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Salaries for those WFH permanently outside NYC will probably be scrutinized, they may not go down but they probably won't be going up...

I live on the UWS. Crime and homelessness / vagrancy has skyrocketed, and I see many apartment buildings with 80% of the lights turned off in the evenings. A lot of people moved back to where they came from or are temporarily out of the city.

Probably 80% of those top 6 went to Cognizant+Infosys+Tata+Wipro

Never heard of it. Looks like a money-making program like so many others. There does not even seem to be any math or programming classes from Courant.

What kind of positions are you interested in and have you looked at job descriptions/job requirements? Where is your skillset now VS what the positions require? "Quant" is a very generic word and there's no one-size-fits-all answer.

Try to get a trading desk-facing developer position. That is the closest you will get to quant in IT at a bank. Don't end up in production support, bullshit project management, or back office/middle office tech jobs!

Profile is solid. GPA maybe a little lower than average for the top ones. Good recommendation letters + a good personal statement will help.

The way I interpreted was: -They have a Monte Carlo simulation that runs on their portfolio to generate their VaR. That simulation has volatility parameters which are periodically re-evaluated based on historical levels. -Their model hasn't been re-calibrated in a while so their volatility...

What is your major?

It's not a really bad score, but will be tough for top programs. You should retake the GRE and concentrate on getting the highest Q score possible.

Try to get a higher GRE Q. Many people getting into top MFE programs have 170

1) You're not going to find code online that actually delivers business value. Those are all extremely guarded trade secrets. There do exist generic open-source quant libraries that abstract away things like market data, creating a bond or a swap, pricing an instrument, etc... QuantLib is a...

'Quantitative function within finance' is a sweeping generalization that encompasses multiple different departments and dozens of different roles. -Non-quant developer? -Data scientist? -Quant developer? -Strat? -Research Quant? -Risk Quant? -Desk Quant? -Trader? -Risk Manager? -Something else...

You need zero programming and only basic level math for IBD. Btw this is a quant forum so quite unrelated to IBD. Make sure you are not confusing different divisions within an investment bank!

You mean IBD? It will be an uphill climb. IBD typically recruits from top-tier undergrad programs and MBA programs for analyst/associate classes. The usual path is a summer internship followed by a FT offer in the group you summered with. 1) Yes but difficult. Your PhD won't help much, the...

Your question is too vague. What are your skills, what are the roles at Goldman Sachs you are targeting, how well do your skills and experience line up with the requirements for those roles, and what kind of interview prep have you been doing?

It's also true that it is much, much more difficult for the city college grad to get into Morgan Stanley S&T than for the Harvard grad to get into XYZ fund. School matters tremendously to secure the first job. If your school doesn't have on-campus recruitment it is very difficult to get a...

Yes, but you will have to work harder, because recruiters and employers won't come to you - you have to go to them. You will also want to network with alumni as much as possible. Do you have a summer internship?

I disagree that C++ is not used in front office quant environments. I use it a lot, and many other firms do too.

IMO: If you want to get into front office, you have a much better shot at Columbia. But if you just want any job, perhaps the Rutgers career services gives you an edge. Go on LinkedIn and search for alumni from both schools and what they are doing now. Should give you a sense of the career...

IMO: Rutgers will give you 1 & 3. Columbia will give you 2. Columbia brand >>> Rutgers

By the way, you probably know this but you can just take EuropeanOption [] (or EuropeanOption *) to pass an array of any length and this is done automatically via pointer so you don't need to worry about copying overhead. Or use std::vector &

I think it is just syntax. It is clarifying to the compiler that you want to pass a reference to an array, rather than an array of references i.e. void intrinsicValues(EuropeanOption &opts[10]) This is illegal as it is an array of references. void intrinsicValues(EuropeanOption (&opts)[10])...

There are classes like that at CMU MSCF as well where the material is assumed or covered very quickly (i.e. you better have had previous coursework, or spend time outside of class reviewing on your own!). However, CMU classes are taught by professors, not TAs.

Would not be surprised. The pace of that class is brutal. By the time you've got a handle on the case study, the course is almost over. Most students were scrambling to get something together in the last 1-2 weeks of the 7-week class (while studying for finals in other classes, preparing for...

