Master's after 10 yrs Experience?

[Sekhar]

Hello Firends,

I am having more than 10 years of experience as a Software Engineer. I am planning to pursue Masters program in Financial Engineering. I called a couple of Universities in Canada (University of Waterloo, and University of Toronto. I have Canadian PR), and unfortunately I got a very disappointing response from them. They told that I may not be able to get admission, as I am away from academics for more than 10 years. I am confident that my math skills are enough for Financial engineering. I am currently preparing for FRM (Financial Risk Managers Examination). Can you suggest me if I cannot pursue Master's program anywhere? Is it the case in all the US Universities?

Any suggestions to get admission into Master's in Quant Finance/Financial Engineering?

How reputated in University of Washington (Computational Finance)?

Thanks in advance !!

 

[Andy Nguyen]

The question is not whether you can get in a master in FE/QF program, but whether doing so has any short term/long term benefit to your career. Educational options for MFE candidates are plentiful in the US but I'm convinced you have to make a good case why you should do one.
As far as statistics on profiles that make into MFE programs across the globe, take a look at our Tracker.

 

[Jose T]

Why not get a MS in a traditional quantitative field related to financial engineering such as Statistics, Math, CS or an engineering field?

Most of your peers would still be younger than you but your more likely to run into another non-traditional student in these types of programs.

 

[Sekhar]

Thanks Andy and Jose for your replies.

I am doing a routine work in my current role. I can pursue MBA, but I feel that I am not a good fit for managerial role. Given a chance, I always prefer to stay in a Technical role. I narrowed down to Masters in Financial Engineering, as the mathematical subjects (+ applications) fascinate me. I agree that I will be an odd man out in any class, given my age. But I am already doing my ground work, such as reviewing my math skills (I believe, at least 50% of the Master's programs teach the same curriculum as the FRM, and I enrolled for FRM exam for this reason).

Anyway, given that getting an admission from a decent University is difficult for me, can you suggest, if I can do Quant trading managing my own portfolio? Suggest me some good material, which can help me to do Algorithimic trading? Which programming language is better for quant trading (R, C++, VBA ?). I know that I will get a decent introduction about Financial Instruments and Econometrics (via FRM Material). Thanks in advance!!

 

[Andy Nguyen]

You probably would want to read this https://www.quantnet.com/threads/interview-with-ernie-chan.9921/
Just keep in mind those without experience/capital has a huge disadvantage.
See also Max Dama's note from our reading list.

 

[Sekhar]

Thanks so much Andy!!

 

[DieterD]

I am in a somewhat similar situation to you (32 years old, away from academics since 2004, also living in Canada). You're definitely right in that University of Toronto prefers people straight out of undergrad. I applied anyway, and didn't even get an interview. Waterloo is more open to older students (and did offer me a place). I got the impression they had some students with a PhD in a different field, some with work experience, and quite a few straight out of undergrad.
As far as my experience with US program: I applied to Columbia, NYU, Berkeley, MIT, Chicago and Baruch. MIT seems to cater towards people straight out of undergrad (and waitlisted me), but the other programs didn't seem to mind my age as they all accepted me. In fact, I think Berkeley's MFE students' average age is around 27, so I don't think I'll stand out too much age-wise.
Don't let your age deter you from applying, if this is what you want to do!