Career Advice - Work out the gate then MFE or MFE first?
I'm in my fifth year at a University in Ottawa (Canada (brb kms)) in Finance and definitely didn't apply myself to the extent I know I should've as the coursework was utter garbage and I felt more like I was an advanced English Major than a Finance major where I had been hoping for higher level maths so I had no motivation to study or pay attention and was busy day trading options for myself lmao which I do semi-decently at and learning VBA and Python.
I've done 3 internships one of which was semi-finance related where I was doing Underwriting for a firm on Bay Street. The other two was a trash government coop and a crown corporation coop. I also did an exchange in Europe.
Sitting on a 7.2 which is equivalent to a 76/78% average out of 100% give or take so a 3.3
If I go balls to the wall in my upcoming final term I can pull off an 8.0 final so a 3.7 but at minimum I know I can definitely get to the 3.5.
Applied to numerous S&T and IB Internships over the years and never got anywhere as I wasn't chosen for the school's student run investment fund because my exchange got in the way and the year I applied they were going ham on gender equalization and took in tonnes of girls at the expense of better qualified guys. Still my fault though and I take ownership.
The IB dream never appealed to me but since first year I've really wanted to get into S&T but now I'm aiming for something quantitative or mathematical since that's the direction the fields going.
Is it better to pick up some bullshit generic tech job or advisory/consulting job or internal job with some Fortune 500 and work for a few years and then go get a Masters in Financial Engineering / Financial Mathematics and end up working as a quant or should I go direct to the MFE?
Been debating this for 2 months now internally and can't conclude what the better EV play is.
Time for some second opinions
Thanks
FIrst, maybe have a look at Xinfeng Zhou's quant interview book and see if you can handle it.
Could I handle it if I took the interview this month? 100% not
Could I handle it 1.5-2 years from now after studying this niche more in depth and undergoing a math & programming intensive Masters compared to a Liberal Arts-esque Finance Undergrad? Most definitely
bare in mind you're going to have interviews on the 1st semester of your master program
That's a good point, in the process of getting into MSc's and MFRM's at the moment and I've been digging deep into the book to break into S&T or a more quantitative role
Thanks
I am currently in UO and having the same problem as you had. I wonder if I can networking with you to talk more! how’s going on!
incoming mfe student here. I would go straight for mfe but you might have some trouble getting into a good program because of the lack of math courses. At the minimum you need up to calc III, linear algebra, calculus-based probability, and some programming courses.
imo, it's only worth doing the top programs because they place you in quant trading or developer roles at a bank or hedge fund. Otherwise many lower tier programs place you in "back-office" quant roles like risk, model validation, etc. Nothing wrong with those fields but depends what you're looking for.
I would try to do some sort of trading project that uses quantitative techniques, kill the GRE if you're applying to US schools, and shoot your shot.
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