GuitarHero,I went to a state school in the south and got a 3.3 from there. Right after that, I got into NYU's program. The thing that helped me most was the fact that I took graduate math classes and that I picked up some knowledge of mathematical finance before NYU. Also, I don't think it's necessary to go work beforehand, but it may help. I would advise to not do an MBA, but that may be my natural bias against wasting time. Best of luck.

I concur with pavelgrib. As far as I am concerned, the NYU program and the MFE in Berkeley are two different routes. One is academia oriented and the other is more of like MBA. Correct me if I am wrong.

Everybody here seems to be from top-notch US schools.So I've got a question,What about the Canadian schools?Are any of the NY/London firms interested in Math grads from Canada?I go to the University of Waterloo, which (quote) is the "world's largest centre in mathematics and computer science education". I mean we're well established in Actuarial Science, but has anyone outside of Canada even heard of us in finance?

Quantabe, I know a couple of quants with excellent jobs at top tier firms in NY/London. They did their graduate studies at the University of Toronto, John Hull's home base.

how do you "impress someone with your personality" ?

QuantabeI go to the University of Waterloo, which (quote) is the "world's largest centre in mathematics and computer science education". I mean we're well established in Actuarial Science, but has anyone outside of Canada even heard of us in financeIMHO the guys Forsyth, Vetzal and others are doing excellent work in computational finance at Waterloo, expecially finite differences and finite volume. Check it out.

QuoteOriginally posted by: exotiqTelegraph is one of those weird places where the panhandlers collecting weed money may be sitting next to you and the De-Cal class, then go sailing when they are done making their political statements.When I lived on the Peninsula, I had a friend in Berkeley without a car. He saved up all his pennies in a jar. Whenever the jar got full, he would buy me lunch at my favorite taqueria (San Jose on 14th and Fruitvale - now "International Boulevard" - in Oakland), in exchange for taking him on what seemed to be his favorite activity.I'd circle around Telegraph, and he'd throw handfuls of pennies out the window to see people run out into the street and fight for them.We reached a compromise where I'd actually contribute some change and pretend like I was having fun, if he let me add in the occasional shiny nickel to kick it up a notch. The nickel ruined it for him, the fascination was seeing everyone from teenage jocks to welfare grandmothers run into the street after the sound of 18 cents.Some people dove into mud-puddles, others asked politely before picking up the change. Some people were so sorry, not even their dogs could get up the energy to stand. I humored my friend with reenactments of earnest mothers reassuring their wide-eyed children about the mythical penny man - "mmm-hm, penny man gon' come!"I also used to take out-of-towners on tours of People's Park at night, using a night-vision scope someone picked up at Checkpoint Charlie. I guess people no longer sleep there like they used to. Perhaps they've all gone the way of David Nadel.Though I did once see two homeless hippies buying three different varieties of $60/lb lox at the Shattuck Andronico's. I didn't see if they had a wheelbarrow full of pennies...

you gotta admire the honesty on telegraph, vagrants don't tell you there hungry. They simply say, "hey dude spare some change so I can score some crack?"

sorry double post