Undergraduate study.

[kamikade]

Dear,

I am a University 1 in Canada (I think they call it freshman in the US). I should declare my faculty as well major before the end of this month. Basically, my school is the University of Manitoba (a not well-known school among the world but it is not bad in Canada overall)

I cannot find any degrees that is designed for Mathematical Financial here. I just do not want to get into engineering department so I think about these choices (that's all I can find in my university that I am interested in):

1> Mathematics joint with Statistic
2> Economics joint with Mathematics/Statistic
3> Major in Economics and minor in Finance and minor in either Math or Statistic.

Oh I forgot to say about my career goal. At the moment, I want to be a trader/investor in financial market. I am interested in the "computer-driven" method to generate profit therefore I started to find more information about quantitative method. (and yeah, I am here). My goal is working toward profit in trading not just doing research.

I wonder which path should I go to before applying for a master degree in financial engineering?

Thank you for your advice

Kami

 

[iddqd]

Have you considered computer science at all? Would be kind of useful for doing anything "computer-driven". (I know a lot of schools offer that as part of their engineering school, I'm not sure why you're averse to being in that department).

At any rate I would just find a field that generally interests you at the point you're at--you're a while away from graduation and you might change your mind about career aspirations between now and then.

 

[roni]

as far as I understand, a double major in computer science and math and a minor in finance can be the best combination for MFE

 

[joel_b]

I would agree with roni. That's a good prep for the masters.

 

[Joy Pathak]

Are you confident that 4 years from now you will still want to pursue MFE?

I would pick a technical degree with which I could get hired upon graduation easily rather than pick something for which I would HAVE to get MFE.

I would suggest any engineering degree and maybe 2-3 classes in finance. That should be more than enough. But then again you said you don't want engineering...

Maybe computer science or computer engineering with math classes and economics courses for electives.

 

[kamikade]

Thanks for your reply

My issue is I want to be a trader in the financial market but I am not sure that I will depend on the quantitative method or using the traditional fundamental and technical analyst. Therefore I just want to learn about the three methods (greedy:P) and combine them for the best result. That's why I don't think about get into the engineering faculty or science faculty because I also want to learn about economics and finance as majors. So confused eh?

I am not sure if it works but how about I am taking double majors in economics and math with a minor in finance?

I also have another question: As I did research about financial engineering courses, there are many statistic methods involved so if statistic is more important than math in this field?

Thank you

 

[Andy Nguyen]

You want to become trader?
Get a brokerage account (eTrade, etc) and start trading. You learn by doing. You will lose money, learn something, make money, learn something else.

No math/science/stat will teach you to be a trader. Buy books and read to see if you are interested in it.

 

[kamikade]

But why many firm hire quants?
Is it because of quants using scientific method to determine a trade?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Ok, let step backward a bit.
Go to this link and get all the guide you can get and read "what do quants do". When you have an idea of who does what, it only makes sense then to plan your future around it.
Master reading list for Quants, MFE (Financial Engineering) students - Forum | Quant Network

 

[Connor]

I agree with roni, Joy and Andy before.

First you need a better idea of what you want to do and whether a MFE is even right for you.

Second, I think what Joy said was so important that I will repeat. It is important to pick a degree that interests you and would allow you to get a job regardless if you do a MFE (for example, engineering and computer science).

Third if you want to do anything computer-intensive in finance then you will need to major in computer science. If you just want to explore the computer aspects and be prepared for a MFE just get a minor in cs (or just take a few programming courses).

Last, Math/Statistics and Economics with a minor in finance would be good overall (and also adding a minor in cs on top would help) but wouldnt prepare you enough for a strictly programming role.

 

[tylor]

you should consider industrial engineering.

i know, i know - it's engineering - but not nearly the same as the other fields. it is what i am doing. i will be taking up to the same math level classes as a math major, with some other classes such as economic classes, human factors, efficiencies, data mining -- all good stuff. it's good if you want to pursue finance engineering in the future, or you can use it to do many other things if in 4 years you don't like it anymore.

of course... your school may not offer this.

 

[alain]

An old colleague used to say that Industrial Engineering is an engineering in nothing. Draw your own conclusions.

 

[tylor]

An old colleague used to say that Industrial Engineering is an engineering in nothing. Draw your own conclusions.

yeah it's considered "imaginary engineering". i think most of those feelings toward it are due to how new it is.

 

[alain]

New? I think industrial engineering has been aroudn for while now.