th, 2022 - Information Session - Intuition-Based Options Primer for Financial Engineering Certificate

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jah.david.kim" data-source="post: 238155" data-attributes="member: 38933">I'm a registered nurse that's worked in psychiatry for the past 6+ years. I have my MS in Nursing in which I completed one bio-statistics course and I completed by PhD in Nursing coursework, which included one statistics course in which we learned to use Stata (program) to run basic statistical analysis of research variables. But my research was more geared towards social type soft sciences. I do have a little amount of programming exposure by having gone to DeVry for a year for a post-bachelors in IT where I did a little visual basic programming. I found it challenging but was able to get through it with the help of a friend that was good at visual basic. I later entered a MS in Information Systems program at DePaul University but stopped to enter the Army to pay down student loan debt (currently at $220,000). I was a medic in the Army so I decided to go into nursing after I left the Army.I have a Post-911 GI bill that will expire in November 2022. So I have to go back to school, otherwise, I'll just throw away those education funds. Instead of going for my Nurse Practitioner degree (which can only make so much money before it hits a ceiling), my intent is to get into a more lucrative career that does not have the same salary cap that nursing does. I'm interested in data science and quantitative finance because they seem to use a similar analytical, knowledge discovery mindset that research involved, which I love.My main concern is if I would be able to make it through a Masters of Science in Financial Engineering program given my lack of math and programming background. I've been talking to some schools (UC Berkley, Claremont Graduate School, Fordham University, and Barch College) and they offer conditional acceptance where the student is accepted to the MS in Financial Engineering program but they must complete the recommended math and programming prerequisites before they delve into the hardcore quantitative finance courses. This is the route I'm considering. Back when I was at DePaul in 2002 for Information Systems, I did take a java programming course, in which I had to drop because I was not getting it. I could get html and java script but I found java difficult. I have not had algebra (outside of GRE prep) or calculus since high school in the early 90's. My question is: What chance do I have of being successful in a MSFE program, given my lack of math and programming background, even if the MSFE program allows me to finish the math and programming prerequisites before the MSFE program?Also, if I'm 41 years of age, is it more challenging to get into the quant analyst field in my 40's? I know that it's never suggested to go into a career PURELY for the money but the truth is that the projected salary should be taken into consideration. If I go for my psychiatric nurse practitioner, I can start out around $90,000 to $100,000 and can move up to $140,000 in Chicago and $170,000 in Los Angeles (possibly $200,000 in LA). But that's as far as I would ever go. My impression is that quants can keep making higher salaries than what a nurse practitioner makes.</blockquote>

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