Screwed up my life

[Martinn]

Hi everyone! I just wanted to ask some suggestions here. My story is pretty simple: I did the wrong bachelor in a wrong country with the wrong people. Which means I did my bachelor in finance in continental Europe (non-UK country). The thing is that I always wanted to work in a quant field and I should have done my bsc in maths +comp science in UK at least. The thing is that I am smart like top 1% of class, but poor which means I cannot dump my degree in the last year (I already have problems financing it) and go for another bachelor and thus waste another 3 years and much money. What would you suggest? Thanks in advance.

 

[Sushant]

Why'd you want to do another Bachelors? I'm sure that if you are in the top 1%, you can apply to good Masters programs in Finance with these credentials. If you want to go specifically for Financial Engineering, you can always enroll in a few prerequisite Math courses at some decent university, rather than doing a whole new Bachelors. I think you're freaking out for no reason.

 

[aresiusXXIII]

I am in similar situation about where i did my bachelor and master degree and social status. But here I agree with Sushant you have plenty options what to do. If you are really smart like top 1% I think you can get a scholarship from decent university to reduce your expences. Also I think that dumping your bachelor degree will be nonsense. I don't know if is possible in your country but did you think about parrallel study for exemple in Mathematics or computer science or something similar?? (if is possible of course) sorry for my bad english if there is anything wrong

 

[KaiRu]

If you are that smart you can get a position in Big 4 or BB or whatever famous company you can find in your home country. Goldman and DB are not limited to City and Manhattan - these are global corporations for some reason. With some real experience and solid name in your resume and some $$$ on your bank account you can easily apply to a favorite program.

 

[myampol]

In general most Masters programs are rather expensive. If Martinn is having difficulty financing his bachelor's degree in his home country, then it would be logical that a MFE in a different country would be prohibitively expensive, given his and his family's financial resources.

The logical solution would be to go for a Ph.D., where the school would waive tuition and award a fellowship stipend to cover living costs.

 

[Martinn]

Hey! Which Uni can give tuition waiver and cover living expenses for PhD? Also I guess it's very competitive to get this type of funding.

 

[quotes]

Take a GRE exam and prove your IQ.
Some graduate schools value GRE more than education.

 

[Adam Zia]

I have a 800Q in GRE and 3.68/4.00 GPA in a Management degree with minor in Mathematics
Are there any financial engineering master programs out there where I can study on a full scholarship?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

No. MFE is a terminal professional degree which you are expected to shell out a lot of money for tuition and living expense. Some programs will give out partial tuition awards to lower the cost but you still need a large loan or personal bank account to afford.
If you want fully paid scholarship, try to compete for some PhD programs in FE.

 

[DominiConnor]

If money is a real issue, it's worth looking at masters in statistics which are a lot cheaper.

 

[Connor]

Many to most PhD programs are fully funded with tuition waiver and a living stipend. For FE, I would recommend looking at universities' math, statistics, and applied math departments and look at the kinds of research their faculty is doing; this is where I have seen FE research being done in the past.

 

[Adam Zia]

how about a PhD in Finance from 2nd tier? is that going to help in getting into industry as a Quant?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Ask yourself this: by the time I graduate with degree X from school Y, how many people will hold the similar (or better) degree from the same (or better) school who want to work in finance? What skillset/knowledge that I have that the other 99% does not?
There are many PhD/MFE from second-tier programs out there looking for jobs. Why do you think the market needs one more?

So my best advice is to have a more realistic goal and expectation. That'll save you a lot of grief in the future.

 

[Connor]

A fact that I believe holds for any degree (undergrad to PhD) in any field (finance, CS, etc) is that just having the degree is not enough because it doesn't set you apart. Look for ways to stand out from the crowd, be it through networking, work experience, extracurricular activities/studies/projects, etc.

 

[gbruno]

And most of all, relax! If you really as good as you claim, you shouldn't worry a bit. Just graduating from a top-tier uni doesn't do the job. You always get hired by the way you perform in the interviews!

 

[Jayanthan]

Hi, I have created a discussion "engineers break into investment banking". Unfortunately, no one ever participated in that discussion.

I am graduated with Aerospace engineering degree. I am more interested in investment banking but I am not interested in going back to school again and spend 2yrs there. I am just wondering, what if I do CQF while I am working as an engineer and try to get into IB. How feasible is this approach? Anyone ever tried and succeed?

PS: I don't have a degree from Ivy League but, I know people who graduated from Ivy League with engineering degree in IB

 

[Connor]

1) Have you tried applying to any jobs that interest you?
2) Not sure CQF would help you much in IB. I think an MBA or CFA would be more helpful....

 

[Jayanthan]

Thank you Connor, I've tried but, no luck so far. I am planning to take CFA Level-1 exam this June.
Who would CQF? If someone choose to do CQF, what might be the their potential target in industry? Thank you