December 4th, 2008, 9:43 am
what school you went to if don't mind sharing?QuoteOriginally posted by: skhQuoteOriginally posted by: jambodevHi Everyone,recently started a MFE program and was just reading this old thread, and I must say, tone of most of members and senior members is very depressing. It makes me feel like quitting, although I'm not a quitter, but thats how a MFE student feels like when reading this thread. Are things really that bad? Are MFE programs that bad that many senior members say they are worthless? I knew that when I graduate in a year or so, I'm going to struggle in the current market situation But I didn't know that we are going to be perceived as bad as I can read on this thread, specially by those who are in this business for long.Its really depressing.i finished msc math fin this year in july and found a job. so did most of the people i know from my course. mfe is not worthless, you just have to see it in the right light. obviously, it is not a phd (and there is sometimes a certain snobyness of phds on this forum). if you talk to a person doing an mba at your school, that person will probably respect you for "the hard stuff" you are doing on your course ...people say, and it is my impression as well, that you don't get straight quant jobs with an mfe. but how many of these jobs are there anyway and how desireable are they? i am a quant developer (apparently some people's nightmare) and 80% or so of the people in the extended quant group i work in have phd's and are essentially doing the same stuff as i am. and this is a well-respected ib.and then, looking through some of the older threads here, a theme that comes up again and again is a variation of: i am some sort of quant/quant developer/it guy whatever wannabe, how do i get onto the trading floor? half the people on my course went into trading or other front office roles such as sales or structuring. none of them had a phd.one guy went into algo trading at what was presumably one of the strongest groups around. our phd ta from one of the classes nearly burst out into tears saying that this was exactly the job he wanted ...so it depends. if you work hard and are not stupid, you will get very good jobs with an mfe (or even "lesser" degrees), if you are an idiot, even your hard science phd will not get you anywhere (yes, i have met some stupid phds).