Profile Evaluation for CMU MSCF

[Jordan Platts]

I am hoping someone could give me a recommendation on what classes I should take to be better prepared for CMU's MSCF degree. I have asked a few other people and read the information on the website multiple times and have received mixed results.

I graduated last May from The University of Central Florida with a dual degree in computer science and finance. I currently work as an Analyst at Cain Brothers Asset Management in a diverse role (automation, research, accounting, marketing, credit analyst).

I'm not worried about my programming background or my interest in finance because of both of my undergraduate degrees and current occupation, but I am worried about my math background.

Here are the math classes I have already taken:

Discrete 1 - A
Discrete 2 - A
Calculus 1 - B
Calculus 2 - B - sequences, series
Calculus 3 - B - multivariate
Matrix and linear algebra - B
Calculus based probability and statistics - A
Statistical theory 1 - A
Numerical Calculus - A

Below are a few extra course descriptions:

STA 4321 COS-STAT 3(3,0) Statistical Theory I: PR: STA 2023 or STA 3032; CR: MAC 2313. Probability axioms, discrete and continuous sample spaces, conditional probability, independence, one-dimensional random variables, moment generating functions, transformations, jointly distributed random variables. Fall.

STA 4322 COS-STAT 3(3,0) Statistical Theory II: PR: STA 4321. Conditional distributions, sums of random variables. Chebyshev’s inequality, central limit theorem, method of movements, maximum likelihood, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, transformations of two random variables. Spring.

COT 4500 ECS-ECE 3(3,0) Numerical Calculus: PR: MAC 2312 and COP 3223
each with a grade of “C” (2.0) or better. Numerical methods
for finding roots of nonlinear equations, solutions of systems
of linear equations, and ordinary differential equations.


Overall GPA: 3.54(out of 4)
Finance GPA: 3.62
CS GPA: 3.79

I'm going to take the GRE later because I think I should complete my formal education first.

Should I take differential equations? Does it make a difference if I take the course at a local community college or at University of Central Florida?

Should I take statistical theory 2?

 

[CasanovaJ]

If you take ODE (and do well in it), I think you'll have a good shot.

 

[Jordan Platts]

Thanks for your reply. Does it matter if I take ODE at a community college or at UCF?

 

[CasanovaJ]

They'll want to know it was a legit course... if you can manage to find a community college that offers a legit ODE course then maybe, but UCF would be better.

You might also want to broaden your horizons a bit beyond CMU. As a domestic applicant who has industry experience, can code, and has the math prereqs covered I'm pretty sure you'll get into at least one of the top 10 programs, but there's no guarantee it would be CMU.

 

[Jordan Platts]

Thanks. I think I will take ODE at UCF then.

I've looked into other programs. Cain Brothers has an office in NYC and I'd like to work part time while taking a program that focuses on machine learning. This condition really narrows the list down.

 

[CasanovaJ]

CMU's program may have the word "computational" in it, but looking at their curriculum it looks like a whole lot of math, a lot of finance, and then a "financial computing" part that just looks like a few C++ courses and then a single machine learning course. If your main interest is the technical side, another option could be something like an MS in computer science (where you could really focus on machine learning) and the CFA exams. Unless you find yourself with some burning desire to do derivatives modeling (and most of those jobs nowadays seem to only go to PhD's anyway), there's really no reason to kill yourself learning stochastic calculus.

 

[Jordan Platts]

I've thought about it. To be honest, I would like to have a specialization in machine learning but I'm not ready to give up potential knowledge about finance for it. In other words I'm excited for every class I take to have a direct relation to the finance industry. Also, I may try to switch out a lower programming class for one in machine learning, but I haven't spoken to anyone at CMU about this yet.

 

[Jordan Platts]

To update everyone:

I took ODE at UCF and got an A. I also took the gre and received 168q/165v.

I am hoping to get recommendation letters from a pm and a senior pm, both managing portfolios quantitatively. Also, I will try to get a recommendation letter from my stat theory 1 professor or a professor I have been close with but he only taught me intro to C.

I think I will be applying to:
CMU
Columbia
stanford
Chicago
Georgia tech
Baruch

The list isn't finalized....

As always if anyone has any advice, opinions, or questions then feel free to share.