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Applied Math vs Computational Finance

CRob

Joined
2/27/13
Messages
2
Points
11
I have received some admissions decisions from the graduate programs that I have applied to, and I am stuck with a tough decision to make. I am hoping to hear from those who may have found themselves in a similar situation or someone who may have relevant industry experience who can shed some light on which academic program may be the wiser choice.

My background is a BS in Economics from a large research university. I was shy of a double major with mathematics because I didn't take the physics courses required of the math major.

I have been accepted into a MS in Applied Mathematics from a top ranked department and I have also been accepted into a MS in Computational Finance from a top ranked (math) department.

Basically, I feel like my decision is coming down to whether I want to be a scientist or do I want to make tons of money?

With the A.Math degree, I would probably choose to go on to a Ph.D. in A.Math. I have also found quite a diverse set of internship opportunities and career paths such as working at one of the National Laboratories or the Department of Defense.

With the Finance program, I feel like my life would be stuck in finance, but with opportunities to make substantial amounts of money. The finance programs offers courses involving Monte Carlo Simulation and also courses in financial computing techniques with R, C++, SQL, VBA, and Excel; which from what I have read are pretty important topics for computational finance professionals to know.

If I choose to accept the A.Math program and study topics such as PDE's, Fluid Dynamics, Computing, and Optimization, and I end up deciding that scientific research just isn't my thing, how marketable, in the computational finance industry, would my A.Math degree be if I didn't take those finance courses that the Computational Finance program offers?
 
I feel like the University Quality is important in making this decision. Where are these degrees from, exactly?
 
I feel like the University Quality is important in making this decision. Where are these degrees from, exactly?
Click to expand...
Applied Math - UW Seattle
Mathematics of Finance (Math Dept.) - Colombia
Computational Finance & Risk Management - UW Seattle
 
Columbia is very, very good. Unless you already think you're unlikely to do finance, I feel like I would choose Columbia over UW any day.
 
Agreed with above. I've heard UW applied math is excellent, but if you are choosing between the two finance programs, go to Columbia.
 
CRob said:
With the A.Math degree, I would probably choose to go on to a Ph.D. in A.Math. I have also found quite a diverse set of internship opportunities and career paths such as working at one of the National Laboratories or the Department of Defense.
Click to expand...

The Labs do have really great internships, in many cases.

There are exceptions, but I from what I've seen you will also need a solid background in software if you're going to work at a National Lab or the DoD. There are exceptions of course, but it is a lot easier if you have software chops. So if you go the Applied Math Phd route, I'd focus as much as possible on software as well.

Right now the National Labs are problematic with all of the budget cuts. With the current budget craziness there may be a 10% across the board pay cut (same thing with the DoD, apparently).
 
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