I'm from India, having three years of experience with investment managemnet industry in sales and marketing. Recently cleared CFA level-1. Undergraduate in engineering. Would like to do advanced course on mathematical finance. So I've choosen two institutes, one is oxford another one is courant. Both the studies are part time, so planning to do some work on day time. By the time I reach there, I'll complete my level-2. Need two opnions. 1. Which one is better? from job prospective after I finish.2. Will I get a job with the qualifications mentioned above?Please Reply.

I think you should consider whether you want to work in New York or London after you finish. Regardless of the small difference between the quality of these programs I suppose it will be easier to get a job in the country in which you are studying. I have not been through either of these programs, and I'm sure you have done your reseach online... I think Courant might be slightly better respected as a program in MF but it can't hurt to get an Oxford degree. If you get accepted to these programs, I'd base my decision on where I want to live and not the slight difference in the quality of the programs. IMO.Good luck.

I agree with Sunmaker. Also, you should make sure that you will be authorized to work in the US during your studies if this is what you intend to do.

NYU's program is very good, but it's also extremely expensive (which all US programs will be, to a degree) and the PT program doesn't allow its students to use career services so its job-placement utility is questionable. The NYU PT students I've met have been stressed-out and a bit unhappy. First off, they were working all the time. Second, the main benefits of MFE are career services and networking, but the career services were unavailable. As for networking, their hours were so bad (with PT school and FT work) they had little time for social life. It may be just as expensive/bad to go to Oxford PT, but you'll want to check this out. Placement rates for FT MFE students are over 90% from top programs, but I know little about the quality of jobs other than that there's a wide range. PT students already have jobs; it's impossible to measure what percentage desired to upgrade and what proportion of those were successful, but undoubtedly most did and at least some were. Most of them have never worked in the financial industry before. CFA-1 is also to your advantage. So yes, you should get a job with the qualifications you listed.

Many thanks to all of you.As per US Visa rule, I'm authorized to work up to 20hours a week.Based on standerd of living expense, NY seems better than UK.Let c what happens.

I don't think the PT at Courant is that bad... of course the study is stressful, but mostly the unformal networking is more helpful since you have working experience, recruiter wont put you at the same platform with fresh out of school anyways. If you are smart, you can always find your ways at a place like this. Once you know the people and the famous professors(and let them know what you are made of), getting through to different job opportunities are easy. Don't know much about Oxford thou.

QuoteOriginally posted by: arghyaI'm from India, having three years of experience with investment managemnet industry in sales and marketing. Recently cleared CFA level-1. Undergraduate in engineering. Would like to do advanced course on mathematical finance. So I've choosen two institutes, one is oxford another one is courant. Both the studies are part time, so planning to do some work on day time. By the time I reach there, I'll complete my level-2. Need two opnions. 1. Which one is better? from job prospective after I finish.2. Will I get a job with the qualifications mentioned above?Please Reply.What makes you so sure you will get in to either of these programs ?

Well, no where I've mentioned the certainty to get into these two programes. I have run thru respective websites and came to know that Oxford offers MSc in Math Fin throu its continuing education department. And to get an admission, you have to pass a test on math(available on the site only). The course is necessarily a PT.NYU Courant runs their MS math fin by three routes. one is FT/PT (GRE is required, one year duration, highly competitive), next is thru ACFM (Advanced certificate in Financial Mathematics - GRE required, FT/PT option available) and the last one is modular study (no such qualification required only PT). Please go thru their respective website. It seems the competition is less dense here!!!! Probability of geting admission looks little more!!!!But geting a job is important!!

Oxford will be offering a Full Time in Math course starting Oct 07 (http://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/prospective-s ... e/courses/) replacing, starting next year, the optionality of taking Finance topics in the M.Sc. in Mathematical Modelling and Scientific Computing which, incidentally, I am currently studying.

QuoteOriginally posted by: TraderJoeQuoteOriginally posted by: arghyaI'm from India, having three years of experience with investment managemnet industry in sales and marketing. Recently cleared CFA level-1. Undergraduate in engineering. Would like to do advanced course on mathematical finance. So I've choosen two institutes, one is oxford another one is courant. Both the studies are part time, so planning to do some work on day time. By the time I reach there, I'll complete my level-2. Need two opnions. 1. Which one is better? from job prospective after I finish.2. Will I get a job with the qualifications mentioned above?Please Reply.What makes you so sure you will get in to either of these programs ?2. Plenty of jobs at fast food outlets, particularly places called 'Cottage Chicken' (http://www.chickencottage.com/welcome.html) which have sprung up all over South London in recent years. Good work if you can get it might I add.

QuoteOriginally posted by: arghyaWell, no where I've mentioned the certainty to get into these two programes. I have run thru respective websites and came to know that Oxford offers MSc in Math Fin throu its continuing education department. And to get an admission, you have to pass a test on math(available on the site only). The course is necessarily a PT.NYU Courant runs their MS math fin by three routes. one is FT/PT (GRE is required, one year duration, highly competitive), next is thru ACFM (Advanced certificate in Financial Mathematics - GRE required, FT/PT option available) and the last one is modular study (no such qualification required only PT). Please go thru their respective website. It seems the competition is less dense here!!!! Probability of geting admission looks little more!!!!But geting a job is important!!You make as much sense as a monkey's uncle.

I do not wish to discourage you in your career ambitions, but a decent quant Master's course (e.g. Courant) is a completely different entity from CFA Level 1. While the CFA course has its benefits - e.g. learning the basics of finance and accounting, it has minimal calculus and it's not really at Master's level. Expect to find top tier courses at places like Courant and Oxford considerably more demanding. Digging around the web to see if you can find some sample past papers or online lecture notes from either course would be an excellent way of gauging the demands of the course against your current knowledge. I know of one former talented colleague who had a strong background in maths and finance but who still found the Oxford course very demanding - any part-time job had better pay to be worth the pain barrier of combining work and studyIf a course has sufficiently high fees, a university will be more flexible about admitting candidates - that flexibility will not extend to the end of year exams though !

Traderjoe,Would like to remind u that this forum is for exchanging ideas and gathering information....not abusing others. Hope you remember this in future.

dj99b,Thanks for your courteous reply. I know math fin is a completely different entity. I have a sound understanding of stochastic calculus and its application to option pricings. In fact my job profile is to work with few institutions to hedge their portfolio and very often I have to use various option strategies. For example, CPPI model replicates a covered put option payoff, though it doesn't incorporate option. I've been doing all these since last one year. Nothing to do with CFA -L1. I was bit curious to know whether I should get any relevant job while studying as PT, having said that I have CFA-L1 qualification. Hope you understand.Thanks