Routine to begin to prepare

[johnnyb]

hi, all I am attending an MFE in the fall. Currently I am working full-time about 40 hours per week and I realize I should get a start on interview books. I also want to read Shreve’s Stochastic Calculus for Finance II Before I begin classes.

Does anyone have a study routine that helps for them if they were in a similar position at one point?
To be frank I am just a little overwhelmed on how to make the most of my time and be prepared for interviews in the fall/winter. Thank you

 

[jarryds]

Don't freak yourself out by over studying. You will pick up some things in your MFE program and should supplement this with self studying. I always found talking to people was really helpful for me. I would recommend connecting with as many people as possible and asking them about what they do, etc.

This will give you direction of things to look into during your self study. Also it gives you great context about what is actually going on in the industry (you won't get this from your MFE). Of course firms/funds/banks still love asking silly questions about probability and finance concepts, so I would pick up one of the interview prep books and start walking through it. John Hull's book is also pretty good for a simple overview of some quant finance topics.

I would recommend the "staying busy" approach instead of "I need to self study three hours a day to be competitive" approach. I imagine the latter will kill you in the long run.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

@jarryds has very sensible advice. Things will get very hectic once you start your MFE. You will rarely see your family during the year and half that you are busy doing course work, prepping for interviews, etc.
The trick is to have a healthy and balanced approach. Try to enjoy the process and network with as many people as you can to learn about the industry. Employers value people who know their roles well and how they can contribute to the team. You can't learn this knowledge from your MFE program. You can only learn this from talking to as many people as possible to see what they do, what skill sets are needed and how they fit in the organization's revenue picture. This is the soft skill but very valuable.
Many successful grads I met are not necessarily the one with the highest IQ but those with excellent networking skills and a good understanding of how they fit in.

Now, you were asking about books and how to prep. Here is an excellent read

How to prepare for Financial Engineering programs, Part 1

I have received several emails from students about to start the program, regarding MFE preparation, so I figured I would talk about how I have been preparing for the onslaught of what Masters in Financial Engineering is all about. I decided to make the switch to finance at the end of 2009 during...

quantnet.com

 

[Jiamin Li]

Personally I agree with the "Talking to people" approach. One thing I've been doing is reaching out via Linkedin and trying to connect with currently enrolled students in your future MFE program. Just send a connect request and tell them you are a future student and want some advice etc. I've asked many and most people are happy to help out
So far my studying plan is to 1.finish cpp 2.interview books 3.interview questions on 1point3acres or glassdoor 4.leetcode

 

[Eric Jacquier]

Johnnyb, all great advice above. Let me add my 2 cents. The best use of your time depends on your weakness, nobody has the same strength and weakness. Every entering student is somewhere in between; 1) super prepared in Maths or Physics and the like, and 2) maybe coming from Finance, knowing the industry having taken many finance courses but weaker in mathematical and statistical tools. All the worries I hear is what / more Maths to do , what textbooks to read before the Fall starts. It's OK to some extent if this is your weakness but as the above posters says, don't come in September already burnt out on studying. Work to your weaknesses. If you are a Maths/Physics type and especially if you did not study and did not live in the US, your major weakness is that you do not visualize the industry and the economic environment. It is very important for many quant jobs to understand the economic environment of markets, trading, risk management. You can't build this culture in a couple weeks before the first interview. If this is your case: Start listening to economics and finance programs regularly, read the finance / macroeconomic pages in WSJ, Financial Times or any very good newspaper, listen to NPR's "Market Place" for example. Snoop around the web sites of the major companies in investment banking, asset management, trading. They are full of fantastic links with white papers, "our strategy, careers, positions posted, about us, the culture, what they do, etc... This will give you a picture of the industry. If you are already in the finance industry, this may not be so much of an issue for you.
Also prepare your CV according to the US standards. If your program has career coaches, send it to them early in the summer so you can revise it on their recommendations. As Andy says when the courses start, it will be much harder to do that in addition to the courses.
For example at BU, we email our entering students our resume template and recommendations at the beginning of the summer and engage them to work on it and send it to us for review. For the harder stuff, we have two online summer review courses, Python and Math/Stats, so everybody has reviewed the minimum needed knowledge.
But time and time again, I see entering students neglecting their "soft" preparation and panicking about their "hard" preparation.

 

[marcusaurelius]

Johnnyb, all great advice above. Let me add my 2 cents. The best use of your time depends on your weakness, nobody has the same strength and weakness. Every entering student is somewhere in between; 1) super prepared in Maths or Physics and the like, and 2) maybe coming from Finance, knowing the industry having taken many finance courses but weaker in mathematical and statistical tools. All the worries I hear is what / more Maths to do , what textbooks to read before the Fall starts. It's OK to some extent if this is your weakness but as the above posters says, don't come in September already burnt out on studying. Work to your weaknesses. If you are a Maths/Physics type and especially if you did not study and did not live in the US, your major weakness is that you do not visualize the industry and the economic environment. It is very important for many quant jobs to understand the economic environment of markets, trading, risk management. You can't build this culture in a couple weeks before the first interview. If this is your case: Start listening to economics and finance programs regularly, read the finance / macroeconomic pages in WSJ, Financial Times or any very good newspaper, listen to NPR's "Market Place" for example. Snoop around the web sites of the major companies in investment banking, asset management, trading. They are full of fantastic links with white papers, "our strategy, careers, positions posted, about us, the culture, what they do, etc... This will give you a picture of the industry. If you are already in the finance industry, this may not be so much of an issue for you.
Also prepare your CV according to the US standards. If your program has career coaches, send it to them early in the summer so you can revise it on their recommendations. As Andy says when the courses start, it will be much harder to do that in addition to the courses.
For example at BU, we email our entering students our resume template and recommendations at the beginning of the summer and engage them to work on it and send it to us for review. For the harder stuff, we have two online summer review courses, Python and Math/Stats, so everybody has reviewed the minimum needed knowledge.
But time and time again, I see entering students neglecting their "soft" preparation and panicking about their "hard" preparation.

Great advice. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Phi-quant]

hi, all I am attending an MFE in the fall. Currently I am working full-time about 40 hours per week and I realize I should get a start on interview books. I also want to read Shreve’s Stochastic Calculus for Finance II Before I begin classes.

Does anyone have a study routine that helps for them if they were in a similar position at one point?
To be frank I am just a little overwhelmed on how to make the most of my time and be prepared for interviews in the fall/winter. Thank you

We have a study group with similar needs and in similar situations on discord. DM me if you are interested.

 

[Eric Jacquier]

hi, all I am attending an MFE in the fall. Currently I am working full-time about 40 hours per week and I realize I should get a start on interview books. I also want to read Shreve’s Stochastic Calculus for Finance II Before I begin classes.

Does anyone have a study routine that helps for them if they were in a similar position at one point?
To be frank I am just a little overwhelmed on how to make the most of my time and be prepared for interviews in the fall/winter. Thank you

Johnnyb, impossible to give you effective advice -better use of your time - without knowing your background, strength and weaknesses. If you care to summarize: Finance knowledge, Math knowledge, statistics and regression, coding languages, what field is your internship in. Feel free to email if you prefer. Does your program have summer review courses? Many programs do? At BU, we have two online mandatory review courses, one in Maths/Stats and one in Python
Oops I already answered Johhnyb a while ago. I guess my answer is different this time.