Hi Everyone,I have been reading the posts on this forum for sometime now and have found them to be very informative. This is my first post so I hope it's not too much. I am interested in changing careers into the area of quantitative finance. I have been working in the IT industry for the past 5 years as an application developer/consultant mainly for computer software and service companies. I have a BA in Computer Science from a top 30 US university (with a low GPA ~2.3). I have decided that I would like to apply to either a graduate math finance or financial engineering program (probably in 2005). But with my minimal math background and poor undergrad grades I know I have no chance. I am currently taking the undergrad pre-req math classes at a university (calc I-III, linear algebra, ODE, PDE, analysis, prob. & stat) in order to help me prepare for graduate school. Even if I did well in these classes I am concerned that I would not gain admission into the graduate programs due to my poor undergrad grades and lack of real world financial experience. I am debating whether I should continue on this path as I will soon have to leave work to attend undergrad school full-time to finish these classes. I guess my concern is along with being able to gain admission into one of these programs, would it be realistic for me to think that I could transition my career into this area with my non-financial IT background even with a grad degree from one these programs? Any truthful advice or suggestions for a confused newbie would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.-Sung

some schools have a min. gpa requirement.. 3.0.. some don't .. so ... do well on GMAT OR GRE.. get good grades for the prereqs. and Pray!! my friend..

You seem to be setting a very high goal for yourself. Remember that trading floor quants (such as many on this forum) are just a very small subset of quantitative finance professionals. What exactly do you like about what you think quant finance is? Do you like modeling? Simulations? Solving equations? Yield curve analytics and the programming thereof? Following the markets? You can get a job doing any of that without trying to compete with some physics PhD who got only A's. For example, people doing portfolio management can do any of that and with your background (and the classes you are starting) you would maybe have a much stronger skillset than many of them. Do you want to compete with people with whom you are at an advantage or a disadvantage? I think you might be able to achieve your goals without trying to shoot for a PhD quant position. If you think you can meet your professional goals doing portfolio management, take macroeconomics and corp finance and statistics instead of ODE and such. Treasury and risk management are other areas you might be interested in. Remember the old proverb: be careful what you hope for, you might get it. I know quants that get bored fine-tuning some project no one understands and would rather be trading or doing something else.

jlee, i see from your past post that you have a similiar background. thanks for your advice and good luck to you.SanFranCA2002, yes you are right in saying that my goal is pretty high and maybe unrealistic. i realize that there are many different opportunities in the quant finance field; trading floor quant, modeling, pricing, programming, etc. i never mentioned in my post that my main goal was to obtain a position as a trading floor quant. are you implying that most people who are in the math finance or fe grad programs are only interested in this type of position? i don't know, right now i am not looking for a specific type of position. i know i am interested in the quantitative side of finance (modeling and programming). you mentioned risk management, that is a field of interest to me also since it seems to be a little more quantitative than the other areas of corp. finance. not sure. i know those positions probably don't require a math fin degree. but how would someone with a BA in CS and a background in IT go about gaining entry into similar areas of finance? mba? master's in stats, econ? i've thought about an mba before. but the mba curriculum seems to be too broad and more for a general management career. i maybe wrong. i know i want to go back to school for a higher degree but one that will help me prepare for a career in the more quantitative areas of finance. thanks.-sung

QuoteOriginally posted by: Sungi know those positions probably don't require a math fin degree. but how would someone with a BA in CS and a background in IT go about gaining entry into similar areas of finance? mba? master's in stats, econ? The MFE did not exist when I was in school but I get the impression that it might be difficult to get into with your grades. If not, that might be a good choice. However, there are many MBA programs you could get into and while I agree that they are not focused on financial engineering at least it would be a way to get a degree similar to what is expected in much of the finance world. You should also check out the CFA and FRM programs. A master's in statistics I think would be interesting and possibly very useful for some good modeling. I would avoid econ master's cause that field is a mess right now with many teachers more interested in models so abstract that the classes are a waste of time. Any direction you go with a degree will have information not useful to you, but at some point you need some classes where financial instruments are covered so you have the background to do this.

i dont know about the rest of the people here, but i'm from an EE/industrial background. these quant skills are effectively the tools many grad engineers would need... if you're passionate about learning the math, go for it, and you'll be ok.