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Escher
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Financial mathematics and economics

November 19th, 2008, 8:28 pm

With respect (and speaking as an Irishman), I strongly advise against going to university in Limerick. It's not known as "Stab City" for nothing. Galway, on the other hand, is a lovely town with a respectable maths department. If you're dead set on going to college in Ireland, you should take a look at DCU too. They have some decent quant/actuary type courses.Try posting on some of the education forums at boards.ie, they'll be able to give you specific advice on the courses and universities.
 
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amerikan
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Joined: October 19th, 2007, 11:41 am

Financial mathematics and economics

November 19th, 2008, 9:34 pm

Thanks Escher. Well, the stabbing thing doesn't worry me very much - I might be naive, but even if stabbings might be more common in Limerick than elsewhere, it's not like everyone gets stabbed... right?I have some problems with trying to find out about quality... I've heard many nice things about Galway, my main problem is that my experience with their administration isn't very good. Limerick usually gets better results in rankings, but that might be because of other subjects. Please note that the finmath and econ-program at Galway isn't under the math department.DCU = bigger classes, huge living costs etc. Surely a nice university where I might pursue my Master's degree/PhD, but since quality isn't THAT important (even if it's not negligible) when it comes to undergrad degrees, you can look more at living costs and other things like that when deciding where to study./John
 
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amerikan
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Financial mathematics and economics

November 19th, 2008, 9:50 pm

Hm, I just discovered University of Limerick (the mathecon program) got Co-operative education, meaning that the students will work eight months, as a part of their education. That's good. I haven't yet decided, and I'll apply to both of them - the thing is, which one I should rank as number 1 and which one I should rank as number 2. If you get an offer from your number #1 on the list, and reject it, you won't get any offer from number 2. But if you get an offer from #2, you can still get an offer from #1 - but you can't be sure that you'll get it, so that's a risk. Complicated system, I know. What's better with Galway is that it's a smaller town, I've heard a lot of good things about it - haven't talked with anyone about Limerick, only got a comment from Escher as far as I know. The program, mathecon, seems to be pretty new too. Galway also gives an easier road to finance, while Limerick has a broader education. Too bad I can't find anyone who have studied at the Mathecon program or knows anyone who has. /John
 
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Escher
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Financial mathematics and economics

November 20th, 2008, 10:18 am

Again, I'd say put Galway as #1. If the admin staff seemed incompetent, it's probably because Ireland gets relatively few foreign students. Most departments probably wouldn't know the required grades for a swedish student off the top of their head.Keep in mind you'd only have to deal with admin perhaps once a year.
 
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Cuchulainn
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Financial mathematics and economics

November 20th, 2008, 12:42 pm

If you go to Limerick, you will become a Munster supporter. click on haka
Last edited by Cuchulainn on November 19th, 2008, 11:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
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amerikan
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Financial mathematics and economics

November 20th, 2008, 7:01 pm

Munster supporter? Oh, that's terrible Gotta go to Galway thenWell, I don't know, Galway may very well be better. They have a higher employment rate among former students. I have yet to hear someone defending the city/university... It's just that, they seemed a little bit confused when it came to admission requirements. The Head of math department said that G in Math C (third math course, G means Passed) would be okey, while this is the answer I got from the admission's office:"Having consulted with the Admissions Officer and with Admissions personnel at UCD I would advise that you should take Mathematics A,B,C and D ideally and that your average grade in Maths should be VG (average of A - D) as the Irish student entering this programme requires Higher Level Mathematics in their final school exam. The matriculation subjects required for entry to the programme are English, Maths, a Laboratory Science subject and three other subjects. A student coming from Sweden would also need to have studied these particular subjects along with other subjects of course. I confirm a VG in English is required. Points needed by Irish school leavers for entry to this programme in 2008 are 385 (out of a maximum of 600). It is not just your Maths grade that will be taken into consideration but your overall result in the school leaving exam which will be looked at. Your Maths score will be particularly important for this particular programme as it requires the applicant to have performed in Maths to a higher, not just ordinary level."So, I asked her (still haven't received answer), what happens if a student has 520 points but lower math grades than someone with 450? Who will get admitted? Will grades in other related subjects be counted (English, business economics, internet trade...) also be more important? My "Math average" is above what's needed, althought not with a huge margin. I got top grades in English, Swedish, Business economics and internet trade. My GPA will, translated to the irish system, give me 520 points. My "Math/english/Swedish" GPA is likely to be even higher, but my Math GPA would give me "only" 375 points according to recent calculations. It could be 390 as well, it depends on what I'll get in the next exam. And, if I only need Math C, why then take my grades in D and E into account? The professor at the economics and math program at Limerick were more of a "straigh-talker", he said Math C would be enough and other grades would only be taken into account if it's favorable to the student. Would you think that this program has the same rule?Btw, later on she corrected her answer and said that I didn't need a laboratory subject, if I fulfill the "arts" requirements: This is an interdisciplinary course, so English, Swedish, higher math and three other subjects would work as well. Well, in short words: I'm confused.../John
 
