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[dennisou]

.

 

[pingu]

Hi Everyone,

I hope all is well. Just wondering if any of you guys could give me a quick evaluation of my candidacy for the programs I am applying to (ie. What are the reach/target/floor schools). Also, am I competitive enough for Columbia's MSFE or should I apply to the MSOR instead? Finally, it would be great if you could provide me with any additional advice. Thank you in advance and I really appreciate the help!

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Situation
I graduated last May and was thinking of applying for medical school, but earlier this year I decided to go for a career change into finance. I will be applying to both MSFE and MSF programs this coming summer/fall and hope to enroll Fall 2015.
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go to medical school.

 

[dennisou]

@pingu : Thanks for the reply. I've thought long and hard about that one and I have my personal reasons for not going to med school, but I will not disclose it here. Thanks again for the comment.

 

[dennisou]

@Andy Nguyen If you have the time, I'd really appreciate it if you could quickly evaluate my credentials. Thanks!

 

[pingu]

@pingu : Thanks for the reply. I've thought long and hard about that one and I have my personal reasons for not going to med school, but I will not disclose it here. Thanks again for the comment.

... and Finance is going to be different?

 

[dennisou]

@pingu Yes, I'm sure it is.

 

[CasanovaJ]

Your background is quantitative, you went to a good school, your GPA/test scores are solid, and you seem to be taking the correct pre-reqs... if I were looking at your background, though, I'd figure "he was planning on pre-med, bailed on it, then landed on quant finance (despite knowing virtually nothing about it) because he figured that since it's finance, it must be 'lucrative'"... if you want to get into a top quant program, you'll need to come up with a convincing way to counter that, show that you're (truly) interested in finance, and show that you won't just be a burnout with it (which unless you convince me of otherwise, I'd assume was probably the case with the med school track).

 

[dennisou]

Thanks for the reply and advice Cassanova. I wanted an evaluation solely based on my numbers and not on my reasons. Should have made it more clear in my post. That's why I didn't really talk about them and it would be a long story anyways. I've definitely been following the financial markets for a while now while reading up on material, so I definitely know some stuff. And fyi, I did not burnout for med school. I shadowed numerous doctors and have a couple of publications but realized that I simply didn't have the passion for it. I also got a pretty high score on my MCAT and I'm ready to apply anytime if I want to, but I figured that following something I'm more passionate about is always the better choice. I can't deny that finance is a lucrative career, but to be honest, I would just find a job in management consulting right now if I wanted the money.

 

[CandyOates]

I saw in the tracker that some CU candidates who applied to MFE or MSMF (I don't recall which) were told to apply for MSOR. With that in mind, you may as well aim high.

 

[dennisou]

@CandyOates Thanks for the reply! I definitely agree with aiming high and I hope I don't forgo the chance of not gaining admissions into CU at all by doing so.

 

[CandyOates]

True. Go through the MSOR admit list and "read note" on the applicants. I think you'll find a significant number were redirected from MFE. It may ease your worries a bit.

 

[dennisou]

@CandyOates Word! Thanks for the share

 

[ElephantParks]

MFE and MSF(those without quant focus or quant track, e.g MIT, WUSTL) effectively focus on very different things. Maybe you should figure out what type of finance careers you wanna have before making a final decision. Just my thought.

 

[dennisou]

Hey @ElephantParks , true that. I am still split between i-banking and financial engineering and you're totally right about what you said. Let me take off the MSF programs off the post, so I'll be evaluated based on just FE programs. After all this is quantnet! Left Princeton and MIT on since they are still fairly quantitative compared to the others.

 

[ElephantParks]

If I get the picture right, you are applying for 2015 which gives you another year before school starts. If you're undecided about which path to go down with (IBD/quant), my suggestion is relevant internships in both and see which excites you more. Sometimes what you think it is really differs from what it really is. You kinda need to test it out yourself. Anyways I think with relevant internships you'll be competitive at most places, good luck!

 

[dennisou]

Thanks a lot @ElephantParks . Really appreciate the helpful comment. The big problem I have now is I decided to switch at an unfortunate time since I won't be able to have any internship experience until "after" I submit my applications (this fall). The internship experience will have to happen next spring (co-op) or summer (internship) since I have to finish my prerequisite courses this summer and fall before I apply. In any case, I am looking to gain relevant experience in finance through CFA Level 1, coursework, following the markets, reading finance books, and networking, which is pretty much what I am doing now. Do you have any ideas on what could help me out? Hopefully my explanation isn't too confusing!

 

[CandyOates]

I don't think you should be overly concerned by the lack of finance internships. You have a strong background from a good school, have research experience, and are showing a commitment towards strengthening your finance background. These factors should demonstrate that you are capable of being successful in a MFE type program. If I may relate to myself, I have a strong applied math background from a less prestigious school and 3 research papers, two of which are biology related and the third, my master's thesis, finance related. I've had no finance related internship experience and, frankly, little exposure to finance topics aside from that which I've taught myself from textbooks or using online sources such as Coursera and scattered lectures on Youtube. I'm starting at NYU in the fall. I didn't apply to any other top 10 programs (by the QuantNet rankings), but I imagine the admissions standards are pretty comparable at that level. I believe that the key points admissions committees look for are (in no particular order): (a) adequate mastery of the English language (b) a strong quantitative background / programming skills (c) a demonstrated aptitude for success and (d) a demonstrated interest in finance / financial markets. Relevant internships, work experience, and research experience, in my eyes, serve only to contribute to (c) and (d) and are, perhaps, not an (implied) requirement for being admitted to a top program.

As far as improving your finance background before applying...

Coursera courses that may be worth checking out (and there may be more):
- Univ. Washington: Mathematical Methods in for Quantitative Finance
- Univ. Washington: Intro. to Comp. Finance and Financial Econometrics
- Univ. Chicago: Asset Pricing
- Columbia: Financial Engineering and Risk Management Parts I & II
- Georgia Tech: Computational Investing Part I

I haven't vetted most of these. I've been going through the CU FERM Part I lately. I just watch the lectures so that I can ensure I know all of the requisite finance and hopefully ease the burden of the fall semester so I can do work-study. There are other more strictly finance courses (think MF vs MFE) which I haven't listed.

Also, you should check the booklist posted somewhere on QuantNet.

 

[ElephantParks]

@CandyOates solid points But I guess it's not the worst idea in the world to get some institutional context through internships in finance to get a taste of what you're getting yourself into. Awesome mentioning of those Coursera courses, for the few I took on your list, I enjoyed them!

 

[CandyOates]

@ElephantParks, I agree. I meant it only from a "will I get admitted" standpoint.

I should probably also mention MIT Open Courseware may have something relevant. I'm currently "taking" the Stanford Machine Learning class available on Youtube, they may also have other relevant videos.

 

[ElephantParks]

@CandyOates sounds like you're loading up all the good stuff on MOOCs, pretty cool. I'm starting at Columbia this Fall, maybe we can MOOC over beer and pizza later :D