What's financial engineering?

[zaboda]

I'm a senior in high school and am close to making a decision on which program/field i want to go into. I've narrowed my choices down to financial engineering and...(not important).

So, i've read some really brief articles explaining what financial engineering is, but i haven't gotten anything really in depth. Could someone please explain it to me? What's the job security, salary, how long do you need to be in college before you get a job, do you need to go to business + engineering school, etc.

Thanks

 

[bluechimp]

Google is your friend. I would also suggest reading autobiographies on the subject matter, (e.g. Emanuel Derman's My Life as a Quant)

 

[CGiuliano]

http://www.markjoshi.com/downloads/advice.pdf

 

[Andy Nguyen]

There is not many, if any, undergrad programs that offer FE major. If they do, it's a prelude to their MFE program so I suggest that you can major in math, cs or any other hard science major with an eye toward fulfilling the course requirements for MFE admission.

 

[CGiuliano]

I have a friend who got a B.S. in QF from JMU. He's at columbia now doing an MFE.

JMU - About the programs


This might be the ultimate prep math/QF double major: http://www.jmu.edu/cob/finance/wm_library/QFIN_with_Math_major_Effective_Fall_2008.pdf

Or, you could hold off on the QF and just do math/cs. That may give you more options.

 

[zaboda]

does anyone have the requirements?

 

[CGiuliano]

This is the heaviest they will get.

Financial Mathematics: Admissions Prerequisites - Stanford University

And they don't say calculus 1, 2 & multivariate because it is implied.

 

[Adam]

I'm a bit confused as to how you could have narrowed down your choice for undergrad study to financial engineering without knowing what financial engineering is. What is it you're looking for in a course of study, exactly? My suggestion is to take a step back and think about what you're passionate about. If you love math, study math. If you love computers, study computer science. If you love literature or art history or philosophy or basket weaving... you get my drift.

Seriously, your undergrad degree doesn't matter for much. Follow your bliss while you're young. There's plenty of time to get practical in a graduate program later.