undergrad student in need of help!

[A Kane]

hello friends!

I am a third year college student majoring in mathematics with a minor in business. I definitely want to pursue a career in finance, but I also want to continue using my knowledge of math. Hence, it seems as though a masters in mathematical finance is the program for me. This field is very new to me and I have not met any students that I could talk to about programs, so I was hoping for help from past/current students.

1. I have not taken ANY computer programming classes, but I have three semesters of college left. Which classes would you recommend taking and how many semesters?

2. How hard is your course load? Do you find you are studying mostly finance or more math?

3. Is the math you are studying more theoretical or computational? Although I am a math major, I'm not sure if my math skills would be sufficient for mathematical finance programs. I am confident in all types of computational math, but I constantly worry I will find myself in a theoretical math class that I can't handle (although I've been okay so far...).

4. (optional) Could anyone please describe his/her hardest math class and what type of proofs it involved?

Please please please help me!! I am a concerned student worried about her future.

 

[doug reich]

I think you should look in the marketplace--talk to professionals, not students--and perhaps work for a little while to get a perspective before making a decision on a master's degree. I am a big proponent of finding the application for the tool, and not the other way around.

There are fairly specific guidelines for MFE program requirements. Look at them and map them to your experience. Again, I think you may be looking at the problem backwards: is the MFE something you want to and are able to do with a good reason, or are you just using it as a way to get "somewhere", without knowing where that may be?

There will be some very theoretical topics covered. There is a lot of work. I want to a technical college which "prides" itself on its heavy workload. This is an order of magnitude more than that. However, a position in finance is going to mandate a lot of long days, so if you can't handle that workload, this isn't the right path anyway.

 

[luke]

take these math courses if you havent, pde, stochastics, numerical analysis, linear programming, prob and stats.

I doubt there is any proof writing required but basic analysis/measure theory will definitely help