Imperial Finance

I'm just wondering if there are any Imperial MSc finance students here that would share their views on this course.

I keep getting the same response from the admin team that its a very "quantitative course", yet non of them can provide me with what this actually means. i.e. what maths subjects should I have covered before hand

thanks

Reply 1

Ilustrius

Original post by trendtrader

I agree with you. In fact, I visited Imperial College Business school last week, and they gave me tour around it. They also filled me in on the MSc Management and Finance courses, and placed particular emphasis on the MSc in Finance being 'highly quantitative'.

You're right. I asked them about the specific topics of maths that I need to know, and as I recall they said that I need to know 'calculus and linear algebra'. (and as I recall, they listed a few other topics that didn't sound ridiculously hard, and if anything seemed like A-level Maths standard).

The funny thing is, these admin people who filled me in on this info admitted that they were just regurgitating what lecturers had told them (they themselves were not mathematicians at all).

I'm sure it's a quantitative course, and I've heard that it's rigorous, but I just don't see the theory being as mentally challenging as the theory and proofs that you need to cover on a Maths or Physics degree, if you know what I mean. I've heard from many people that it's notoriously rigorous, but I'm sure it's down to the workload and not so much a case of 'tearing your hair out trying to grasp a theory or concept'. At least, that's the impression I'm given. I seriously don't see finance being that ridiculously difficult.

Afterall, ICL do offer an alternative MSc in Risk Management and Financial Engineering: surely that's more quantitative than Finance?

Personally I'm an Engineering student, and indeed I've had to really bite my lip to understand certain concepts, derivations and theories but from what I've heard it can be even harder for Maths and Physics students.

I suppose if you're from an economics or finance bachelor background, you might not be accustomed to an intense workload and so find it overwhelming difficult in that sense?

Anyway I hope someone proves me wrong. Like yourself, I'd like to be well informed before I jump into the program (should I get an offer, that is). It's ridiculously expensive.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 2

Kenneth Yick

I know stochastic calculus such as Brownian Motion, Ito's Lemma etc is pre-study. But you are right if you come from an engineering background it won't be "very" quantitative by your standards.

But from a finance, economics point of view it is very mathematical i would think.

Reply 3

Ilustrius

Original post by Kenneth Yick

Damn, I've never learnt that stuff.

Anyway, I found this on the ICL website:

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/business-school/programmes/msc-finance/studyprogramme/prestudycourses

And under 'induction to Maths', the topics covered are:

* Differentiation
* Integration
* Taylor expansion
* Linear algebra
* Differential equations

Which is pretty basic. They also say that this pre study course is 'optional', so I think if you're comfortable with this stuff, you're not going to struggle immediately when you arrive in September. At least I hope. :biggrin:

Reply 4

trendtrader

thanks for replies,

hmm, looking at that foundation programme, not sure how they can say that is quanty.

Still waiting for my reply on my application, not sure what to take if I get the offer.

Can anyone advise me on the following:

UCL Financial Computing (Offer)
Cass Mathematical Trading and finance (Offer)
Imperial Finance (Waiting)
LSE Management and regulation of risk (Waiting)

Reply 5

Ilustrius

Original post by trendtrader

Blimey that's pretty much exactly what I intend to apply for in September (2012 entry). Except CASS Quantitative Finance as opposed to Mathematical Trading and Finance, and possibly LSE Regulation as first choice instead.

What do you want to do? If you're looking to go into FO, you're probably better off doing Finance at Imperial. You can't go wrong with an LSE MSc though.

Reply 6

trendtrader

Original post by Ilustrius

I'm looking into quant or trading roles primarily. I attended the Imperial open day a few weeks ago but the overall feeling wasn't totally good.

Out of the few I have, I really like the look of the Cass course, but not sure about the reputation of the university as a whole. I wouldn't mind LSE just for the brand name :biggrin:

Reply 7

Maggieffc

Original post by trendtrader

Not really my area but I did have a chat with Stewart Hodges, module organiser of Mathematical Trading and Finance at Cass last week. He's been at LBS and Warwick before and someone else I was talking to said it was a coup for Cass to get him. He does seem to be respected both in the academic world and in industry. He also gave a speech on risk management and he certainly knows his stuff.

Again, no idea how this compares to the others, but I was quite impressed.

Reply 8

Ilustrius

Original post by Maggieffc

Is Mathematical Trading and Finance part time only? That's the impression I got when I last went on the CASS site.

On another note, I think the consensus that City as a University is 'not respected' is completely misinformed, particularly for jobs in commerce. AFAIK, it's pretty much up there with the 6 target universities. It has its fair share of graduates ending up in IB.

Reply 9

Maggieffc

Original post by Ilustrius

Didn't ask about whether it was part-time or full-time - I wasn't particularly interested to be honest.

And yeh, agreed on the second point. It's there or not far behind and I think will only get better. As you know I'm quite a fan of Cass, especially as I'll probably wind up there in a couple of years.

Reply 10

suede

I have done a bachelor in finance and we covered all the required topics in the pre-seasonal course listings in addition to itos lemma, brownian and some basic stohcastic calculus and heaps of econometrics. It all depends on your undergraduate degree's course structure.

As I was made an offer from Imperial I also had these thoughts, but after reading up on it, I figured it's not very different from my undergraduate degree (in terms of technicality, certainly not depth). As Ilustrius said, I think it's more about the course being rigorous and being very demanding in terms of course work - not the hard grasped concepts of mathematics.