Why are you even bothering with an MBA if your goal is to become a quant?

Best of luck to you @Ken Abbott ! I got some great advice from you pre-MFE.

Calculus based probability is typically a 3rd-year or above undergrad course which usually requires Calc I-III as prerequisites. It is very helpful to have this pre-MFE because many MFE courses including stochastic calculus heavily draw from probability. Some MFE programs also include a...

Is it possible that recruiters preferred MSCF graduates over BSCF? More advanced students for the same price...

MSCF has dedicated career services & OCR.

Lots of calls / voicemails / emails from the recruiter telling you they are disappointed and you should not have done that and you should have accepted. High-pressure sales tactics. Do NOT give in!

You should feel free to ask the recruiter if there are still other candidates. Also - recruiters are not your friend. Their only interest is to place you so that they get their commission and they're going to pressure you very hard to accept an offer even if it is a low salary or otherwise...

If you were looking for jobs in the US and you wanted to do CS (and not necessarily work on Wall Street), I would say go with Berkeley as they have the world's #1 CS program (alongside CMU/Stanford/MIT). Or CMU if you're really set on computational finance and you're confident you can get into...

Did you get into both CMU and Berkeley for CS? Both are top ranked in the country. Berkeley has Ivy-level name recognition in Asia. Makes sense. In Asia, Ivy = king. If you want to do BSCF, you should check with the school regarding the requirements. I guess you would take a bunch of math...

Take a look at the course pre-requisites for some MFE programs (usually on their website). Can you satisfy all of the requirements by the time you graduate? GPA is low - you want 3.7+ for top programs. It will hurt you.

Wrong program. OP is talking about MAFN, not MFE.

a) No. The MFE is supposed to be a terminal degree. b) Probably none of them. Maybe NYU or Columbia MathFin, or Princeton, MIT? They are not designed for doing a PhD afterward. c) See above. Columbia and NYU are technically Masters in Mathematics, so they'd be closer academically to a PhD. I...

1) Modeling jobs typically require a PhD. 2) Your profile is average, perhaps below average in terms of GPA compared to the typical applicant for a quant job in the US. 3) Your chances of getting an interview for a NYC/Chicago/SF job are close to zero. You will need work visa sponsorship, and...

You could go to a HFT hedge fund as a C++ developer, doing low-latency optimization for automated trading algorithms. Those can be very lucrative for someone with a lot of experience. Definitely not 70-hour weeks.

1) Math (calculus, probability, statistics, brainteasers), CS (algorithms, data structures, OOP, brainteasers), finance (depends on group - product specific knowledge like fixed income, FX, equities) 2) One week is really not enough to do thorough prep. I found I needed 3-4 weeks at least, and...

Directly from their website: Pre-Program Courses - Master of Financial Engineering Program | Berkeley-Haas You could have googled this in 5 seconds

Coding challenge can mean many things. Did they tell you what to expect, at all? One place I interviewed with sent me a PDF with a bunch of algorithm / design questions and gave me a day to write it up and send the code back. Another place scheduled a conference call, where the interviewers...

Junior can mean a lot of things. Someone coming out of a PhD program and recruited by a hedge fund for a very specific in-demand skill set could, plausibly, get 300k after a couple of years. But that's an outlier number. Also higher pay typically means higher job uncertainty. You could make 300k...

In NYC rent would be more like 24k. Most students I met in my MFE had their parents pay for their education. Most of them are international and don't qualify for student loans in the US. Maybe some of them get student loans in their home countries.

This is generally not an option for international students, since they don't have US Credit or a US co-signer (needs to be a citizen or permanent resident)

You are a dime a dozen for MFE programs. Which means your chances are just as good as anyone else (8-12% approximately) By the way, do some research on US immigration if you plan to stay in the US post-graduation (permanently). It is becoming nearly impossible for Indians to get...

Huh? Important, in the sense that many firms won't even consider you if you are below a 3.5 or 3.3 (cutoff varies by firm). Plus there is plenty of competition with 3.7, 3.8, 3.9+ GPAs. Finance and information systems are not technical enough majors. As another poster said, math and computer...

Look at the tracker. It will tell you everything you need about the GRE scores of the typical admitted applicant.

