whats the best msc to undetake if one wants to build quantitative/stat arb/algoritmic trading models?and is 30 too old to be going down this route?thanks

The MSc in Financial Engineering at Birkbeck or the MSc in Mathematical Trading and Finance at City/Cass. I did a diploma at Birkbeck when I was ~35 and then the MSc at King's. Birkbeck , as an institution, really understands mature students.

great thanks v muchi'm actually going to the cass msc open evening today for the mathematical trading course, so gd timing!ive heard it not as rigorous academically as its a 'business school'was the msc u did worth the time and investment if you dont mind me asking? the msc at cass is 20k! and i have the opportunity cost of not trading for a year to think about

The King's MSc is maths focused, with essentially no data analysis, so for what you want I don't thing it would be a good choice. It was great for me as I went there from Birkbeck because it was more theoretical. In giving advice I had assumed you'd do it part-time. If you are looking for full time options I'd get out of London. From what you say you want to get involved with I'd look for Math Finance courses within stats groups, as they have good time-series modules (Kings has good probability modules) . Leicester is an option, but it is closely associated with Citigroup and it hasn't got a world class reputation. Warwick is a better bet. H-W/Edinburgh can't be beaten for value for money and I know Alex McNeil there has offered an MSc project on reviewing statistical arbitrage models this year (he does a lot of risk mgmt for hedge funds). Manchester will be on the technical side. You pay for the name at Oxford (and Imperial and LSE).One piece of advice - the taught courses are not where the value is, its in the dissertation/project. Ask the universities what there supervision policies are. At the bigger places, there is not much help as they have too many students and not enough staff . The University of London teaching regulations are that an MSc student gets 3 hrs contact time with their supervisors, this is pretty paltry when you are paying for the course, but even worse when you find out that the 3 hours is not 1:1 - it wasn't an issue for me but was a big problem for my wife when she did her MSc.

thanks for the info kknais the dissertation really where the value is? reason i ask is that cass gives u an option of doing either a dissertation or 5 electivesinteresting electives such as advanced financial engineering and credit derivatives, advanced financial modeling and forecasting, fixed income arbitrage and trading, advanced options trading, matlab and a whole load morei'd rather do all these electives rather than the dis, or isnt this advised?btw is there any other msc that offers such a wide choice of electives? my research shows there isnt