- Joined
- 7/16/13
- Messages
- 1
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- 11
Hi everyone,
My name is Tony and I am a new one to the QuantNet. I just talked to a really nice MD and would like to share you about his opinions and really want your feedbacks for me. I am now doing a Risk Management summer intern in one of the BBs in Beijing and just talked to the MD of my department who is really nice and gave me a lot of advices.
The MD told me he thinks that working first is more helpful since you don't know why you are taking courses in the MFE degree if you apply for it directly after graduation. In the contrast, after working for a couple of years you will get familiar with the huge finance industry, find the exact position that suits you the best, and have more motivations and hence gains in such a program. Also, he emphasized a lot on the drawbacks of academic finance, mentioning that recruiters in the industry are not interested in PDE solving and coding guys, they want someone who can solve practical problems, which maybe really messy and don't necessarily fit in the equations.
Well, you know, we Chinese students typically have good grades in Math & Statistics and so do I. I also have a bit knowledge in academic finance (options, stochastic calculus, time series, computational finance, etc.). The modeling guys and quants I have met before all told me something like "if you want to do serious quant, get a PhD and study maths that are as hard as possible". I have been thinking about an MFE path to be a quant for long. But you know even for quants, there are different sub-categories, and the demand for maths are different among quant positions. I am not what kind of the quant I should do.
So I am kind of confused now. The MD says that it's because I am not familiar enough in the industry and I think he is correct. My ultimate goal is to do something technical in this industry, to apply my math/stat/coding/Excel skills to solve problems. I have been interested in that since high school. Since I am the 3rd year student and just about to think about life after graduation in September, I really want your feedbacks about the 2 opinions above. I am confident I can get a nice MFE admission due to my background but I think the MD's opinion is more long-term. What do you think? How do you think the quant jobs will be like in the future? Also, for me, PhD, MFE or apply for a job directly? Manys thanks for your kind help!
My name is Tony and I am a new one to the QuantNet. I just talked to a really nice MD and would like to share you about his opinions and really want your feedbacks for me. I am now doing a Risk Management summer intern in one of the BBs in Beijing and just talked to the MD of my department who is really nice and gave me a lot of advices.
The MD told me he thinks that working first is more helpful since you don't know why you are taking courses in the MFE degree if you apply for it directly after graduation. In the contrast, after working for a couple of years you will get familiar with the huge finance industry, find the exact position that suits you the best, and have more motivations and hence gains in such a program. Also, he emphasized a lot on the drawbacks of academic finance, mentioning that recruiters in the industry are not interested in PDE solving and coding guys, they want someone who can solve practical problems, which maybe really messy and don't necessarily fit in the equations.
Well, you know, we Chinese students typically have good grades in Math & Statistics and so do I. I also have a bit knowledge in academic finance (options, stochastic calculus, time series, computational finance, etc.). The modeling guys and quants I have met before all told me something like "if you want to do serious quant, get a PhD and study maths that are as hard as possible". I have been thinking about an MFE path to be a quant for long. But you know even for quants, there are different sub-categories, and the demand for maths are different among quant positions. I am not what kind of the quant I should do.
So I am kind of confused now. The MD says that it's because I am not familiar enough in the industry and I think he is correct. My ultimate goal is to do something technical in this industry, to apply my math/stat/coding/Excel skills to solve problems. I have been interested in that since high school. Since I am the 3rd year student and just about to think about life after graduation in September, I really want your feedbacks about the 2 opinions above. I am confident I can get a nice MFE admission due to my background but I think the MD's opinion is more long-term. What do you think? How do you think the quant jobs will be like in the future? Also, for me, PhD, MFE or apply for a job directly? Manys thanks for your kind help!
