May 28th, 2016, 5:52 pm
QuoteOriginally posted by: KaspyHi everyone,Im a finishing my Spanish degree in Mathematics this month(equivalent to BSc) and planning to pursue a MQF next September. My average gets pretty low when translated into the English system, a high 2.2, very close to a 2.1, so depite having applied to several programs, ive only been admitted to 3 so far:- University of Strathclyde, MSc Quantitative Finance- University of Exeter, MSc Financial Mathematics- University of Leicester, MSc Financial Mathematics and ComputationI would like to know your opinion about which of these would give me the best job prospects and phd opportunities (an option that i havent discard yet). I know these arent top tier programs like Imperial, Warwick, etc. but are the only ones i can aim for now. Ive noticed that the general belief through the forum is that a MQF or MFE of a second tier institution is virtually useless and wont get me to a real quant role. I expect to perform well next year and I also have some extras on my CV (mathematical olympiad awards and chess international master), so I still have some hope :)I work at a Tier 1 bank and have interviewed very few MSc applicants who didn't graduate from the top institutions. My impression is that if you get an MSc from a not very well known university, you may struggle to convince a recruiter to put forward your CV. You might be able to remedy this to some extent by networking and getting to know some potential hiring managers directly. However, this is easier to do in London, where you can attend the Thalesians seminars, those at Cass or Imperial College, than in other places. The biggest problem these days is not the quality of the courses themselves, but the fact that most students who attend these MSc programs, even at the top institutions, lack even the most basic mathematical skills. You can memorize Ito's lemma and some of the properties of stochastic integrals, but if you don't know basic calculus, probability and linear algebra you won't be able to use this knowledge in practical situations. My suggestion would be to ask yourself if this applies to you. E.g. take a first/second year calculus book, see how easily you can solve the problems there. If you struggle, then an MSc in financial mathematics is probably not going to help you.