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we should but the sticky should start by saying "WE DON'T KNOW THE ODDS OR CHANCES, NOR WE EVALUATE PROFILES".

check: https://www.quantnet.com/threads/mfe-program-profile-evaluation-master-thread.202/

My advice, start looking for a job while you get ready for a PhD or a MFE next year. The option of going to school is totally yours.

Let me give you my side of the story. I really didn't know what "M" meant, at least not until I got home at night and my wife explained it to me (I'm not a native english speaker). Also, I'm not familiar with a lot of acronyms and abbreviations people use since I don't use Text Messaging...

why do you want to get into a MFE program?

That site will show you how to hack some C++ but it won't teach how to use the language to the fullest. Neither it will show you OO which is the base of C++.

I don't know if this is possible but you will need to ask.

Could you post the source code? What type of data should be in the data files? Could you give some kind of documentation of how to use it? The PDF included in the file describes the Merton Model for Default. Do you have questions about it? PM me.

My only recommendation is to sit in front of the computer and start coding... and use Google :) If you don't have a problem in mind, you can take a look at Project Euler. There are plenty of interesting problems there.

when you download the API from IB you will get some sample programs. You should use those as templates.

you need to hit the market. It seems you have a clear idea but you need to hit the job market to find out where you really stand. That's my advice.

which program are you starting? I mean which school?

There is a probably a reason for it.

It is something to worry about.

Do you want a book on Data Structures and Algorithms in C++ or a general one? I remember using Sedwick at some point which was not bad. For general coverage, nothing beats Aho, Hopcroft and Ullman. If you really want to look into another approach, read Okasaki's "Purely Functional Data Structures".

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

start looking for a job. About the CFA question, maybe or maybe not.

You should apply to all the schools you think you can get in and then decide. If you are a slam dunk candidate, apply to one of the MBA programs from the well known and recognized schools. If you want an FE degree, apply to them as well, then you can decide. The decision is always yours.

Even better, why don't you post your needs in one of those sites where people write code for money (rentacoder.com comes to mind). BTW, did you buy the original excel add-ins? If not, you are asking us to break to law as well.

Dude, you don't want help. You want somebody to do work for you and that's a totally different story. Why don't you pay the original authors? If you are willing to pay, I'm sure they will accomodate your needs. I went to the site and you have to pay to get the Add-Ins so, I'm guessing it is...

you are probably on your own on this.

I can't emphasize this enough. Look at your classmates as a probable source of employment in the future not as the competition.

Could you post the Excel file here? Maybe we can reverse engineer the spreadsheet.

Jacob had a baby Congratulations Jake!!!! :dance: =D>=D>:dance: Here is an email I got from Jacob yesterday (actually today at 12:30 AM):

Francis, don't get upset. You are asking for advice and people have their opinions and then, they express them in their own words. If you feel offended (and I think you should be), just prove them wrong. You are the only one capable of show the world you are made for this type of job. As I...

I work for a big IB and my group does among other things: Risk Analysis, Portfolio Optimization and Modeling.

my group is split between NY and San Francisco.

Having the cert won't hurt you. So if you want to do it, go for it but keep in mind in might help you very little if you don't have work experience.

Also, if you think PhD will get you there, go and do a PhD. That's only up to you. It might or might not work out but you will have to do it to find out though.

If you are at the top Yes but this takes time, ie > 5 to 10 years. If you are a quant that come up with a money making idea and are able to sell it, yes, you should be able to pull that amount of money. If you can produce some multiple of that number to the firm, the firm will be extremely...

Physics................................................

If you go to Statistics, try to stay close to the finance side. Learn as much as you can about econometrics, time series, and things like stat arb. Stats won't cover anything about pricing though. You will be on your own for that.

This is very derogatory. Women might think the same about you.

I found Bjorks' book over the weekend. How does it compare to Shreve II? From your post, being somewhere in the middle between Shreve and Hull doesn't help much because, IMHO, they are at different ends of the spectrum.

You won't become a portfolio manager overnight. You will need experience in portfolio management or as assistant or analyst.

