New Quantnet members say hi

[Mtm]

Hello everyone,

I am an undergraduate student majoring in Mathematics and I'd love to be admitted in a good MFE program!
I haven't taken any finance class yet but my senior project is about financial derivatives.
This website is very informative and I appreciate everyone's contribution (especially Andy's)

 

[Deleted member 2387]

Howdy,
Long time quantnet voyeur, first time poster. Astrophysics PhD and Bachelors in Electrical Engineering(Telecommunication). Looking to draw first blood in quant job market too.

 

[Tuan Pham]

Hello everyone,

My name is Tuan. I will soon be a Ph.D. in Math, had a B.S. in computer science. I'm switching to financial math and hoping to be admitted to an MFE program. I found great and interesting information on this site, so thank you everyone for a great forum. Hopefully, I can contribute something in return.

 

[SagaG]

Hi everyone,

My name is Rostam and I'm French. I've just graduated from a French engineering school with a major in industrial engineering and I'm going into financial maths. I'm currently admitted to the financial maths ms at LSE but I'm waiting for an aswer from Columbia MSOR and Berkeley MFE. Finance is new to me so next year will be a tough one but I'm ready for this !

Thank you all for this amazing forum, it helped me choose my targeted schools, build my applications and face the anxiety of waiting for answers !

 

[IBaim]

Hi everyone,

I've reading up on these forums for the last couple of months and decided to sign up today. Got my B.S. from CSUN (California State University, Northridge) in Computer Engineering. Worked in the aerospace industry for a couple of years, and now in the semiconductor industry. I've been pondering about a career change for quite sometime and would like to go back to school for an MFE degree. Been studying sparingly for the GRE, but the test date is coming up soon. After reading up all the applicants' profile, I feel somewhat discouraged by their GRE scores.

CURRENT GOAL: GRE 800Q 500V

This forum has been a great resource for prospective students like me, and I'm sure that many would think the same.

 

[didje]

Hi Everybody !

My real name is Minou but people use to call me Didjé (pronounce DJ) so I will go by this name on the forum !

I'm a at student EPITA, a French school of engineering specialized in Computer Science, and have an apprenticeship at Assicurazioni Generali as a software analyst-developer with a depth knowledge in Java (Hibernate, Struts & Spring) and C++ (including some Boost libraries & STL).

I've begin to I'm really interrested in the field of finance last year and I hope to get into a good MFE program after I graduate in 2013. Plus, I'm following Quantnet since then end of 2010 so I would like to thank everybody in this forum (especially Joy Pathak and Andy Nguyen (oh I know someone who has the same name as you !)) for the informations and advices ! Hopefully I will be able to contribute too in the future!

Cheers!

 

[Brad Warren]

Hi,

My name is Brad Warren. I'm a computer science major at Stevens Institute of Technology graduating in 2013. Last year, I was introduced to quantitative finance and I really enjoy it. I think it is a great way to combine my skills in math and programming, and now I aspire to be a quant. Recently, I have been following QuantNet. It has been a great resource for info on masters programs and quant education.

I think the best thing for me to do is get an MFE degree. Stevens has a program where I can take extra classes and graduate with a dual degree. I am currently planning on graduating with a MFE along with my bachelors. I know Stevens MFE is not a top program, and it's not on any of the rankings, but I figure this way I can get a masters for free and without taking the extra time for grad school. I am a good self-learner, and I believe I can develop the skills to compete with students from any program. I just hope that brand name won't hurt me in pursuing a career.

 

[didje]

Maybe Stevens will be ranked in the upcoming QuantNet MFE Ranking (which we are all waiting for, aren't we Mr Nguyen ? ;-) ) !
At least I hope so since I'm planning on applying there in the future !

PS : Congrats for the Baruch contest you won today!

I think the best thing for me to do is get an MFE degree. Stevens has a program where I can take extra classes and graduate with a dual degree. I am currently planning on graduating with a MFE along with my bachelors. I know Stevens MFE is not a top program, and it's not on any of the rankings, but I figure this way I can get a masters for free and without taking the extra time for grad school. I am a good self-learner, and I believe I can develop the skills to compete with students from any program. I just hope that brand name won't hurt me in pursuing a career.

