As an international student coming from Asia, I really appreciate I could have such a great opportunity to study abroad in US. I am always thankful to what I experienced since not everyone in my country has an opportunity to accept advanced education.
Friends always wonder why I chose UNC Charlotte and to study Mathematical Finance program. They know that I used to be a chemical engineer and have been studying Chemistry science for years. Well, it is true! I spent four years in an undergraduate program and a couple more years for a master program as well as working in pharmaceutical industry. Chemistry is great, but after sitting in the R &D lab for years, I wanted to have a breakthrough and make some change in my life, something more challenging, more applicable and relatively new.
Since the idea came across my mind, I kept asking myself which direction I should go. Perhaps economic downturn in 2008 gave me a hint. I started to think that if there is a perfect mathematical model which can be used to monitor financial market risk, the impact to the country may be minimized ? It is fairly attractive to me. Since then, I performed research experiments in the day when I worked, while I also did the research for my dream school in regards of the program application at night.
Things came down to two important decisions – what program did I apply and which school did I choose ? As I mentioned, if I want to engage in mathematical-modeling type work, I definitely preferred mathematical finance (or financial engineering). Math Finance is a relatively new area in comparison to chemistry ( Of course!). Not every academic institute offers this program. However, it also means that math finance did show immeasurable potential in respect of career development. I started to focus on those graduate schools offering math finance program and the schools located in major financial centers. The Math Finance program in UNC Charlotte caught my eyes because of a lot of reasons. First of all, I love Charlotte very much. A medium-scale city is my favorite. The nice weather and smooth traffic may make people in north US jealous! Second, the program design is another eye-catching point. Math Finance program is an integrated program consisting of curriculum from Department of Math & Statistics Department of Economics and Finance, which means I would have a chance to take courses offered by different departments. Third, based on my research, students in UNC Charlotte are pretty much diversified. Students from different countries with different culture and background would get together in the classroom to study the same class. Decision means the need to take action. I couldn’t wait longer anymore and I submitted my application far before the deadline.
As I look back, it has been a year since I joined this program. I learned a lot not only in the textbook but in the real life as well. I feel like I improve everyday and become better, both in academic performance and life experience.
Hi, I am an incoming Math Finance student for Fall 2011. I just wonder if the whole program requires a lot of computer programming and do you have any advise? Thank you
ReplyDeleteMath Finance in UNCC require a lot of programming skills, which is very true. I will suggest incoming students try to lay down a foundation of programming skills, such as C++, SAS, matlab, R,stata, Maple, if they don't have them yet. It will REALLY make their lives easier.
ReplyDeleteHi, Kitty, if you remember, you took me around campus when I came to visit on Apr 5. I'm considering between the Math Finance program and pursuing an MBA. Have you found that the Math Fin program gives opportunity to learn about general business concepts? Or is it really just focused on in-depth mathematical modeling?
ReplyDeleteHi there,
ReplyDeleteMath finance is focused more on quantitative finance area than business. However,you can take MBA or economics classes as elective classes in the program, where you may learn the business concepts from there. Hope this information will offer you a clearer view.
Thanks.
Yeah, that's a good point. Since the Math Fin program is in the B-School, it does present the opportunity to take MBA classes. I guess I'm just wondering the difficulty/nature of the classes. For example, is the Stochastic Calc for Finance class basically a combination of financial economics and Calc III? Is it heavily focused on theory, or do they provide real-world relevance to the heavy mathematics?
ReplyDeleteMATH 6203 Stochastic Calc give students introduction to those aspects of partial differential equations and diffusion processes most relevant to finance, Random walk and first-step analysis, Markov property, martingales and semi-martingales, Brownian motion. Stochastic differential equations: Ito’s lemma, backward and forward Kolmogorov equations, the Feynman-Kac formula, stopping times, Hull and White Models, ox-Ingersoll-Ross Model. Applications to finance including portfolio optimization and option pricing.
ReplyDeleteI will say it focuses on mathematical analysis.
Hello Kitty,
ReplyDeleteI am applying to UNCC FinMath as an international student for Fall 2011. I have 8 yrs of IT work exp. & presently work with fixed income IT at WellsFargo, uptown Charlotte. Can you advice me on what GRE scores must I aim for ?
Hello CLT uptowner,
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, as long as you get 1200 plus score in GRE, you are fine.