Check the Wiki and search the Forum. I don't know much about either program but, at least in this forum, the comments about Polytech are not too encouraging.

the last time I used COM it was a nightmare. I don't know how it is now since I haven't touched COM since aroun 2000. At that time, it was a half baked idea and a pain in the butt to code using C++ and the ATL. Also, I thought COM was obsolete because after that there was COM+ and God knows...

yankees are horrible so far. My opinion is they are in a rebuilding year so if they end up in the play offs, it's all gravy... but I won't jump to another team. I live and die by my team.

And by the way, the picture is gloomy but real. There is absolutely zero job security in this field. I've been working in finance for 10 years and I have been through 4 or 5 mergers and various crisis (Russian Default, Internet Bubble, 9/11 and now the Sub-prime meltdown). In good times, there...

I was rambling (not enough sleep) but here is what I meant with the NBA analogy. In US, a lot of kids are drawn to the NBA because of status and the money they can "potentially" earn. Hence a lot of kids play basketball but only very few of them make it into the NBA. However from the ones who...

I was wondering the same thing. I found this book the other day and I will probably take a look at it. We use the Grinold and Kahn heavily and this book seems like a more current/applied version. Any feedback will be great.

If you don't like it, don't jump into it. It is plain and simple.

there is no help if you don't post the source code. We would learn more if you post the source code.

happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

STOP considering moving, stay in Academia.

be careful with bloomberg and requesting data through code. You might be violating their license or you might get a bill that you don't expect. They are also famous for that.

The best advice I got when I came to this country in order to learn the language was: "Get an American girlfriend". So, the best advice I have to all the foreigners that want to learn the language is "Get an American Girlfriend/Boyfriend". It will force you to learn the language.

Do you have the right access? 5 years ago I have access only to the research papers.

I used to use BondHub in 2003 for fixed income information and research. That was the beginning of BondHub.

Happy Birthday Greg!!! :D :D DOH!!!

mmm... Copula has an interesting definition that might not be proper for this forum :D:D:D

Stochastic calculus and Measure theory is the base for everything and I know it is very abstract. I don't think a figure would help since the nature of problem is "stochastic". Hence it's driven by probabilities. There is no easy way or short cut to learn this stuff. My advice is to hit Shreve I...

We are planning to use it. We are hiring a consultancy company that uses it already. I will let you know.

I don't think people here care about what somebody posts on Slashdot. I remember I used to read that side in the 90s. Also, what is "hobbile"? I couldn't figure out what you meant by that. On the other hand, I don't care about the interface as long as it gives me the answer I'm looking for...

HAHAHA, the only Vlad I know says his birthday is not Today. Happy Birthday Vladimir!!!

As long as you can answer questions about C++ in the interview and you can prove that you know C++, you will be ok. The fact that you took a C class in a university that you deem top 5 doesn't mean anything. John Carmack dropped out of college and he is considered one of the best programmers...

not yet. I heard it takes some time. did you place this year? How did you do?

It might be stupid but the original poster is asking about which degree to pursue to become a quant. So, why not include Physics in the mix? Fin Math and Fin and are very different. Adding Physics to the mix will give the poster another option.

Somehow PhD in Physics make better quants than Finance or Math PhDs. I'm not sure why. I think it has to do more with the fact that Physics is an applied science. Also, they are used to model phenomena of different types using math equations. MFE is a shorter path but PhD in physics tend to...

errr.... correction. You never root for the Red Sox.

no baseball question is silly. Yes, you are correct. If you hit a homer with the bases loaded, your team scores 4 runs 3 people on base plus you.

What is a rankings list so important to you? What does it matter? A ranking is some subjective thing to influence your decision. I know outside of US rankings and name seemed very important but that is not how real life works. For example, I know in India everything is driven by some sort of...

some firms use Matlab to do prototyping but when it comes to production code to do real things, Matlab is not used that much.

vi, vi and vi... :prayer: :prayer: vi

They are too young. Hughes is the youngest pitcher in the majors. They took a bet and it hasn't worked out. Hopefully it works out better later.