:LOL:

1) Mention a skill explicitly and also back it up by how your professional and academic experience contribute to it 2) Stick to 350 max.

Email an MD of the divisions/teams you want to be in, explain your background and current role (and hopefully try to tie your strengths/skills to what their team needs) and ask for a 15-30 minute coffee. Make your email succint, these people don't have time.

1) The total time it takes for you to complete all missing coursework. If you just have calc 1 and 1 programming course, you are missing calc 2-3, differential equations, linear algebra, calculus-based probability, and statistics at the minimum. One programming course is OK, but you will...

I have a theory which is controversial. Back in the day, blue-collar jobs were held in higher regard and apprenticeships were common for becoming an iron worker, shipbuilder, construction worker, etc. Many people went on to amass great wealth from humble beginnings as manual laborers...

You are still a junior. You have time to find an internship. Can you start a minor in quant finance / math / computer science / operations research or even stats ? Getting an internship is the easiest way to get a full time job. Start looking asap. You are at Columbia SEAS which is one of the...

You would be absolutely amazed at how many people have 10 years of experience, all sorts of fancy degrees (even from top schools) in computer science, physics, math, but can't code their way out of a paper bag. I have interviewed many of these people and they would not even be hired as...

Agreed, it's tough to find an internship as a freshman, try to shop around your university for a research assistant position in math/stats/CS.

Take out anything on your resume that points to "generic IT". For example SQL, databases, version control, SDLC, Agile, etc etc. Read this: Quant Careers: How to avoid the quant/developer black hole

A lot of people go through the trouble of getting an MFEs so they can get the job you have. In fact, you have a job that many MFE students looking for trading jobs would kill for. Why do you even need the degree? Are you concerned that not having a Masters degree will lower your marketability...

Your experience would not go to waste, especially since most "quant" jobs are actually programming jobs nowadays. Look into quant programs in London as well

Have you discussed with your professor about it? My professors knew how important superdays are and were very accommodating when it came to interviews etc.

$4k is nothing compared to what you'd spend on an MFE at a top school like CMU, NYU, Columbia (possibly $100K or more). Don't be cheap.

I would suggest Pittsburgh. It is cheaper, you have full access to faculty, and it's a nice campus. New York is touted for its access to networking & employers, but only a very few students seemed to take advantage of that. If you really are determined to network your ass off for that internship...

I didn't read everything but if I could pick two, I would pick the statistics course and optimization course.

There are a quite a few Indians on this board who have gone the Indian university / American MFE route. Maybe worth contacting one of them and see what they think. I'm not familiar with the Indian education system so maybe someone who is more experienced can help.

Your extracurriculars are impressive but none of them really are relevant for MFE/FinMath. No admission committee will consider Coursera to be a "real" source of education, btw. What was your GRE breakdown? What does a 8.76/10 mean when converted to a GPA on the 4.0 scale?

Baruch's FE program is top quality. But the overall school is not well known outside of its financial engineering program. A MFin/MFE graduate from Princeton/Columbia/CMU/Berkeley would have a much easier time finding non-financial engineering jobs just by virtue of the fact that they went to...

Not necessarily, the best evidence is placement of graduates and reputation on the Street. (Baruch fares well in both, by the way)

Start now, in undergrad. You are young enough. Mathematics requirements vary by program but usually include multivariable calculus, linear algebra/vector spaces, calculus-based probability, calculus-based statistics, and differential equations. Most programs only require you to be...

Don't do it. They will find out and you will pay dearly for it. The background checks are done by experts (professional firms that do this full time) and they will verify every piece of information about your employment history.

One thing you can do is to begin thinking about the approach by reducing the complexity of the question and gradually adding the complexity back. For example, if they ask you something about Black-Scholes when there is nonconstant volatility, start off with the constant-volatility framework. It...

A decent computer science degree includes at least calculus, linear algebra, discrete mathematics, and probability & statistics at bare minimum. Many people take much more, such as advanced combinatorics, machine learning, differential equations, etc. Did you not take those classes? 1) Do not...

Yes. Because you will burn out if you try to do a PhD without sufficient motivation to actually conduct the research.

Never heard of it.

I think UK immigration law is stricter when it comes to work authorization for international students post-graduation.