 

[AlgorithmCandy]

hi everyone. i work in buy-side risk & am in a p/t quant masters program. i've been working in risk for almost 6 years and got lucky as i did so straight from undergrad with a social science degree

 

[Michael Denes]

Hey guys,

I'm 17 years old going to high school in Sydney, Australia. I joined QN sometime last year, but haven't posted anything as of yet. I'm very interested in applied mathematics (planning on doing a Bachelor of Science (Advanced Mathematics) at the University of Sydney when I leave high school). I remember in year 8 (2008) I realised I wanted to become an Actuary, until only a month later one of my friends (graduating at the time) told me he was going to work for an IB in a "risk department". I did some research and found this "quant" profession and have been very interested ever since.

I've been reading as much as I can, for an overview of the quant culture (from books like How I Became a Quant, My Life as a Quant etc.) but also to get an actual sense of what quants do (currently reading through the Paul Wilmott on Quantitative Finance books as well as working my way through A Primer for the Mathematics of Financial Engineering by Dan Stefanica). I'm also trying to build up my technical skills, I have entered some school level python competitions, and am in the process of learning C++. I joined QN not for any MFE advice or career path advice (or anything of that sort as I'm a long way away for applying for anything like that) but more as a tool for learning. I enjoy the mature environment QuantNet has and all members significant contributions and look forward to becoming part of the forum (probably not in the mean time, but sooner or later).

Some interesting things (well I think they are interesting):
Firstly, I talked to Dan Stefanica (which to a young guy, talking to someone famous in the quant community is a big thing ) via the online forum thing Baruch held before admissions, and asked him about admission rates from people who live in Australia (stayed up until 4am just to send my message) and his response was something along the lines of "Sorry, we don't get enough applications from Australia to determine that", so I guess the whole MFE thing in Australia isn't so big hahaha.
Secondly, to some disbelief, I actually have *some* experience working with quants at a fairly big IB in Sydney. For 3 days I worked with quants in the Quant Equity section of Macquarie Bank working on editing some database stuff (not much but it was fun ).

My plan for the future, gain a Bachelor of Science (Advanced Mathematics) from the University of Sydney, then who knows what from there!

TLDR: Thanks to those who have contributed so much to QN and allowed me to learn as much as I have. Sorry for making such a long post!

 

[Shashank]

Also, I have done some extensive internet searching, and QuantNet seems to be by far the most knowledgeable and respectable place to discuss quantitative finance. I hope to contribute to this community.

(and is there a delete option...?)

 

[Dwsmith]

I thought it would be reasonable to ask new members and prospective students to post here, say hi, introduce themselves to the rest of the Quantnet family.

Don't feel shy. We are a very friendly group of people and will do everything we can to make sure your visit here a pleasant experience.

I have been a member since 2009 but haven't posted anything.
I am a graduate student in mathematics at Florida Atlantic University where I am also a graduate assistant. In the spring, I will be attending Colorado School of Mines to pursue a PhD in Applied Mathematics. I currently hold a BS in Mathematics and a BS in Finance from the University of Tampa. Furthermore, as an undergraduate, I was an intern for Merrill Lynch for 1.5 years.

 

[Shashank]

Whoa, apparently there was some sort of server mix up last night, and my first post got deleted. Anyways, here’s a summary of who I am, I’ll try to keep it short and sweet.

General background:
-Born and raised in San Diego, CA
-Rising senior at Northwestern University in Chicago, IL, majoring in Electrical Engineering & Economics
-Interning in technology consulting this summer, as well as working for a start up when I can find the time

Personality:
-Huge fan of sports (football, soccer, baseball and basketball) and music. I’ve gotten into the sports analytics space within the past year, both through a student group I helped develop on campus and the previously mentioned start up. I absolutely love doing the work and research for it, but I’m afraid that I will eventually lose my ability to have an opinion on sports. Also dabbled in digital music production for a while (made mash ups and whatnot), but don’t have the time for it anymore.
-Favorite movies: Crash, Pulp Fiction
-Favorite TV shows: Top Gear, Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire
-Favorite music: not too particular, but lately I’ve been all about electronic music (house, dubstep, etc.)

As for my future aspirations, I do plan on apply for jobs in both the consulting (management mostly) and finance industries, as well as a few MFE programs. I don’t really have any extensive professional finance experience, but I have had an interest in this space for a while. I’m not going to lie, the financial compensation that comes with the jobs in this industry is part of the attraction. But I do have a genuine interest in the world of finance. I love playing the stock market, and wish I had more time to be serious about it. Also, I find myself to be fascinated by the impact various economic concepts have on production in the world. And since we’re currently living in an unprecedented economic environment, it’s only made me more interested in getting involved in the finance industry.