Quant work (at least on the money making side) will never be offshored because I don't want some dude from thousands miles away knowing what I'm doing. I need that person right by me, on my same "boat" so we sink together if the ship goes down.

WOW, that's the best analogy I have heard about it.

This is 100% true. When we interview somebody at my job, the first question in the feedback is usually if the candidate is able to communicate or not.

is 'windows.h' in your include directory? It looks it can't find it.

He probably refers to one of the Stochastic indicators in Technical Analysis. IIRC, he created his own stochastic indicator and that might be the one he is talking about. Do a search about Technical Analysis Stochastic Indicators and you will probably find it.

What's a reputable school? I would think that a school with a PhD in physics is somewhat good.

FSU offers something similar as well http://www.math.fsu.edu/~okten/FMGuide/

Search QN, I think this issue was addressed already in some other thread. BTW, why do you want to do a PhD? Also, it seems that people can become Quants faster if they do a PhD in Physics than in any of those two fields you mentioned. There is a reason for it.

Medicine might be slow at getting wealthy (well, it depends of the specialty you picked) but it will be much faster than you think.... and regarding potential, it depends on how savvy of a businessman you are. That includes to use your brain to make money. It's true that the first X years...

HOW DARE YOU!!! :D :D BTW, you missed a few from my country

I think Taleb talks about a dentist in his book. I have seen both professions (medicine and dentistry) at work... and they make money... slowly but surely. Even better, depending of which specialty you pick, you will be able to, technically, "mint money". On another note, it won't matter which...

Bridgewater is number 3 by assets under management. I was thinking more on the lines of performance.

which hedge fund is ranked #3 in the industry? It would be interesting to know.

I found out finance after I worked at a bank (a cutting hedge bank that went south)... and I started working at a bank by pure chance since my undergrad was electrical engineering.

IMO, Medicine and Dentistry... that's about it. In this country, everybody needs doctors and dentists. You will get a good salary that will only go up. You won't become millionaire overnight but you will get an steady income and will be able to accumulate. Also, these professions are not...

What did you study in your PhD? Why did you pick Economics?

2D Apps are not the future in finance? :smt017

Yes but an application being rejected doesn't mean he went to an interview. You would think with a PhD in economics you should be familiar with economy in general and also it should mean you should have to tools to learn everything by yourself and/or being somewhat good in research, right? Isn't...

By the way, the math in an FE degree could be very difficult and abstract.

which schools do you plan to apply for your MBA? Could you get into one of the so called Top MBA schools? There are big differences between FE and MBA. What exactly do you want to do?

I don't think it is worth. You sound like a professional student to me and managers might see it the same way. How are you applying to FE jobs? Have you gotten any interviews?

I don't know if the original poster is looking for a Trade platform for himself or a trading platform that is used in the institutional world. QuantHouse seems like something to take a look at but it is really expensive.

Probabilities, Calculus in all shapes and forms, Linear Algebra. Start with those

No program will ever guarantee internship or job placement. If any program does they are probably lying. Some programs will have a great record of placement but that doesn't mean it is guaranteed.

Joe, I didn't know anything about horse racing until my first job in US. The owner of that company owns horses and he kept us informed of the horse races (and his handicap) through the year. I started to look into it and it is somewhat like another sport where statistics play a good role and...

Brigett, you are so a "gem"!!! :D

Well, Big Brown won and by a good margin (thin 4+ lengths). Let's see what happens in two weeks with the Preakness. I'll be back. If he has a good showing in the Preakness, I will be really excited for the Belmont Stakes. Big Brown seems like a great horse and I would love to see a Triple Crown...

Hello Boys and Girls, It's that time of the year again. Tomorrow, we will have the first leg of the Triple Crown, the Kentucky Derby. There hasn't been a Triple Crown winner since 1978 so hopefully something happens this year. The clear favorite is Big Brown but no horse has ever won coming...

