Mathematical Finance Masters

I am looking to get into quantitative finance. I have applied for Mathematics, and will go to either Cambridge (if I get and meet my offer) or Warwick. I am currently working during a gap year, and hope to have 20k in savings by the end of the year. If I can work during uni, I am hoping to save up to 35k (after undergraduate uni expenses - around £9k total after loans), which combined with a 10k masters loan allows me to do a Msc in Mathematical Finance (or similar) at a top uni.

I have to plan far ahead as I will not be able to afford the masters if I spend my savings elsewhere, as my parents are unable to financially assist me. If I break into the industry before a Msc, then I see virtually no use of it.

My question is this - Is the Msc good enough to provide a strong chance of getting into a quantitative finance role? It is a lot of money, but I’m sure it would be a worthy investment if it gives the edge needed to break into the industry. However, the opportunity cost is having more free time to build up skills at undergrad (less time working —> more time for experience/learning) and having less money to spend on things that may be beneficial towards my degree (like a tablet/ipad).

Any advice would be very much appreciated :biggrin:

Reply 1

Its Phil

4

Original post by crashcody

I am looking to get into quantitative finance. I have applied for Mathematics, and will go to either Cambridge (if I get and meet my offer) or Warwick. I am currently working during a gap year, and hope to have 20k in savings by the end of the year. If I can work during uni, I am hoping to save up to 35k (after undergraduate uni expenses - around £9k total after loans), which combined with a 10k masters loan allows me to do a Msc in Mathematical Finance (or similar) at a top uni.

I have to plan far ahead as I will not be able to afford the masters if I spend my savings elsewhere, as my parents are unable to financially assist me. If I break into the industry before a Msc, then I see virtually no use of it.

My question is this - Is the Msc good enough to provide a strong chance of getting into a quantitative finance role? It is a lot of money, but I’m sure it would be a worthy investment if it gives the edge needed to break into the industry. However, the opportunity cost is having more free time to build up skills at undergrad (less time working —> more time for experience/learning) and having less money to spend on things that may be beneficial towards my degree (like a tablet/ipad).

Any advice would be very much appreciated :biggrin:

Whether it's enough I can't say, but what I can say is I work in GBM at Goldman Sachs and all of our quantitative strats have minimum masters, probably 40% of them have PhDs, all in mathematics / some form of maths with econ / some form of engineering.

So I would certainly say it's necessary if you want to be a quant in a top firm

Reply 2

jessicachappell

3

Original post by crashcody

I am looking to get into quantitative finance. I have applied for Mathematics, and will go to either Cambridge (if I get and meet my offer) or Warwick. I am currently working during a gap year, and hope to have 20k in savings by the end of the year. If I can work during uni, I am hoping to save up to 35k (after undergraduate uni expenses - around £9k total after loans), which combined with a 10k masters loan allows me to do a Msc in Mathematical Finance (or similar) at a top uni.
I have to plan far ahead as I will not be able to afford the masters if I spend my savings elsewhere, as my parents are unable to financially assist me. If I break into the industry before a Msc, then I see virtually no use of it.
My question is this - Is the Msc good enough to provide a strong chance of getting into a quantitative finance role? It is a lot of money, but I’m sure it would be a worthy investment if it gives the edge needed to break into the industry. However, the opportunity cost is having more free time to build up skills at undergrad (less time working —> more time for experience/learning) and having less money to spend on things that may be beneficial towards my degree (like a tablet/ipad).
Any advice would be very much appreciated :biggrin:

Hi, i am currently in y13 and deciding whether or not to take a gap year before a maths degree at Warwick. Just wondered how you found a gap year before your maths degree and whether it was really difficult after a year out.

Reply 3

crashcody

OP

17

Original post by jessicachappell

Hi, i am currently in y13 and deciding whether or not to take a gap year before a maths degree at Warwick. Just wondered how you found a gap year before your maths degree and whether it was really difficult after a year out.

Hi, sorry for late response, don’t go on here much anymore. It certainly felt strange coming back, but a lot of old’styled maths (i.e. mathematical methods - a-level maths) is re-covered in first year. Definetly didn’t feel as smooth working on problem sets, and havent fully recovered but cant tell if thats because of the more challenging content or the gap year. abstract maths is new to everyone, and is hard to grip regardless.

one thing to note, gap year was great for maturity, which has been great for working. I feel much more able to handle social life, academic and professional work, albheit it being difficult.

having said that, unless you have a great reason to take a gap year (unsure you want to do maths, need to soul search, help family, better uni (Warwick is fantastic, would be silly to try to ‘upgrade’ imo) i wouldnt.

you will get plenty of opportunities to travel etc with friends during term holidays, and staying on-the-boil with maths will make ur transition much better. no real benefits to a gap year out of a select few cases, although i am happy i did mine.

Again, hard to differentiate between difficulty and ‘offness’, but i have found the maths really challenging this year. Averaging a strong first, but feel like my understanding of the content is much weaker compared to my ability to complete papers. Definetly relying on some last minute revision sprints and some of the recapped a level content (particulalry further stats)

Mathematical Finance Masters

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