Can you tell us a bit about your background?
B.A. from University of Virginia in Economics
Minor in Mathematics
I studied full-time in the program from 9/2009 to 5/2011
Did you get admitted to other programs?
No. Didn't apply
Why did you choose this program (over others, if applicable)?
Location & Practicality. Preferred to remain in-state to further my studies related to economics and mathematics while obtaining programming and industry relevant experience.
What alternative sources of info you used to learn more about the program?
Rutgers webpage provides a valid source of information regarding the program
Tell us about the application process at this program
Applied offline and received an acceptance almost immediately.
Does this program offer refresher courses for incoming students? What do they offer and how much it costs?
Students are required to participate in summer orientation where Introduction to Finance is taught. Otherwise no refresher courses are necessary.
Tell us about the courses selection in this program. Any special courses you like?
The initial semester is a waste and used as a refresher with courses in microeconomics, probability, C++, and Finance. With an extraordinary amount of international students, I assume this is to create common level of understanding for the remainder of the program, but this is essentially a waste allowing the university to "steal" a semester tuition and help create Rutgers' comparatively lengthy 2 year program. Courses in stochastic calculus, operations research, and numerical analysis provide the basis for a mathematical foundation, yet the program fails to deliver on time-series analysis and extensive econometrics. The program does provide sufficient exposure to Matlab, VBA, C++, and R. With only 3 electives available and an administration that disapproves of class substitutions the curriculum is very inflexible.
Tell us about the quality of teaching
Extremely Variant. Professors vary from American to International and with experience to those who are solely academics. Professors with industry experience within the U.S. provide the most practical, well taught classes.
Materials used in the program
Hull - Options Futures and other derivatives
Shreve - Stochastic Calculus for Finance
Cochrane - Asset pricing
Etheridge - A course in Financial Calculus
Huang and Litzenberger - Foundation for Financial Economics
Along with numerous Finance and programming texts
Programming component of the program
Matlab, VBA, R, C++, JAVA
Projects
Entire courses in both C++ and JAVA (why JAVA?) creates numerous programming projects
Matlab projects using Fama-French model and CAPM are very useful.
Limited projects in VBA and R with no introduction to SQL or STATA.
Obtain sufficient knowledge of Excel.
Career service
The career services department mostly neglects quant finance majors with the majority of opportunities and corporate presentations tailored to MBAs. International students will find job opportunities far more scarce, and with the majority of the program's students being international, especially Asian, they will find it far more competitive. However, opportunities are available for internships and full-time positions, but students must look for openings individually.
What do you like about the program?
If a student is willing to do the above and beyond, and push for scheduling tailored to their needs, the professors and materials are present to learn both the theoretical and practical aspects of financial engineering.
What DON’T you like about the program?
Program administration. Program is resistant to allowing students to pursue the education they came to achieve by allowing nearly zero flexibility and forcing students to learning overly theoretical material, ala microeconomics.
Also, whether this is the fault of faculty or student body, there is a mentality present to obtain grades anyway possible, regardless of ethics, that can detract from your ability to learn, which is far more important.
Suggestions for the program to make it better
More scheduling flexibility, especially for full-time students who continuously encounter scheduling conflicts every semester.
Scrap the first semester, shorten the program, and focus on the skills and knowledge that needs to be obtained by any financial engineering program.
What are your current job status? What are you looking for?
Switching to part-time come spring. Looking for full-time work as soon as semester completes in the fields of either fixed income analysis or risk management.
Other comments
The program does provide a sufficient transition from undergraduate studies to preparation for becoming a full-time quant.
If you participate in this program, research possible courses and plan your schedule immediately. Locate classes at NJIT and in New Brunswick that may further the knowledge you seek to obtain, and this program can easily be completed in 1.5 years if you are able to avoid scheduling conflicts.
