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Undergraduate advice

Hank Moody

Joined
4/29/12
Messages
10
Points
11
I'm a computer science/applied math double major at a top 20 school although out computer science graduate program is only ranked about 60. My gpa is 3.72 after my sophomore year though I think I may be able to get it close to 3.8 by my senior year. Next semester I will be doing research in either networks and graph theory or data mining and analytics research which would be more computer science based than the other.

I have a few questions.
First, which research option would be better?
Second, would I best off getting a job out of college or looking to go to an mfe program or something similar? (I would maybe like to play a 5th year in my sport somewhere if possible)
Third, would I have a legitimate chance of getting into one of the better programs as I don't have anything really extraordinary on my resume.
Finally, is there anything really important that I should do before I am done with school? Should I take the GRE?

Sorry for the long post but I am very interested in quant work but I have little knowledge of what it takes to be one. Thanks
 
Try to get a quant job out of school. MFE should simply be your backup plan in case you don't land one.

Data mining and analytics is prob more useful. I think you should do what interests you most though.
 
Thanks I did not know that. I see top programs like Cal-Berkeley producing interns with a starting salary of $100,000 so I assumed the goal was to get into a program like that. So is it true that most quants don't have a MFE then?
 
Hank Moody said:
Thanks I did not know that. I see top programs like Cal-Berkeley producing interns with a starting salary of $100,000 so I assumed the goal was to get into a program like that. So is it true that most quants don't have a MFE then?
Click to expand...

It's a more complex reality. On this forum Dominic Connor has a number of times pointed out that it's not clear how much value a program adds. Haas isn't taking second-rate people earning $35,000 a year with degrees from some second-tier school and transforming them into $150,000 quants. They're taking people with stellar qualities, often with impeccable records from first-tier schools, often already earning good money in technically demanding jobs, often already having substantial programming experience. It's difficult to gauge how much value the MFE adds to such strong candidates. It is misleading to think that an MFE from such a school by itself will automatically transform one from a frog into a prince -- though doubtless the school itself will do nothing to discourage such thinking.
 
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