OS doesn't matter. Trading comes to how can I make the most money and which tool would allow me to do it. I don't care if it runs on Windows, UNIX, Linux flavor of the day, Mac OS, BeOS or some obscure form of USCD Pascal p-system. When you worry about the OS, you are looking at the problem...

all those platforms are tied to a specific broker dealer with different fee structures. So there isn't a "BEST" platform. It all depends on which asset class you want to concentrate, which features are you looking for, etc. For individual investors, Thinkorswim only let you trade options. The...

search the forum and you will get some idea of what to cover in your study.

any software like that needs to connect to some broker dealer or market. I don't know if an open source software will be able to connect to a broker dealer or a market since you will have to pay their fees and few of them offer an API to connect. Trading platforms are usually built in house or...

what do you mean by "best" trading platform? a program to trade? a system that includes market data, PnL, etc?

You should set an appointment with Prof. Stefanica and talk to him directly.

I'm sure you have been reading the forum for some time, right? Then, you probably notice that we can't give any type of advice regarding any school besides Baruch. From my point of view, the issue here is that I don't want QN to become another Global Derivative but a place where discussion and...

Yeah... I totally forgot about that but I'm saving the dress for "the Gem" :D

No more paintball for me until Trevor gets olde. BTW, if anybody wants my paintball gear, PM me or email me directly. I'm selling it for cheap. I rather sell it to somebody from QN before I post everything on ebay.

does it matter?

the person using the id "Stanford Grad" might not be a graduate from Stanford so let's not assume anything.

NO. You need to be admitted and then pay for it.

You know what, I might start to give random advice about schools and maybe, just maybe, people will stop asking those silly questions.

Based on what criteria? we don't know which school is better. We won't be able to tell since you will have to set a criteria and then, you probably need somebody who has been in both schools to give you a somewhat real assessment. Anything else is subjective opinions that won't help you at all...

as long as Rating corporations (not agencies) are paid by the people they are supposed to rate, there are going to be issues.

ExSan, Could you post source code instead of executables? You might have planted a virus in our site with that program so it is better to be safe.

where is the program popular?

Dude, you need to make a decision yourself. I don't think you are that bold and decisive when you are struggling to pull the trigger.

why is it a shame?

I don't know. You are better of applying but now it might be late. Send an email to the director of the program to find out.

if going to the business is a real posibility, I will tell you to take that route... but that is only my opinion. You should decide yourself what you want to do. BTW, this uncertainty makes you look bad as a trader. So it might be better for you as a person to go to the IT side. Also, the...

Is "the opportunity" something real or something in the air? What do you want to do? My advice has always be, go to the busisness side but, from your post, I don't see anything that says that you will move to the business side but that there is possibility to move there. That seems really flimsy.

Hi Peter, Why do you want to transfer? Any particular reason?

If you work in IT, scripting languages could be very useful but knowing perl is not going to decide if you get a quant job or not.

1) No 2) No 3) Both 4) Check Baruch's website

It looks like you started to drink earlier than everybody.

Ok, I was able to move the monitors around in the Settings windows with the keyboard. It is kind of quirky but seems to do the trick. The only problem is that I don't get the desired effect on my machine, not even dragging the monitors with the mouse. I'm assuming that you know how to get the...

is this windows? Linux? OS X? It's still not very clear to me what you want to do.

You need to import them as strings. I think the system assumes that you are trying to insert a number.

Happy Birthday dude!!! :dance: :dance: =D> =D>=D>

Andy, he is the one who should remain nameless... :D

I wonder at what time you were there this past saturday. Probably really late at night and the alcohol was entrenched deep in your blood. Was "the Man, the legend" there as well?

We have a lot of things to take care lately? C'mon, bring Mr. Beerman along.

My advice, if you want to go to school and get a PhD, do it now. After you get a job, things will become harder in every sense.

Is Mr. Beerman coming to our gathering?

Some of the modelers in my Group use R but it has some quirky ways of handling data that makes some of the processing really slow so we have a mix evironment with Java.

here is a link to Google Maps Google Maps

Bill, now I know why you picked this place. Here is a quote from NY Magazine: Bull's Head Tavern - - Gramercy - New York Magazine Bar Guide

I know Morris County taxes are not as high as other counties for the same size property/value and the further west you go, the cheaper it gets.

