Should I extend graduation date to take more math for quant?

[Funice]

Hello all,
I am expected to graduate in spring of 2025 with a degree in finance. I would like to take some more advanced math courses to boost my knowledge in the quant field. Is it reasonable to extend my graduation to fall of 2025 or should I instead take courses after graduation as a non-matriculated student? (Courses I need to take are linear algebra, PDEs, and calc III)

Thanks for the help

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Whatever makes financial sense to you. It does not matter if the required courses are part of a degree or after graduation.

 

[Funice]

Whatever makes financial sense to you. It does not matter if the required courses are part of a degree or after graduation.

Thanks for the reply Andy!

Are the chances of me getting into an MFE program slim? I most likely won't have any prior quant work experience, other than my own projects.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

A popular ODE/PDE course with MFE students is

Online Courses :: Datasim

www.datasim.nl

 

[jarryds]

Probably not, there isn't much overlap between finance and math so you would need to take a ton of new classes. People do stuff like this, but usually in degrees that have more overlap, for example - a CS student staying an extra semester and packing on advanced calc or stochastics.

If your goal is to use this extra math training to break into quant, you will need more than a few classes. You should study math in grad school. Unless you are just looking to learn, you should never take classes as a non student. Industry cares about degrees, not classes.

 

[kombuchalover]

Hello all,
I am expected to graduate in spring of 2025 with a degree in finance. I would like to take some more advanced math courses to boost my knowledge in the quant field. Is it reasonable to extend my graduation to fall of 2025 or should I instead take courses after graduation as a non-matriculated student? (Courses I need to take are linear algebra, PDEs, and calc III)

Thanks for the help

If you want to do MFE then yes. Otherwise no.

 

[Funice]

Probably not, there isn't much overlap between finance and math so you would need to take a ton of new classes. People do stuff like this, but usually in degrees that have more overlap, for example - a CS student staying an extra semester and packing on advanced calc or stochastics.

If your goal is to use this extra math training to break into quant, you will need more than a few classes. You should study math in grad school. Unless you are just looking to learn, you should never take classes as a non student. Industry cares about degrees, not classes.

I will still be getting a degree. The extra math courses will have credits and a letter grade attached, just not part of my degree per se. Also what other courses should I be taking (other than the ones I listed?)

 

[Funice]

If you want to do MFE then yes. Otherwise no.

Gotcha. But what do those that want to enter quant do if they have a degree already, just not the math/stat prereqs needed for the MFE program?

 

[Funice]

A popular ODE/PDE course with MFE students is

Online Courses :: Datasim

www.datasim.nl

Will this give me credits?

 

[Funice]

A popular ODE/PDE course with MFE students is

Online Courses :: Datasim

www.datasim.nl

Hi Dr. Duffy,

Thanks for the reply. Is there any way to get college credits for these courses?

 

[kombuchalover]

Gotcha. But what do those that want to enter quant do if they have a degree already, just not the math/stat prereqs needed for the MFE program?

most of them just never get accepted, others take special certificate courses but those aren’t universally accepted normally. The simplest most full-proof way to get into MFE program is to take the courses for college credit at an accredited university.