megaman123

I'm currently majoring econ and math at upenn. Will this be a solid foundation to take on a a grad education in financial engineering?

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Sure - excellent combination. A MFE program requires that you have the basic economics/business understanding, along with the a strong mathematical background. From the looks of it, if you do well in your courses and understand the foundations pretty well, you'll be golden.

What you'll also need to develop is effective problem solving skills. Yes, that sounds cliche and every job or degree program requires it. But, it's commonly known to be one of the most important factors in determining success in a MFE program.

scorp

You'll need programming skills. Lots of them. Take a look at FE school's curriculum see what courses they require and make sure you have the skills to do well in them. FE is really a form of engineering there is a lot of math and a lot of CS. It's not just finance for the slightly motivated.

megaman123

ok, thanks guys. I'll make sure then to schedule in some CS classes into my curriculum for the next couple of years.

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2-3 courses in strict programming should be fine. I don't think they'll require courses such as Software Engineering. Though, there are many financial software engineering positions with companies like Bloomberg, etc.

megaman123

should I worry about taking courses in finance? I mean, strict corporate finance. Or will higher level econ courses in things such as international finance etc be ok? The thing is, as a double major in math and econ, I don't have that many spaces left for elective courses. And out of those few spaces, I'm already taking german ( which I plan on taking a course per semester until graduation, in order to attain a decent level of fluency).

harvard09

I believe Columbia's Master's in FE program has Corporate Finance as a required course. It would be beneficial to take corporate finance as an undergrad.

megaman123

ok, perfect, thanks for the heads up then

steevee

Sorry to hijack, but is engineering math really enough? I've seen many FE programs recommend you take calculus up to DEs and statistics, which can be done. However, some of them recommend courses as far as real analysis, measure & integration, and probability spaces, which I will not be taking in my engineering program.

Basically, I want to know how much math is "enough".

thisoldman

Philosophy and Black Swans.

I had a conversation with my phd, economics, ivy league, muckimuck, major financial institution, brother a few months ago. He said, "don't worry, we saw what was/is going to happen a year ago when someone realized the problem and potential exposure of the loans. We got it covered."

I don't know if he will still have a job in a months time, and not sure if his institution will survive in its current state. What I am sure of, is that his 401k, and accumulated stock are worth a whole lot less.

A lot of people who had no contact with risk and loan management will lose their jobs.