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Escher
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Financial mathematics and economics

November 20th, 2008, 8:59 pm

I don't know how the Swedish grade system works, so I'm not sure how much I can help you. To be honest, 385 points is trivial, and someone who can't manage it won't make it as a quant, end of story. You sound as if you do well in school, so it probably won't be an issue. The maths qualification is there for the student's own protection, to stop them getting into a subject they don't have the technical skills for.The system gives first priority to whoever has the most points, conditional on their meeting the minimum requirements. So if a C in Honours maths is the minimum requirement, a student getting A,A,A,A,A, with a C in maths will get in before a student getting A,A,A,A,B,C with an A in maths.To write it as pseudo-maths, it's (# of points)*(indicator(minimum requirements))
 
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amerikan
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Financial mathematics and economics

November 20th, 2008, 10:40 pm

Of course. Escher, my math is pretty good, it's just that I only got Passed in a "big" course.Here's the grade system:MVG - 100 % of Maximum GPA, gives 20 points.VG - 75 %, 15 points.G - 50 %, 10 points. My overall GPA is likely to be 17,3 - pretty high. Plus I am taking a course overload, so I'm going to graduate after two years instead of three - only 1/1000 students manage to do that, so actually I'm kind of an elite student. I'm good at studying. I "finished" all high school math courses before I had even began studying at high school, the problem was that I was not allowed to do the exams. I was allowed to read and do all the tasks in the textbooks, but not the exams (why? Bureacracy). Not even one student every year (probably not one every fifth year) manages to study math at that speed. I was finished with the last course in June 2007, and I went to high school in august. Well, my surprisingly low math grades is only my fault - I started doing the exams in september that year, but it had been a long while since I had done Math A, so I had forgot a lot of it. I ended up getting about 80 % right on the exam - a strong VG, in other words. Math B was a hard course, I'm not disappointed with that result. The real problem came when I was going to do the exam to Math C - I did it one week before summer vacation started (this year in May), and the reason I wanted to do it then wasn't because I was prepared - I wanted to have it done before the summer so I didn't have to think about it. Since it was the end of the year, I had many other exams at the same time, so I told myself that I would do great on the exam even if I didn't repeated as much as I should have done (I didn't ignore it, but there's a lot of things to remember). Well, a strong G, close to VG... but still a G. Now, my last exam was in the beginning of October. I got VG, as expected. I'm sure I'm going to get VG, possibly MVG, on next course - a course named "Mathematics extension", where you simply choose an area of math and deepen your knowledge in that area (in my case, probability theory). Another thing you should know is that all courses aren't worth the same. Math A and C is worth 100 points, while B and Discrete (the last course I finished) are worth 50. When you calculate your GPA in this case you take: 100 x 15 + 50 x 15 + 100 x 10 + 50 x 15 / 300 = 13,3 = 66,5 % of maximum. Now, if only Math ABC is required and other courses are counted if favorable for the student, my GPA will end up being 13,6 (counting with VG in math Extension). I'm afraid I'll only get G in D and E, so they wouldn't be counted (although I hope for VG in at least one of them). I know the requirements are meant to protect me, but at the same time I personally know that I can do this. It should also be noted that all Swedish universities require a G in Mathematics C for admission to programs in economics and finance./John G