Hi all, New to the board and looking for some feedback. A little background - I graduated in 2009 with a Finance major from a decent school, I’ve taken L1 CFA last yr and passed, taking L2 June 2012. These days I’ve come to regret my decision of majoring in Finance, I believe it was an easy way out for me and I should’ve went with my intial choice - Math. So to restitute I’m thinking of a masters in financial mathematics, and as I live in NYC, NYU’s Courant Institute is the clear choice. It’s a competitive program and I feel like I may be overreaching. So my question is if anyone here attended the program, know anyone that has, or offer any advice?
looks bloody good
Very, very good reputation. That said, some of the sheen is off financial mathematics these days, with the implosion of the non-vanilla derivatives market. Then again, demand for market risk management expertise is on the upswing. You might want to ask the school’s career department where last year’s graduating class went so you can evaluate placement likelihoods.
DarienHacker Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Very, very good reputation. > > That said, some of the sheen is off financial > mathematics these days, with the implosion of the > non-vanilla derivatives market. > > Then again, demand for market risk management > expertise is on the upswing. You might want to > ask the school’s career department where last > year’s graduating class went so you can evaluate > placement likelihoods. I work in Exotics, and market here is anything but decreasing, all this uncertainty has added to more demands of structured products, portfolios are rising across asset class (except pure credit derivatives, though baskets are doing fine). But yes, highly complicated exotic products aren’t much in taste now, rather few but flexibly hedge-able and manageable products are getting the volumes surge, so it’s a combination of math skills, programming, market knowledge, and street smartness (valuation is just a ball park figure, a trader and salesman together are majorly responsible for net profit or loss in the trade) - which is required in derivatives world these days.
The prerequisites include high undergraduate math. If you don’t have it, you will lose a big deal in the program. It is designed for math and physics undergraduates who have no idea of finance. You will be drilling finance there (basics) that you don’t need, and math will be master level, they don’t go back to basics. Be sure you will learn something from the program (i.e. you are comfortable with math), even if they allow you to enter without checking your math skills.
I know someone who completed that program. She decided to move out of finance and into teaching a few years ago.
Valores Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The prerequisites include high undergraduate math. > If you don’t have it, you will lose a big deal in > the program. It is designed for math and physics > undergraduates who have no idea of finance. You > will be drilling finance there (basics) that you > don’t need, and math will be master level, they > don’t go back to basics. Be sure you will learn > something from the program (i.e. you are > comfortable with math), even if they allow you to > enter without checking your math skills. Ye, that was my main concern so I actually went back to my school and applied for a second undergrad degree in math. Taking just once class this semester though, I’d like to first see how well I can juggle school, L2 studying and full time job.
a good program indeed