Masters with no math background?

[Daniel_]

I am looking at a change in career. I have been a financial auditor for 4 years (I'm 26) and I'm bored with the lack of brain power it requires. I have been researching different careers for the past couple of months and I think quantitative finance could be a good fit for me. I have two bachelor's degrees (finance + accounting) and I know a decent level of programming in R and Python already (trying to refresh my knowledge currently). I am now looking into my options of schooling to potentially make a quantitative career a reality. The side of being a quant that I would most enjoy would be math/stats/modeling aspects so I think I would want to learn these subjects well. I haven't taken math since business calc, 8 years ago, so I feel that I'd be miles behind on math knowledge if I went straight into a masters program. What options would I reasonably have to go down this road? These are currently my thoughts of options:

- Apply to masters programs and try my best to keep up with the math? This would likely be a mid tier program but overall the quickest into the field. I do worry about job prospects without really good math knowledge and likely coming from a mediocre school.
- Stay in my job another year or so and take some calc and linear algebra etc. classes at my local community college? Would allow me to save up to cover most of the cost of the program and get me somewhat up to speed on the necessary math.
- Go and get a bachelor's degree in math to then be in much better standing when applying for masters programs? This would likely look like doing a year of community college for lower division classes then transfering to a 4 year college to finish the degree. Again, I would get time to save up for the costs of education. I would have significantly better knowledge of math/stats and likely have a significantly better shot at getting into a target school. I also think this could be the most personally rewarding path. I don't know if this is way too much time, money and effort for what is actually needed as I haven't heard of too many other people having done the same thing.

For what it's worth, I am a good learning and was always good at math so my lack of math background doesn't feel inhibitive to learning it, I just need the time to learn it.

Any thoughts and insights would be massively appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Good planning for a master programs take two years since getting into a top program and getting into a so-so program will be a difference of hundred of thousands of dollars in potential earning over your lifetime.
Take some math courses at local colleges at night or online while you are working. Take online C++ courses, read books to get familiar with the industry, research QuantNet for all the info you need to be a better MFE candidate.
You can potentially get your employer to pay for these courses. Do a part-time MFE where employers potentially reimburse your expense would be a plus.

 

[blrichard]

I am looking at a change in career. I have been a financial auditor for 4 years (I'm 26) and I'm bored with the lack of brain power it requires. I have been researching different careers for the past couple of months and I think quantitative finance could be a good fit for me. I have two bachelor's degrees (finance + accounting) and I know a decent level of programming in R and Python already (trying to refresh my knowledge currently). I am now looking into my options of schooling to potentially make a quantitative career a reality. The side of being a quant that I would most enjoy would be math/stats/modeling aspects so I think I would want to learn these subjects well. I haven't taken math since business calc, 8 years ago, so I feel that I'd be miles behind on math knowledge if I went straight into a masters program. What options would I reasonably have to go down this road? These are currently my thoughts of options:

- Apply to masters programs and try my best to keep up with the math? This would likely be a mid tier program but overall the quickest into the field. I do worry about job prospects without really good math knowledge and likely coming from a mediocre school.
- Stay in my job another year or so and take some calc and linear algebra etc. classes at my local community college? Would allow me to save up to cover most of the cost of the program and get me somewhat up to speed on the necessary math.
- Go and get a bachelor's degree in math to then be in much better standing when applying for masters programs? This would likely look like doing a year of community college for lower division classes then transfering to a 4 year college to finish the degree. Again, I would get time to save up for the costs of education. I would have significantly better knowledge of math/stats and likely have a significantly better shot at getting into a target school. I also think this could be the most personally rewarding path. I don't know if this is way too much time, money and effort for what is actually needed as I haven't heard of too many other people having done the same thing.

For what it's worth, I am a good learning and was always good at math so my lack of math background doesn't feel inhibitive to learning it, I just need the time to learn it.

Any thoughts and insights would be massively appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Taking a whole bachelors can be time consuming and also you'll lose a lot of potential salary; you can take courses in calc 1-3, linear algebra, math stats, calc based probability, differential equations, and maybe analysis and you should be more or less qualified at least for consideration in any program. That should take you 1.5-2 years depending on how many courses you can do a term and what sequencing is like. If you target the right programs (ie ones that have few pre-reqs) you might be able to get prepared even sooner. For example, CMU's only hard requirement is a course in calc based probability, NCSU doesn't need much either (apparently a lot of people entering the program have just up to calc 3 and a course in stats/probability. Doesn't need to be stats/prob in math either, can be econometrics for example). You'll most likely stand a better chance with a bachelor's degree in math, but you'll lose out on 4 years of salary, spend a lot of money, then you'll be in a master's for another 1-2 years, meaning you'll spend likely far upwards of 100k on schooling and won't be making money until 5-6 years down the line.