What was your undergrad major?

[Yuriy]

yes, Ive noticed by the statistics from some schools that it gets harder each year.
What would you propose if I wouldnt get an admit for fall 2008?
a)taking my MSc in Business&Economics + doing some more math courses?
b)getting a work in a finance related place, like investmentbank or IT-job in finance?

First of all, there are many schools that you can apply to. Apply to all "levels", i.e., top ones, mid-level, and safety schools.
- Study for GRE and score high.
- Get into the finance industry if possible, find a job as close as possible to what FE people are doing.
- Take relevant courses and get very good grades.

 

[rockefeller]

Do they (the schools) care about the applicants age? Ill be 29 when its fall 2008 so it feels like Im close to "expiration-date" for admission and for getting my first decent job at Wall Street.

 

[Yuriy]

Do they (the schools) care about the applicants age? Ill be 29 when its fall 2008 so it feels like Im close to "expiration-date" for admission and for getting my first decent job at Wall Street.

I think some schools do care, at least, thats what I was told. There should be statistics on schools' websites showing average, min, max age of incoming students.

Baruch does not care, as far as I know. And that is very good.

 

[kean]

Heee

Not everyone can handle financial maths. If you are good enough, you will get hired.

Some famous quants started after 40's.

Do they (the schools) care about the applicants age? Ill be 29 when its fall 2008 so it feels like Im close to "expiration-date" for admission and for getting my first decent job at Wall Street.

 

[Sam Harris]

The other thing is that people go to FE usually for the money. I haven't seen a first doctor begging for money. I think doctors and dentists mint money :D

I saw a doctor have to pass the hat. He didn't understand the stochastic anomaly of clumping and didn't have enough cash on hand to cover multiple unexpected expenses.

There are lots of people making $300k a year and living paycheck to paycheck. Personal finance should be part of mandatory education.

 

[alain]

There are lots of people making $300k a year and living paycheck to paycheck. Personal finance should be part of mandatory education.

MFE won't help there either.

 

[joe_bradley]

Rockefeller,

To chime in with what Yuri said about age, it definitely applies for certain MFE *schools*. The job market is another thing. I know of one person who didn't get into a "top-tier" program and he was actually able to talk to someone there about why he didn't get in. They did confirm that his age (I think he was in his 30s) was a factor. Though I'm sure it isn't fatal. One real problem I had - and you may have it too - when I applied for the MFE program it had been several years since I used heavy maths of any sort, and that's one thing I'm sure they look at.

At Baruch, age doesn't seem to matter. One good thing about the MFE program here is the refresher courses that most people take the summer before classes start. That shouldn't be overlooked if you're comparing programs.

As far as age in the job market, I've heard that it's only really a strike against you if your resume isn't strong. Specifically, you don't want it to look like you're going the MFE/Quant route because you never really succeeded in your previous careers.

 

[rockefeller]

joe_bradley, fortunately Im taking my last math-courses right now when Im in the end of my BSc in economics. The courses I got this year is econometrics, calculus, statistics so I feel confindent about the math. Ive had discrete math and linear algebra also a couple of years ago. Should I go for a pure course of PartDiffEq and OrdDiffEq also before starting MFE?

 

[Yuriy]

Should I go for a pure course of PartDiffEq and OrdDiffEq also before starting MFE?

Yes, 100%. Take Partial Differential Equations, and, if possible, take the Ordinary as well.
You need to make sure you know 1) Calculus, 2) C++, 3) PDE, 4) Probability

 

[Sam Harris]

Yes, 100%. Take Partial Differential Equations, and, if possible, take the Ordinary as well.
You need to make sure you know 1) Calculus, 2) C++, 3) PDE, 4) Probability

What's been kicking my butt is Linear Algebra. I barely passed that class 7yrs ago and I'm really paying for it now!

 

[Yuriy]

What's been kicking my butt is Linear Algebra. I barely passed that class 7yrs ago and I'm really paying for it now!

Linear Algebra is the easiest. You do, indeed, need if for the program, but only numerical aspects of it. Things like how to reduce matrix, how to find LU and Cholesky decompositions, determinant, eigenvalues, multiplication of matrices, inverses etc. I am not sure whether you need to know transformations or kernels. Maybe current students taking Numerical Linear Algebra can comment on that.

 

[Christophe]

BS in CS/Math (double major)
Would be fun to know more about Quantnet members who are not in the program or already working. Better yet, put a picture to your name

Engineering degree in cs/applied math, currently working on P&L/Risk software for an IB. I am considering joining a MFE program to perform tasks that are different from the usual software programming. Since I haven't done math for a very long time I have signed up for 2 classes of applied math for economics and finance these classes covers the analysis topics used in finance and I plan to sign to a probability and statistics for finance classe. I am taking these classes in Paris in a school that teaches evening classes only. This is the reason why you can find programs that target specific business areas.

 

[Ashish Tare]

as people are discussing which undergrad i would like to tell you people mine too.
I graduated colleege from Mumbai University, Veermata JijabaI Technological Institue (great college, tough to get in, 0.3% acceptance rate) in CIVIL Engineering.

Different than most here.

 

[Ashish Tare]

By the way, I wanted to ask how people came across financial engineering (after studying something else)? Should I start a new thread?

yes please.

By the way, Yuiry, you had said that you will respond to the thread i created on the Internships. Please give your comments, you can find that thread, it's name is Internships v/s Brandnames

 

[fredcheck]

any of you guys in math majors and engineering majors ever take finance courses?

 

[Yuriy]

any of you guys in math majors and engineering majors ever take finance courses?

No, but that was because Financial Math was not well known at that time.

 

[Sanket Patel]

I'm finishing my last semester of undergrad. I will have degree in Finance, Economics, and a minor in Mathematics.

Any other non physics, math, or engineering background people here?

 

[iosakwe]

any of you guys in math majors and engineering majors ever take finance courses?

In a Baruch, there's a math w/finance concentration being offered. The bulk of the Mathematics is probability based and applicable to the financial industry. There's also a requirement of taking two finance classes. Principles of finance and Corp Finance | Investment Analysis. See http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/ugradprograms/mth.htm#Major for more information.

 

[Sangwon Hyun]

double major or major+minor

Double in financial math and computer science

is what i'm aiming for but its gonna take me at least 5 years

Does anyone think that I should just minor in CS and move onto grad school as soon as i can
or spend some more time in undergrad to get a degree in CS
The reason I am asking this is because i heard that minor degrees achieved in undergrad are really insignificant and largely ignored by employers

I go to the University of Michigan Ann Arbor by the way

 

[keitheelee]

Doubled in Applied math and Econ.

Is it true that MFE programs tend to look for students with more theoretical background (ie math or statistics) than a technical background (ie computer science or engineering)?

I was reading the financial engineering programs' descriptions of UCL and Imperial College. Both state that the programs are for students with quantitative and theoretic background who want to sharpen their technical skills.