Going back to Undergraduate Math?

I have been an excel monkey for a year in finance out of HYP undergrad with a 3.55 GPA in something NON-quantitative. The closest thing to a quant class I took at HYP was one on first-order logic my senior year. Since starting my job I have gained a strong curiosity for math. I read a book on set theory on the side and have started Rudin's book on analysis. As a result of not taking a single math course in college I can't even apply to 1-year math masters programs!

So my question is the following: should I take 4-5 undergraduate classes next semester at NYU/Columbia (I'm in NY) to get my feet wet in a quantitative setting and allow myself to pursue a masters afterward if I can cut it? Or is it too late? I would be allowed to take Discrete Math, Calc III, Probability & Statistics, Combinatorics, and Linear Algebra at NYU since I got a 5 on my Calc BC in high school (6 years ago!).

To what extent could this destroy a career?

 

5 reasonably difficult math courses at a top-tier University after no math in UG?

I'd be more worried about your life stability than your career.

 

get linear algebra (easy enough an useful) also I suggest probability and statistics have you thought about introductory econometrics, basic optimization, intermediate probability, stochastic calc? These are fairly useful and "fun".

combinatorics and discrete math looks hard and boring and useless I looked at the calc 3 course syllabus at NYU and I suggest to skip it since it's fairly difficult and it's also useless.

 

Thanks for your reply kraken --

In response to your comments: Calc III is a prerequisite for a bunch of useful things if I want to pursue math further after the introductory semester. I'll look into optimization and stochastic calculus but I suspect I won't have the prerequisites.

 
Best Response

Hey lawschool121,

I am actually planning on doing something similar as I am in a similar situation, graduated finance major trying to take some undergrad/grad quantitative classes to try to get into a good grad program. I would definitely take Calc III and Linear Algebra on that list, especially if you plan on applying for grad school in a quantitative program, since a lot of math or stats type grad programs require these classes at a minimum. Mathematical stats or probability theory might also be good too

Maybe you can also try talking to the maths department or professors individually to see if you can get permission to take their classes? This is what I am doing right now, though I am not sure this is possible. As an aside you can try looking into CUNY programs as well, as they will be cheaper if you are in-state, and likely have an easier learning curve than columbia/nyu for someone just jumping in.

Let me know how it goes! I am quite interested in this as well

 

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