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Requirements for an MSCF or MSFE program

arjun.s

Joined
6/3/11
Messages
2
Points
13
Hello,

I am third year undergrad engineering student. I wanted to know, apart from the general GRE score, recommendations, SOP etc, what all do you require in you CV so that you actually stand out and get a top 5 institute admit. Any projects, intern, papers etc?

Thanx!
 
The name of your undergraduate school is not really important in order to get an admit from a top program.
If you can, do some relevant research and get an internship in finance, they can only help you.
 
arjun.s said:
Hello,

I am third year undergrad engineering student. I wanted to know, apart from the general GRE score, recommendations, SOP etc, what all do you require in you CV so that you actually stand out and get a top 5 institute admit. Any projects, intern, papers etc?

Thanx!
Click to expand...

You have already got great responses.

I try to look at it this way: You need to show 3 major things:

1) Strong Math Background
2) Strong C++ background
3) Strong Motivation/aptitude for Finance

(1) can be shown thru A's in all your Math courses + Recommendation (I am not going to mention GRE as 800 in Q is given)

(2) can be shown thru A's in programming classes + projects + some models you coded etc...

(3) can be best shown thru Internship (or your knowledge that you can express in your SOP) etc. etc.

Hope that helps!

PS: One can not rule out the fact that a big name can push you a little... but there are myriad examples where you can stand out and get admitted to top 5 programs even if you are not from the Ivy league...
 
(3) can be best shown thru Internship (or your knowledge that you can express in your SOP) etc. etc.

Is it possible to change internship to the research in Financial Math? Instead of spending time somewhere at the office would it be good idea to write some research papers in the field of Fin Math? Or they are definitely looking for some work experience?
 
bilim said:
(3) can be best shown thru Internship (or your knowledge that you can express in your SOP) etc. etc.

Is it possible to change internship to the research in Financial Math? Instead of spending time somewhere at the office would it be good idea to write some research papers in the field of Fin Math? Or they are definitely looking for some work experience?
Click to expand...

Definitely... research paper will definitely do for admission to MFE/MSCF/MSFM programs...
 
Thank you Devdeep. It was a real problem for me to find any company around, so we will do more research work instead.
 
bilim said:
Thank you Devdeep. It was a real problem for me to find any company around, so we will do more research work instead.
Click to expand...

You are welcome! Do a lot of self-study and then try to do some research... try to collaborate with well-established researchers in this field... you will do great... @Tsotne should also be able to help you further I believe...
 
bilim said:
Dear DevDeep, I found a quite old posting here about AI:
http://www.quantnet.com/forum/threa...gence-applied-heavily-to-picking-stocks.1067/
What is the situation with this issue nowadays? Is it possible to implement it in trading? Would it be good to do some research in AI in order to implement it in quants job? Would admission committee like such kind of research?
Click to expand...

I must say that I am not the right person to comment on this aspect... maybe wait for comments from people more acquainted with this topic...
 
arjun.s said:
Hello,

I am third year undergrad engineering student. I wanted to know, apart from the general GRE score, recommendations, SOP etc, what all do you require in you CV so that you actually stand out and get a top 5 institute admit. Any projects, intern, papers etc?

Thanx!
Click to expand...

The specifics depend on what position you are applying for.

Any projects, intern, papers etc?
Click to expand...

As for going for work: Sometimes it doesn't at all make sense to include your research or project management background into CV and only the experience of one particular work matters for that particular job as it might be completely unrelated to such academic or management work. So compile all the relevant information related to the position you are targeting. It is worthless to put all your (e.g.) programming skills when not needed since it only makes a feeling of overextending yourself and artificially overloading your CV. Tell us what is your target university (since programs may vary in requirements as well) and it'll be easier to choose specifics. So instead of suggesting: hey man, don't forget MATLAB! I believe it's better to suit your CV to the target you are aiming. As for university programs, it depends with the above logic too. Some programs require more programming and concentrate more on programming and comparably less on math while others do in reverse. It's almost a must to have C++ knowledge for most programs as suggested in above posts.

Also there are many useful threads on similar topics here you can search for.
 
Thanx a lot @Devdeep and @Tsotne and everyone! Gives me clearer idea on how to do stuff for the next 1 and a half years. I had been really interested into probabilistic maths, so guess doing work on that would help.

Cheers :)
 
would like to know if suitable research (academic papers) & teaching in applied finance would compensate for job or internship in finance...
 
Jojo said:
would like to know if suitable research (academic papers) & teaching in applied finance would compensate for job or internship in finance...
Click to expand...

You mean if they would ease your way through? Then maybe yes maybe no depending on the demands of the position itself. I assume you are talking about academically recognized research papers. Some companies might not consider research or teaching experience as relevant for the job, some might state them (but rarely) as beneficial in the application released. You can see plenty of job posting requiring you to have solid research experience, so there is no one answer...depends on the specifics of the demands.
 
Tsotne said:
You mean if they would ease your way through? Then maybe yes maybe no depending on the demands of the position itself. I assume you are talking about academically recognized research papers. Some companies might not consider research or teaching experience as relevant for the job, some might state them (but rarely) as beneficial in the application released. You can see plenty of job posting requiring you to have solid research experience, so there is no one answer...depends on the specifics of the demands.
Click to expand...

Thanks Tsotne! Specifically, I have a couple of papers in applied finance like real option/VaR etc....also teach part of a course in corporate finance....so question is for school application, will admin com consider them as equivalent to job/ internship in finance?
 
Jojo said:
Thanks Tsotne! Specifically, I have a couple of papers in applied finance like real option/VaR etc....also teach part of a course in corporate finance....so question is for school application, will admin com consider them as equivalent to job/ internship in finance?
Click to expand...

Ah yes seems I have misunderstood the first question. It depends, for example if you look at the London business school(if I remember correctly) MBA application you'll see the requirement: "Please do not apply unless you have at least 2 years of relevant experience". Some programs require industry experience, others are happy with academically recognized papers. As for your teaching experience, IMHO it will be a benefit to state such work in your application but teaching experience role in application is a bit unknown thing for me, I'm more concerned with research papers importance. Such is the summary of the answers I got from various universities: On my question whether sending several research papers for PhD application Columbia replied that it will only be beneficial and desirable to state in application the papers' topics worked on and published. As for recognizing academic work as the job/internship, I don't think it is correct.
 
Just wondering how a Post doc can increase chance of success in getting thru a top tier program in quant finance...quitting my job not possible...so the research in applied finance n teaching thing comes in...no lack in academic preparation...tons of math/stat classes taken...C++ done....
 
Jojo said:
Just wondering how a Post doc can increase chance of success in getting thru a top tier program in quant finance...quitting my job not possible...so the research in applied finance n teaching thing comes in...no lack in academic preparation...tons of math/stat classes taken...C++ done....
Click to expand...

So you are stating almost all the requirements they need. Admission committee will assess them. If you have a background with tons of math/stat/programming, good GPA, research experience, working experience, well academic recognition then nothing else needed. Having worked on research strengthens your appearance as well prepared for further research. Given your background above, why not apply then?!
 
yes...already in line. lack in finance industry exp...only one yr as a statistical modeler with a top insurance firm...
 
Jojo said:
yes...already in line. lack in finance industry exp...only one yr as a statistical modeler with a top insurance firm...
Click to expand...

I mentioned industry experience to emphasize the specifics of demands. Industry experience is not needed to apply.
 
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