Well, that is all, my lunch break is nearly up. Please feel free to reach out to me and ask any questions you may have.

I look forward to interacting and discussing areas of common interest with you all.

 

[phartark]

I was a member since 2010. I found this pages as I try to find information about MFE. After that day, I visit this page everyday, read how things went in quant world.

I hold a B.Degree in Mechanical engineering and M.Sc in Finance, both in Thailand, and plan to take MFE next year.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Any new members like to introduce themselves? Nobody here bites, I promise.

 

[DStahl]

Well, I am fairly new, and just noticed this thread.

I grew up wanting to work in investment banking, and would check the stock market indices every day despite not really knowing what they were. I didn't really know what college major would best prepare me for such a career, so I chose Economics. Alas, I was a poor student my first two years, racking up a 2.9 GPA, with a 2.3 in math. That all changed my first semester of my junior year when I took a course on econometrics (very basic) and loved it. I also took more advanced economics courses, and for the first time in college felt like I was learning something useful. I was became very passionate about economics, and with graduate school in mind starting taking upper level math courses, to the point that received my minor it math. I especially loved my statistics courses. Sadly my productive last two years were not enough to counter my first two, and no economics departments accepted me. I was not too unhappy since at that point I was already leaning towards a more math focus for higher education.

It turned out that it wasn't any easier to get into to the "top" MFE schools than it was the Economics PhD programs. However, I feel pretty happy about where I ended up, at UNCC. All the math professors who help teach in the program got PhDs at top universities, and I think the quality will not suffer. I don't expect it to open doors on Wall Street, but I am content to be in Charlotte. The weather is nice and the price level is 1/2 of New York.

 

[josephjah]

Hello everyone!

First, I must compliment you all on this well-run and information-rich community. I've run across these forums a couple times here and there through various internet searches and thought I should go ahead and register and do a lot of learning, a little networking, and hopefully give back a bit.

I'm in the process of completing my B.S. in Computer Science with a professional concentration. I have over eight years of programming experience but only recently started retooling myself for the sciences of finance. I have a strong background in physics and computational theory but only about two or so years of financial research under my belt.

I plan on entering graduate school upon the completion of my degree but I haven't decided where and for what yet. That is partly why I am here. I would ideally like to end up doing quantitative research and/or development but my mind hasn't settled on a particular occupation quite yet.

I've spent the past year developing a multithreaded (and distributed), hyper-heuristic-driven evolutionary simulator (for optimization and algorithm creation purposes) paired to an automated portfolio I'm only just now beginning to break ground on. I have great hopes for this system, but I still have a massive amount of knowledge and information I must absorb from you all before I can complete my project

If I had one question for everyone here, it would be: How satisfied are you with your own success as a quant?

I look forward to many engaging and enlightening discussions with everyone here!

- Joseph Henry

 

[Andy Nguyen]

If I had one question for everyone here, it would be: How satisfied are you with your own success as a quant?

Welcome to Quantnet, Josheph
It's been close to 6 years since I learned and entered the path to MFE and knowing everything about it, I would do it again without hesitation. It's not because I can attach "quant" or "success" to my name, but because it has been a valuable self-discovery process for me.
Going through the MFE education and working afterward allows me to meet many smart and ambitious people from all rungs of the industry. This opens ideas and more importantly, broadens my perspective on career and life.
This is not to say every MFE graduate would reach the zen of life. I've seen many miserable ones, whom this line of work is a poor choice. Like anything else, it's more about finding your true self than trying to mold you to fit a cog in a big machine.

 

[josephjah]

Thank you for your response, Andy.

That is an interesting answer. I like to hear that you would do it again with no hesitation. I am pursuing this because I thoroughly enjoy nearly everything I've discovered to be involved in this career field. I genuinely believe I've finally found what I want to do with my education and inclinations.

I have no doubt that I'll have more questions for you later

 

[Han]

Hi,everyone!

I'm Han.Few days ago I was told this website.Nice to meet you all here.I,a undergraduate,planning to apply for MFE,found it very helpful to me.I major in IC design&finance.That this summer,nearly a month ago,I went to NY and contacted many wall street practitioners,has left a huge impression on me.I know the competition of applying for MFE is so severe,however,what i can do now is to try my best.I'm preparing for GRE at this moment,and i'd like to make friends with you.