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I am graduatin from college in three months. I majored in finance and MIS. I Have one year worth of work experience( two internships for 6 months each full time). the internships were basic finance and accounting tasks. I am thinking about pursuing an MS in mathematical finance as it appeals to my finance interest and my like of mathematics. I would like you help me ansewer some the questions I have in mind:1) do I need extensive knowledge of math before I apply? 2) what is usually the starting salary for such degree? (I know it depends in many factors, but I just want to know what would be the average)3) is it as competitive to get in as geting in the top MBA programs?5) what is the best duration a program should be? one year or more? I would really appreciate your thoughts on this matter. thank you all.

can anyone help please.

Ashi,I recently graduated from MS of Financial Engineering, and hopefully I can give u some advices. Basically I was having the same questions before I enrolled for my MS. 1) do I need extensive knowledge of math before I apply? Reply: Yes, u do need a good background in Maths in the area of calculus and matrix, as u will deal with extensive of financial maths in the course. 2) what is usually the starting salary for such degree? (I know it depends in many factors, but I just want to know what would be the average)Reply: Cant exactly answer u that as I didnt do my course in US or UK. Im did my in Singapore, but with exchange program to CMU. According to ppl from CMU, the average graduates shd be paid abt USD80-120k for experienced graduates. Not sure abt fresh one.3) is it as competitive to get in as geting in the top MBA programs?Reply: Yes, it is very competitive. Not only require few yrs of working experiences with good brandname, also require good GMat score, usually above 690... Also, it is quite costly, and numerous essays be written4) what is the best duration a program should be? one year or more? Reply, Best duration for MS shd be 12-18 mths...If u really keen on Computational finance, pick one with good programming module as it will equip u with more application rather than theoretical. I would recommend u MSCF from CMU...for complete list of computational finance course, pls refer tohttp://www.iafe.org/educate/fe_schools.ihtmlHope I answer yr queries...RgdsRocco