Also, I like another town close to mine, Harding. Not only houses are expensive there but the properties are huge. I used to run around there while training for the Marathon. I heard the reason they are so big is because you can consider them Farms and pay less taxes

Car insurance

In my train line (Morris Essex - Midtown Direct), here are some towns that are considered desirable: - Milburn - Expensive, I think it shares the school system with Short Hills - Short Hills - More expensive than Milburn don't know why. - Summit - It's like a hub for trains. Seems like a nice...

make sure to post the pictures once you get back.

I'm glad that you caught your mistake. It means you will have to improve your English as well. Some headhunter mentioned to me once that communication skills was one of the biggest hurdles chinese students have.

Start by getting the Hull book and Shreve Volume II. Those will be used as some point.

I'm sure chinese students had the same opportunities as other students. This sounds like "sour grapes". If they didn't get internships in this field it is usually becuase there was something wrong... but if you think this is a problem (that chinese students don't have the same opportunitties as...

Having multiple degrees only impress an HR person. From my experience, the manager doing the hiring will not care much about you having two degrees or sometimes even a PhD. You will have to prove what you know in the interview.

What do you want us to tell you? Comments about what? I think I'm losing my patience lately. Maybe because Quantnet didn't get these posts before and now it seems everybody wants our opinion about the program. Here is what I know. Ithaca is miles away from NY as it is Pittsburgh so do the...

Funny thing is that second book is the heart of BARRA as a company. We use it all the time in my group at work since the head and the Sr Quants came from BARRA.

I found a class at NYU related to this topic but my advice is to create your own thing and start trading on a paper account or backtest some strategy. Nobody is going to tell you anything.

Yes, you are correct.

Could we try to get the following books for the Quantnet library? Financial Modeling of the Equity Market: From CAPM to Cointegration Active Portfolio Management: A Quantitative Approach for Producing Superior Returns and Controlling Risk Empirical Market Microstructure: The Institutions...

Andy, I'm happy that you are coming to join us on the dark side. Take a look at Okasaki's book about functional data structures. That will change your mind completely

Dominic, I totally agree with you. IMO, it seems that the original poster is better off trying to get an MBA in Finance from a quantitative oriented school (like UChicago) than a half baked Quant Degree... but maybe I'm wrong and the Fordham program happens to be the best thing since sliced bread.

Yuriy, I checked the NYU website and those seemed like new classes added recently. We should talk to Prof. Stefanica about the feasibility of adding something like that to the Baruch Program.

Asking for experiences and views is very different from asking about where you should go.

it is call Marketing ;). They are trying to market their business and buzzwords are a very very good way of doing so.

So, you plan to make a decision based on other people's views and opinions? mmm...

Congratulations!!! You should go to the program you think it's better for you. At least, you have the choice. There are plenty of applicant without that choice but again that choice is completely yours. You make your decision and you live with it. Think about this, if you are indecisive making...

I don't think you are being cynical but a little bit naive. Quants tend to be mavericks who disdain the soft skills. The human side goes down the toillete because soft souls will get crushed in the market. Of course people would want to distinguished themselve from the rest of the pack. How...

Thanks for the clarification. Are you an OR student at Columbia now? If you are, could you provide more details about it? Why did you decide to go to OR? Were you an MFE applicant originally that was recommended to go to the OR program? That has been the comments posted on this forum before and...

If you are a current student in the OR program, could you provide more information? It would be interesting to know about job opportunities, placement rate in the finance world, etc. Also, it will go even further if you help to clarify why Columbia seemed to recommend the OR program to...

Billy Boy, I'm still waiting to know where the event is going to be.

Oops... somebody hit a nerve :D fffk, I don't see why what Yuriy posted contradicts in any shape or form what you are saying. He is just stating that the OR curriculum would probably won't deviate from OR subjects. That's about it. IMO, you just reaffirmed his point.

BTW, it would be good if new quantnet lurkers/prospective students/new students join. It would be like an open house in a bar. There is no better way to break the ice than let the alcohol flow!!! :D

Did you decide where we are going?