Can confirm...

Yes. That will not help a poor GPA. It might a bit. This isn't the CQF (Certificate in Quantitative Finance), right?

If you got a job as a quant, why even the need for an MFE?

It is worthwhile in the sense that you will be able to spend more time on other classes / recruiting. Note that you do not get any tuition refunds for exempting classes. The following are the courses I've seen people exempt. It may be possible to exempt others, but I think they are rare. ->...

Many quants will tell you that technical analysis is 100% BS. This is a quant forum so everyone's going to tell you to at least look into quant finance. Some MFE programs are truly outstanding and may help you get where you want to be. But you need to commit to finance first.

1) No, you can watch the videos if you want. But it's always better to attend, especially if you're in Pittsburgh, or if you're in NYC and the professor is live in NYC. 2) I think it led to a few internship offers my year. But it's not a kill or get killed kind of deal. 3) See...

Just giving this a bump in case anyone in the incoming class had questions.

If you're set on quant, take those applied classes because they will be very relevant if you eventually decide to do an MFE. The deep math won't really help on a day-to-day basis but like yetanotherquant said, sometimes it will give you an advantage. Take a mix of the most interesting looking...

I know someone who went to a top MFE and then got a job as a structurer.

Switching internally will be difficult without the quant degree.

Two Sigma, I have seen. D.E. Shaw, I have not. In any case many of the people coming out of MFE going to those places have PhDs.

Do the BSEE + MFE route. IB won't help you become a quant.

Yes, that is the easiest. If you don't need OS X you can just install Windows on your Mac, or use Boot Camp if you want to keep OS X. Either way you need a full copy of Windows. How to install Windows using Boot Camp - Apple Support

A brand new VirtualBox instance will have no OS installed. You need a bootable Windows DVD/CD to install Windows on the virtual machine first. If you don't have one you may need to buy one or get one through your school (my school allowed students to download Windows 7 DVD ISOs for free).

If you want to run Visual Studio, you need to either install Windows (dual boot OS X / Windows) or download something like VirtualBox and install Windows in a virtual machine. Visual Studio is a great IDE. There are also programs on OS X that work with C++ such as Xcode, Eclipse CDT, CLion, and...

NYU MathFin and Columbia MAFN have part-time programs. CMU MSCF stopped offering their part-time program last year.

I am willing to bet you won't be in the front office (or middle office - that really is specific to Ops roles who work with sales & trading - Technology crosses front to back). More like desk-aligned development team within the larger tech organization. Try to confirm this if you can, but if I...

Try to arrange to work part-time during the school year, and full time during breaks. What the heck is an IT quant position? Does this report into "the business" or "operations/technology"?

That's not a quant job. That's a technology job. "Our team in London has a very close relationship with the Trading and Quants teams" That means you are part of neither trading nor quant.

Your GPA is low for top 20. You will be competing against those who have 3.7+, 3.8+.

1) Perfect score or close on math and a decent score on Verbal 2) Not unless you are applying to a school that only accepts the GMAT. Most schools prefer the GRE. 3) Depends on school 4) Not necessary but it will help. 5) Doesn't really matter, it is more important to get a good recommendation...

The ranking is useless. These are the criteria they used to score the programs: No mention of faculty quality, student / employer feedback, mean salary after graduation, placement rate, nada.

If you're set on finance, the Math Finance degree seems like the clear choice.

You probably want a higher GRE Q score.

Not likely. If you want to do research, do a Ph.D. I don't know what the Doctor of Business Admin is but seems like an industry-oriented degree so do that or an MBA if you want to go into industry. Don't do a Ph.D just to get a job.

You don't need a CS/math/physics degree to get into an MFE program, but those degrees typically satisfy the entry requirements (which vary by program). You need to research all the programs you want to apply to and take additional college classes to close the gap between your coursework and the...

Why not take the GRE?

CMU has a Certificate program under MSCF. MS in Computational Finance Program Options | Carnegie Mellon Columbia also has an online Financial Engineering Certificate. Online Degrees | Columbia University Engineering Take a look at their curriculums and see if they interest you.

It will be tough even if you get a 170 in the GRE. The GRE is a 4 hour test, your GPA is a cumulative measure over 4 years.

