Go into an MFE right after launching a successful start up?

[jackrabbit]

Hello all,

So i am seriously considering an MFE degree, but i have a lot of doubts about my chances of getting in top 10 /15 programs, this program being so focused it would be a waste of time and money if i don't get into a program that has good placement stats (if i'm wrong please correct me). My profile extremely different from what these grad schools look for and i am really not sure if it is in my advantage or not.
I graduated from a french public high school (public being the most reputable in france) with a major in Physics and Chemistry, Math was pretty advanced as well (yes we must choose a major by the end of our first year in high school), i then went to Drexel University where i graduated in Bus Admin with a Major in finance (pretty relaxed) i did very well in all my finance course and pretty much all the scientific courses that were required (A's in almost all of them, Math 101 and 102, Stat 201 and 202 etc...) in fact the level of math, stat and prob was way below what i studied in my junior year in high school (like i said pretty advanced), that's pretty much my academic background. I then went on to work for 5 years at BlackRock doing data integrity work where i was a senior associate it involved a lot of SQL and the heavy use to their in-house analytics and risk reporting tools (no programming experience) i also managed teams there and remotely (india) and worked in some very interesting projects while i was there (BlackRock was considered as the go to firm during the fin crisis, so we had a lot of risk reporting assignments we worked on), after 5 years i left BlackRock and went back home (morocco, personal family circumstances) while in Morocco i co-founded a startup and we launched North africa's first mobile coupon website, we raised capital, had a good amount of paying clients, employed 8 to 10 people and were well known locally and had multiple press articles written about us (Morocco's ecommerce world is very weak so new ventures are not as common as in the usa) later on we decided to sell our stakes to a fund who offered us a decent amount (less than 500k which is huge for us). I now want to go back into finance in the US (i am a citizen) but i want to get into front office quant & trading gigs, therefore i need to get the degree. I am not sure if my profile is something that a top 10 MFE program would be interested. I looked on their class profiles and most are from a recent math UG program and are already skilled programers. I learn fast so i am not worried about the academic intensity of the program.

Help, advice veryyyyyyy welcome.

What should i do guys?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Interesting background. Could be of interest to many programs that look to diversify their class profile. You have no programming experience it appears so take care of that first and then apply.
"i want to get into front office quant & trading gigs" is pretty much every applicant puts on their essay so that can been seen as someone with no clue of the industry.

 

[jackrabbit]

Thanks. When i look at most of these schools pre-requisites both math & some sort of programming are on top of the list. And i basically lack both, as far as programming goes i did take a computer science class in my UG (which was a pre-requisite for all finance majors), i used SQL query extensively at work not sure if that is a plus or not. With regards to math i've been out of school 7 years now (i graduated in 05) so i will need a refresher
Thing is most of the programs i am interested in have admission deadlines that are around Jan which makes it nearly impossible for me to take any classes in programming prior to submitting my app (i can self study, but i don't think that will hold when they review my app).
Side question how good is MIT's MFin for a FIN UG major, it looks like a broader fin master and less technical, although their flexible curriculum can help make it somewhat more geared towards financial math...
with regards to my career goals i am obviously not limited to "front office quant s&t gig", first i really want to learn & deepen my knowledge in this field otherwise i wouldn't spend 100k doing so, but realistically i don't want to end up in middle or back office jobs with an MIT masters finance is broad and while i have a pretty good understanding of the investment business i lack the exposure to front office roles, i am not married to S&T or quant careers but i surely want to be in a position that stimulates my neurones at least a little bit and where i am decently rewarded for my added value / performance, coming off launching a start up i will not be able to go work in a dull redundant job that would just drive me to depression ))

 

[Jose T]

Why don't you get a Finance MBA?

 

[TheMaster]

Thanks. When i look at most of these schools pre-requisites both math & some sort of programming are on top of the list. And i basically lack both, as far as programming goes i did take a computer science class in my UG (which was a pre-requisite for all finance majors), i used SQL query extensively at work not sure if that is a plus or not. With regards to math i've been out of school 7 years now (i graduated in 05) so i will need a refresher
Thing is most of the programs i am interested in have admission deadlines that are around Jan which makes it nearly impossible for me to take any classes in programming prior to submitting my app (i can self study, but i don't think that will hold when they review my app).
Side question how good is MIT's MFin for a FIN UG major, it looks like a broader fin master and less technical, although their flexible curriculum can help make it somewhat more geared towards financial math...
with regards to my career goals i am obviously not limited to "front office quant s&t gig", first i really want to learn & deepen my knowledge in this field otherwise i wouldn't spend 100k doing so, but realistically i don't want to end up in middle or back office jobs with an MIT masters finance is broad and while i have a pretty good understanding of the investment business i lack the exposure to front office roles, i am not married to S&T or quant careers but i surely want to be in a position that stimulates my neurones at least a little bit and where i am decently rewarded for my added value / performance, coming off launching a start up i will not be able to go work in a dull redundant job that would just drive me to depression ))

You can take the courses while your applying. You don't necessarily have to have the courses completed before submitting an application. They will ask if you're taking any courses and you can list any programming courses. I recommend you take those courses at a local community college ASAP if you want to get in the running for fall 2013 admissions. Also, take the gre/gmat to better determine if a MFE is right for you. It is a very strenuous process to complete the gre/gmat with a sufficient score for some. You will want to score in the 95th percentile or better in ]the quantitative portion. 99th if you're solely targeting top 10-15. Good luck!