HI daveman, welcome to Quantnet!!!

I don't think this means a lot nowadays. :D

Again, good luck !!! Time will tell if you made the right decision or not. Hopefully, you will get back to us and make a strong case for the Fordham program. BTW, from your posts, it seems that you are trying to justify your own decision. That doesn't seem really objective since you are basing...

In this case, go full time and you won't regret it. You will be done faster and you can get more accomplished. I don't think the certificate will help you as much.

BTW, the spanish translation is horrible!!!

What kind of help do you want? It doesn't seem clear from your post.

There is a thread in this forum with not too kind words about the Fordham program. Also, Dominic doesn't seem too high on this program. He has some good reasons that he has put forward on this forum and on his blog at Wilmott. I tend to trust his opinion since he has been longer in this business...

What happened with the Hotel portfolio?

It depends on a lot of things. This question doesn't have a trivial answer.

I found MFE to be more of a meritocracy so it really doesn't matter where you did your undergrad and/or if you're rich or not. Actually, I can see not being rich as an advantage.

show $57,800 and you will be ok. Do a search on Quantnet. There are plenty of comments regarding this topic.

Gainesville is still far away from "civilization"... like Ithaca, NY :D

Who cares about FSU or UF? One is in Tallahassee and the other one is in Gainsville... have you ever heard from any of those places? Thank you :D LET'S GO HAWKEYES!!!

So that you know I started working at age 26. That's when I finished my BS. I was trying to leave Cuba before that so don't worry. There's plenty of time in front of you.

The only difference is that I used to work for a Boston Company. I didn't care about the Patriots or the Celtics... after working for that company I always root against them. The dislike for the Red Sox is by default.

Contact Dominic directly. He might be able to give you a better advice since he is already in London.

I was talking about college sports... but I'm totally biased against Boston in every regard.

Yuriy, you might be thinking about Boston College. I don't recall any Boston University sports team... maybe hockey?

But the refreshers usually start in July

Do some search in this forum. Check the wiki. There are some threads about the Columbia MSOR... but I think those threads will push you to go to Princeton.

We don't evaluate profiles. You need to apply to know if you have a chance or not.

I think you posted in the wrong forum. We are completely focused on FE. Use your best friend "google" to find a better place to ask this type of question.

I think making it a sticky will be a great idea.

I think in the link to the blog posted before, they proved that Taleb's approach has negative expectancy.

why?

There is a better chance of being struck by lightning twice on the same day than getting any juicy data.

Dimaggio's is probably harder. Not to take any merit out of Ripken's record but his managers always helped him to keep the record alive.

Yuriy, do you mean that CMU has less homeworks than Baruch in Stochastic Calculus or the other way around? If it is the other way around, I do feel really sorry for the CMU students. Our load for Real Analysis and Probabilities was a healthy load of homework (5 to 6 problems a week) +...

I don't know but that type of experience is always good.

What's the reason for such a protest?

my speculative opinion, one of the programs (probably poly) will cease to exist.

WHy do you want to spend money on an MFE? Try to hit the job market with the PhD you have already. You might be surprised.

Don, you will have to talk to Dan but the GRE scores are invalid after 5 years.

Thanks for the R Ref Card Yuriy. So that you know, we used R extensively in my group. It is primarily used to calibrate factor models to calculate Risk of portfolios. We do a lot with R so I'm getting used to it now. Not so much TS analysis as regression analysis, principal component analysis...

You will pay out of state rate, plain and simple. It's still not that expensive. This is not the IRS. Actually, if I remember correctly most state colleges follow that rule, wherever you live, that's your home state.

You pay NY State taxes but they are credited back to NJ.

Yes but if you are good, you won't have any problem finding a job.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What do you mean about application programming? In my company, my group and the group next to mine (we are very close), all the back end processes are written in Java, Python and R. The main pricing libraries are written in C++ or something written in C++. Even some of the heavy linear algebra...

I could say the same thing about Java.

Read this thread from the beginning and do a search for IB olympiad in this forum. You will find everything. Go to this site as well http://http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/general/education/IBTradingOlympiad.php