A lot of it is because it's an international brand name. And many people going to MFE programs are from abroad where names like CMU, Baruch, and even Cornell aren't as well-known as Princeton, Stanford, MIT, and Berkeley.

I'd rank them (in particular order within each group) Group 1: Princeton Berkeley CMU Columbia Group 2: NYU (possibly tier 1) Cornell Baruch Group 3: MIT Stanford Group 4: Chicago JHU UCLA GTech Personally.

There are several banks with quant groups in Atlanta, if you don't mind working there. I know Bank of America has a group there and I am sure they recruit out of Georgia Tech QCF.

Sounds like you are determined to get your shit back together. Go finish the MFE first and get some job advice from your program & this forum. You will not be partying much if it's a decently rigorous program. Job-wise the vast majority of quant jobs are in New York and London. I know only a...

Many/most people at RenTech / D.E. Shaw have Ph.D's in computer science, physics, mathematics, or other hard science.

Bank HR systems and the recruiting process in general are a world of BS. The faster you realize that the better you'll do!

Maybe it's under Natural Sciences or some other generic STEM header.

Your undergrad GPA seems a bit low. Why go for an MFE if you already have a Masters and years of experience?

It might help a little bit, but it won't be a make or break. In my opinion, he effort needed to prep is not worth the small benefit. Focus instead on polishing your application and getting good recommendations / personal statement.

What do you want to do?

That's up to you. Why did you leave it up to the last minute? To answer your original question, it may be detrimental in the sense that many people applying to MFE programs will already have financial services experience under their belt and you will be competing with them for jobs.

Only the final (third) semester. The first two semesters are in Ithaca.

If you've been out of school for a few years, definitely review calculus, probability/statistics, and basic finance. You can still do that and do an internship at the same time...

Neither of those classes is part of the MSCF program.

Your GPA is low for Baruch and possibly Waterloo.

You haven't given us enough detail about your background to provide you with useful advice.

Depends on what you want to do... C++, Python, R, MATLAB Absolutely not.

Isn't it just B because that would maximize the value of the fixed leg that the oil driller would be receiving?

That's not an MSCF course. Should've clarified that all CMU MSCF classes (except guest lectures, plus one or two exceptions, due to emergencies) are taught by professors.

All of the classes I took were taught by full-time professors (assistant/associate/full). No adjuncts or postdocs, except for a few classes where they were brought in as guest lecturers. I do know of a class or two that had to use an adjunct this past school year due to an emergency, but it is...

It is nothing of the sort. The program is heavily math-oriented and programming is only used to put the theory into practice. There are 4 programming classes and they are very different from anything you might see in an MS CS. There are very few classes that a typical (non-quantitative) MBA...

What is MCE? Do you mean MSCF?

That's definitely on the extreme end. The smallest program I know of in the US is Princeton (30 students per year) and there's a strong relationship between the faculty and students there. CMU has 40 per year/campus (NY + Pittsburgh). I have never had an issue with access to professors / TAs at...

What MFE program that you know of has less than 20 students?

Technology is not really back office either, because it spans the spectrum from pricing & automated trading systems all the way down to settlement systems. The only area that can really be called "back office" in the fullest sense of the phrase is the actual settlement and reconciliation...

They will probably ask you brainteasers, as well as algorithm/programming questions. You may be asked specific questions but you can tell them if it is not a subject you've studied or are familiar with.

All things equal, I would say Cornell. Very strong alumni network on Wall Street, close-ish to NYC (they even run a bus from campus to Manhattan, and Cornell has/will have satellite campuses in the city for the MFE/Engineering). Granted, I know very little about Harvey Mudd other than the fact...

@Terrance If you want a more introductory catch-all book this is a good one. Covers a good deal of bond / swaps and it's not too math-heavy. The Complete Guide to Capital Markets for Quantitative Professionals (McGraw-Hill Library of Investment and Finance): Alex Kuznetsov: 9780071468299...

Tuckman & Serrat is an introductory text. We used it as a reference during CMU's Fixed Income class.

