I'm a fixed income trader at a big 5 canadian bank (1 year rotating, then 1.5 years on my current desk trading). It's always been a goal of mine to do some sort of grad school for personal reasons, but ideally it'd be something that would help advance my career as well. I'm pretty happy now but I wouldn't mind having a more quantitative skill set. I'm doing well and would definitely return if I got a role where these skills would be more useful (ie towards more complex FI derivatives).
I did an undergrad in business and economics, with about 2 years worth of math (~3.7 GPA, @ a top Canadian school). I passed all three levels of the CFA as well. I'm confident I could place very well on the GMAT/GRE.
Any thoughts on different gradschools (in Canada or abroad) that would be a good fit? I want a few ideas before I poke around talking with the head of my desk, although I know he'd be supportive.
U of T has a partime MFin program, but very few people entering it are traders (3%). They have a masters in financial economics that places into trading, but a lot of the people in it are straight out of undergrad.
I'm not sure if I have quite enough math for an MFE, but I want something more quantitative than an MBA for sure. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks!
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I took three semesters of calculus (1,1,2), 2 semesters of linear algebra (1,2), a course on mathematical problem solving (2), a course on mathematical economics (2), a course on financial mathematics (2) and three econometrics courses (2,2,3). I wanted to take a real analysis course or two but my focus was on grades for recruiting. Brackets indicate what year the courses were for, none of them were the 'bird' stream courses, and I got good marks in general. I can code in VBA and python well and know a bit of C++.
UofT's MFin program generally targets people who are a bit more senior. I think they look for VP level people. Also, they don't have a huge recruiting engine after the program (ask them, they openly admit it). They did a site visit at my bank once to explain the program and said they are targeted for professionals who are looking to boost their credentials and get more quant skills (from what I hear the program is legit intense). Good news is if you want to do this they waive the GMAT / GRE requirement if you've passed CFA Level III exam.
UofT (Rotman) also boasts John Hull as one of their professors. Guy literally wrote the book on options.
Note that this is different than MFin/MiM programs abroad (Europe), which I think are 1 year Masters targeted at people fresh out of undergrad. Not really similar to the MFE. More like a 1 year MBA (but be careful, these are generally not treated the same as an MBA - recruiters look at you as an analyst with one year credit rather than an associate).
Before you totally dismiss MBA's, one thing to consider, you can take your own "elective courses" from other parts of the university if you so desire. I had a buddy take an mining course in his second year that was offered out of the Engineering Faculty because he thought it would be useful. Got his a$$ handed to him in terms of grades / workload, but he said it was super useful and he also had an amazing job already lined up so didn't give a $hit about grades.
If you are looking for Canadian MBA's strong in finance, I'd highly recommend UofT or Ivey (University of Western Ontario). Key considerations:
Rotman is a two year program, probably the best choice if you want to do finance in Toronto and / or are a career switcher (the summer internship is super important for this).
Ivey is a one year program (18 months). Great if you already have experience in your field. Plus they generally place better at U.S. banks (but if you want to work in the U.S., I'd highly recommend going to a U.S. school instead).
Both are "target" Canadian finance schools for MBA's. I generally would not recommend any other Canadian school for finance (MBA or otherwise).
Hm, tough situation as you seem to be in between. I only know much about Princeton's master of finance, and similar, and certainly you would need a full analysis series, algebra series, and then some refinement (I.e - nonlinear dynamics) to have a good base. Oxford and Cambridge have a number of programs for quant economics/finance that may allow you more freedom to explore quant topics as I believe they're more open ended about curriculum. Might be worth a quick look.
Bump For additional info, I did my undergrad at a top Canadian school (Ivey, Queen's, U of T, McGill). So if anyone had any advice on US schools or abroad I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks all
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