NYUite’s Anticipations – an MSMF student blog

After the jaundice-inducing world cup final, which Spain won to my chagrin, I am avidly looking forward to going to NYU and living in NYC, starting this fall. Thoughts of moving around the lanes of the financial center of the world, listening to renowned experts of their fields and learning in the hustle-bustle of The-City are blissful. Finding suitable housing in NYC might not be as straight forward as working out the color code of the subway. But for all the things NYC has to offer, it is worth taking the trouble. I am just plain excited!

To put things into perspective – I am a mechanical engineer by training. Living in Ithaca and doing my PhD in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics have been real fun. Working on some of the dynamical aspects of Saturnian Rings is exciting. Differential equations have completely replaced the red blood cells in my body. I understand the language of modeling and simulations. What fancies me is problem solving. I worship Newton and am a great fan of Feynman. I have realized that unearthing the underlying cause-effect relationships and how they propagate in a complex system, excite me the most. After some pondering I strongly feel that quantitative finance is where I will find the right mix of analysis, computation, thrill and most certainly philosophy. My quest to obtain a Masters in Financial Mathematics from NYU has two primary purposes: learning computation and software engineering as applied in Finance and absorbing the structure and essence, as well as details, of rigorous Financial Mathematics. Of course, I want to find a job later (reason for choosing NYC) but more than that I want to learn what the financial sector sits on? What are the arteries and veins of this money-transporter? And what diet keeps it slim and healthy? Choosing NYU was a no-brainer. I doubt there is any place better than NYU to learn Financial Mathematics. The reputation of the professors and professionals teaching the program and the presence of Computer Science (applied to Finance) courses are a big plus. Moreover, the program gives an opportunity of doing internship before making the final plunge, full time.

I hope to keep you posted about how things move for me at NYU. I want to sound a note of caution though – these are going to be my takes on what I think and not what the NYU program is about. My blogs will talk about the courses, topics and techniques that I think are interesting, with respect to the financial markets. It will be fun, I promise.

Let the journey begin! Wish me luck.

Tags: Manish, NYU, nyu math finance, nyu mathfin, quant blog