This was also used/recommended to us at CMU http://www.amazon.com/Fixed-Income-Securities-Todays-Markets/dp/0470891696/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461030905&sr=8-1&keywords=fixed+income+securities

Brigo and Mercurio

I can confirm that Steve Shreve has taught Stochastic Calculus II for at least the last two years, along with Risk Management II. All classes at CMU are taught by professors. TA sessions are held separately and no classes are taught by TAs.

Here are the texts that were recommended (not required) for CMU MSCF's Monte Carlo course (I took it last year). Amazon.com: Stochastic Simulation: Algorithms and Analysis (Stochastic Modelling and Applied Probability, No. 57) (No. 100) (9780387306797): Søren Asmussen, Peter W. Glynn: Books...

Glasserman - Monte Carlo Methods in Financial Engineering

Do you want to work in NYC or London?

Dude, stay a little further away from campus. You will get SICK of the place. lol

It'll take up to 10 years to go to med school and then do internship/residency before finally finishing training and becoming a physician. Those 10 years of lost / significantly reduced income (plus loans) could negate the potential future earnings...you should only do medicine if you're really...

Take it before you graduate while you still have free time. It'll save you a headache. Prep is not a big deal. I prepped for a couple of weeks for verbal and a week for math and still managed to get an 800 on the math & a decent score on the verbal.

**WARNING long post** I would like to thank everyone on this forum for all the advice they have given me. A few years ago I decided to apply to MFE programs and the help I got here was immensely helpful. There is no way I would have gotten into my choice of school had it not been for the help I...

http://www.markjoshi.com/downloads/advice.pdf https://www.quantnet.com/best-selling-quant-books/ Recommended Books You need to pick up entry-level programming and financial mathematics books. Your math background may not yet be sufficient for financial mathematics and in that case you have to...

I am a current student. PM me if you want.

C++ is not a hard requirement. You can still be admitted and be required to take a free C++ prep class (at CMU) before the program starts to satisfy the programming prerequisite. Obviously, having any programming experience beforehand is helpful.

Have you considered CMU? Your chances might be pretty good if you're able to get a recommendation from your dept head.

What kind of quant job do you want and what qualifications/skills do you already have that could help you make that move?

CMU has some older students as well

Princeton.

1) No 2) A bad GPA will get you rejected at most of the top schools. They have plenty of applicants with 3.7+, even 3.9+ GPAs to pick from.

Why would an admissions interviewer ask you those detailed questions about SABR and the Greeks and MBS and trading strategies? Wouldn't the average incoming MF Estudent have absolutely no clue about most of these things?

That's an incredibly annoying thing to do to an interviewee who is already stressed out by the situation.

You can ask, but I doubt they would let you. They will probably tell you to apply again next year.

It's just very competitive. The acceptance rates hover around 10%, so it's normal that many highly qualified candidates get rejected. You should try to get at least one academic recommendation letter, especially because you are only 2 years out of school. Join SQA, IAFE and go to their...

What do you want to do?

You do realize that most quant positions now are about analytics, risk management, and regulation as opposed to money-making, right? Even 'front-office' quants have to do a substantial amount of regulatory/risk reporting-related work.

That's always going to be the case. Top programs (Princeton, Columbia, CMU, etc) have admission rates in the single digits ~ low two digits.

What specifically about quantitative finance do you find fascinating?

I assume you mean the background check your new employer would conduct to verify your employment history at your summer employer. It really depends. Worst case, your new employer finds out and you lose your offer because they don't want anyone who has a history of reneging. Remember that this...

You mean you want the trading date to be 9/14/04 but the expiry of the option to be 3/21/14? You'll need to use a date library and handle holidays appropriately to retrieve the DCF of the time to expiry?

Are you doing a lot of varying technical work on a daily basis or is it the kind of MO where things are pretty repetitive? Is it relevant to what you learned in the MFE?

I have Brigo and Mercurio and it's pretty technical but pretty detailed in explanations.

Before you can translate quantitative finance concepts to code, you should get familiar with the basics of financial math and derivative pricing. You should have a basic knowledge of calculus and linear algebra before reading these. Here are some books to get you started...

Lots of CPM (counterparty portfolio management) and risk quant positions.

Correct. The part-time/online class that started in Fall 2015 will be the last. They may bring it back at some point depending on the economic climate / demand.

