• C++ Programming for Financial Engineering
    Highly recommended by thousands of MFE students. Covers essential C++ topics with applications to financial engineering. Learn more Join!
    Python for Finance with Intro to Data Science
    Gain practical understanding of Python to read, understand, and write professional Python code for your first day on the job. Learn more Join!
    An Intuition-Based Options Primer for FE
    Ideal for entry level positions interviews and graduate studies, specializing in options trading arbitrage and options valuation models. Learn more Join!

COMPARE Warwick VS Gatech

markchan

Joined
3/4/08
Messages
15
Points
11
Today I got an admission from Gatech, the program of QCF. Before that, I've already received an admission from Warwick.

Could you guys give me some comments about these two schools? What I care about is only the career prospect in London/NYC.

Thank you very much. I'm supposed to make decision in a few days.
 
Give us a little information about your background( you majors and field of work etc.)

-ciao
 
Andy is right, each school implies a bet on which city you think will give you the best career options.
I get in trouble every time I say "X is a better school than Y"
 
Thank you guys.

I guess I asked a stupid question. It might be hard to compare the career prospect in there two colleges, since they aim for two different markets.

Actually I've made some homeworks on Warwick. The pro is it owns a high reputation in the industry in London. But it seems it may be more difficult for a foreigner to get a job in England. I have a friend graduated from the Financial Math program in Warwich. 2/3 Chinese students(I'm a Chinese) came back after graduation. I don't know whether they just prefer to going home or can not find a job in London.

Since I got the offer letter from Gatech yesterday, I haven't do much work on it. What I know is that the location of this college is really uncompetitive, though the program ranks in the upper tier 2.

Personally, I prefer NYC, because I'm a Yankee fan. :D. But I really don't know how the hiring manager in the Wall street think about the QCF program of Gatech. Could you give me some ideas?

Btw, my background:

ME & BE in engineering mechanics, Tsinghua Univ
Software engineer in Siement for 3 years.
 
Am I allowed to tell you what I think ?
Ah what the hell...
Foreign candidates do not have more problems getting hired in London. I've had British born managers complain to me about some of the British courses and asking to see more Russians, French and Chinese.
But Chinese candidates are the hardest to place, more than any other group. That's true in every City where we operate, USA, Britain, Japan, anywhere at all.

Many Chinese people speak English at least as well as I do.
However they are undermined by the depressing % who after 1 or even 5 years education in the US or UK are beyond my ability to understand. I'm good with accented English, with all due modesty, I'm excellent, but still fail.
I'm actively trying to find good people, it's what I do. That's the opposite mind set of a hiring manager, who is trying to filter out people from the vast horde who want him to employ them.

Here's a simple free objective test to whether you can speak English.
Ring up some firm which has an outsourced call centre, preferably in India.

Try to spell your address to them. If they ask you to repeat the letters more than 5 times you don't speak English.
 
Dominic, I really appreciate you your opinion. Thanks a lot. I assume the first priority after enrollment to ensure a job position is to improve my english communication skills.
 
I don't think a job is the right way of getting one's English up to speed, certainly it would take time and energy away from study.
It's a social thing, mostly. Chinese people tend to stick together in groups, helping each other with homework and spending leisure time together. It is of course easy these days to watch Chinese TV/Films where ever you are.
That leads to people than can understand spoken English and write it relatively well but the ability to talk is sometimes very weak.
All you have to do is socialise with the full set of people on your course. When I speak to people about their choice of program, the ability to network is often in their list of goals, so it has lots of advantages.
I talk to the leaders of MFE programs and they bring this up, yet I am not sure enough effort is made to put this across.
 
Thank you so much for your help, Dominic.

I heard that 1/3 students of the class in Warwick's program are chinese. I really don't know whether I should regard it as an advantage or disadvantage. :)

Again, thanks a lot for your comments.
 
A lot of British programs have substantial ethnic Chinese proportions, especially in science/IT/maths and economics. Finance programs are specially popular since London is now the top financial centre and has a more rational visa policy than other places.

The change has been that PRC people are a larger % than in the days when it was almost all HK/SG/British Chinese. Until relatively recently history had led to a situation where many Chinese actually counted as British, and thus got free/cheap education.

It's the PRCs who suffer most from the language barrier.

Is it good or bad for Warwick to have a large Chinese % you ask ?
I suppose it depends upon how you interact with your fellow students. In any reasonable sized university anywhere there will be a thriving Chinese community. It can offer support and networking for future life, as well as a break from using a language that is so different from your home tongue.

The problem is that it is too easy to stay almost wholly within that group. I am not claiming here superior virtue for me and if I found myself in China, I'd end up socialising with fellow English speakers, but that doesn't make it a useful way to behave.

Some places I talk to are now being tougher on the language requirement, but in my view not tough enough.
 
Back
Top