2. Of the ones you listed, LSE and WUSTL 4. No. Typical applicants to MFE/MathFin programs have a 4-year degree in a technical discipline (math, computer science, engineering, statistics) and have had extensive undergraduate math 5. Yes. But jobs in the UK are even harder to get than in the US.

This is quite common for any data source. Cleaning the data and filling in these missing gaps appropriately is an important part of doing time series analysis, statistics, machine learning, etc.

Netting agreements with counterparties.

Go on arXiv and look through the quant finance papers.

Optimization might help, for example in portfolio construction

CMU and NYU (part-time programs) do. I'm not sure about Columbia MAFN.

It highly depends on how closely you work with the other group in your existing job.

Do a math minor.

(Purely opinion) US: Columbia, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, UC Berkeley Canada: Waterloo, Toronto UK: Oxford MathFin, Cambridge MathFin, Imperial MFE Asia/Europe: No clue. Are there even 10 programs worth of ranking?

1) For a career shift? It's probably the minimum 2) Make it a balance of tech/quant, especially since your first move will likely be to another developer role in the financial industry and not necessarily a quant one. 3) Have you checked out Nanyang Technological University's MS Financial...

CMU has one.

Probably somewhere in between :P

You should be fine. Just make sure you can articulate why you want to do MSCF and convince the admissions officers that your background is sufficient. This is a very challenging program and you don't want to go in unprepared.

I think Acceptance Rate is overrated and should remain at 2.5%. Sure you can have a low acceptance rate but sometimes you get a heckload of admissions just because of the overall name of the school and not because a particular department or program is good. Also starting salary is really...

Most people I know are pretty focused on internship and job searches AND they do more than the minimum to pass (although they not necessarily try to ace classes). On the other hand there is always someone who gets a 100% on the final exam, and I don't know if they are geniuses or studied like...

Go with 300 words and use a word count tool.

Check the website for the program prerequisites. Do you meet them? Otherwise your profile looks strong.

The semiannual coupon would be 1/2 of the annual coupon (8%). The payment every 6 months is then 4% times whatever the bond's face value is. So you would have 8 coupon payments plus the payment of face value at the last payment date.

I had admin access to my local PC at my previous employer (a large investment bank). However, access to production servers was locked down and you had to deal with a separate 'production support' team to get access. They were based in India (outsourced) and barely spoke English. There are a lot...

I'd do the modeling and programming classes. (Stochastic calculus + programming)

Well, even if you make crazy assumptions - you get market data from the real world, right? The fact that the put-call parity seems to hold is a sign that markets are indeed quite efficient :)

You are describing arbitrage. In a perfect market, arbitrage is impossible; there is no strategy that will guarantee you a profit. In the real world, there are occasional opportunities for arbitrage, but you have to look for them.

CFA is an asset management / equity research-oriented certification. It is mostly useful if you're in an asset manager / hedge fund or you're in sell-side research. FRM is a specialized certification that caters to risk management. Neither contains anything like the level of math you will...

1) Please don't do a PhD just to get a job afterwards. Too many people on this forum treat the PhD as if it is just a long version of an MFE. It is not. 2) What are your short-term / mid-term career goals? Moving to a non-quant role doesn't make sense if you want to do quant stuff as a career.

Ah, my bad. CLion looks promising. I've used IntelliJ and PyCharm in the past, and I'm a fan of JetBrains' approach to IDEs.

That doesn't support C++ so would be pointless for anyone in a quant program.

Your current skillset likely does not match what MFE programs are looking for and the accounting course will not help. Maybe if you list what classes you took in undergrad, we can give you better advice.

You don't need any of this

Maybe he started his PhD starry-eyed and full of hope and five years of PhD life turned him cynical & $$$-hungry.

They tend to be career switchers / people who finished their PhD and realized they don't want to go into academia. An extra year or 1.5 years after 5-7 years of a PhD isn't too bad bang for the buck. I think they are welcomed by employers, since they have a highly technical research training...

It's only worth it if you truly think you cannot get the score you need without tutoring/coaching. Otherwise, it is a waste of money.

I'd say that's decent. Maybe a 160/4.0.

54 percentile in what? You should get as high a score as possible in the Quantitative section and a decent score in Verbal/Writing.

The CFA will not point you in the quant direction.