Courses for Trading - MS Financial Eng. - Illinois Tech?

[Joy_Pathak]

Hello Everyone,

Just wanted to start off by saying this is an amazing resource. I have been a longtime follower and am posting for the first time. I have learnt quite a bit from many of your threads.

I am a frequent poster on other quant related forums. I figured I might as well become more frequent here considering the field I am entering.

I will be starting my Masters in Finance ( Concentration: Financial Engineering/Programming) this Summer. It is a 1 year long program at Illinois Institute of Technology in downtown Chicago.

I will be taking significant mathematics courses like Stochastic Calculus, Statistics/Prob, etc. I will also be taking quant based courses on Financial Modelling, Derivatives, Equity Trading Strategies, Commodities/Futures Trading, etc. In addition I am taking C++,.NET and Algorithmic Trading Systems courses. It is a fast-track and VERY rigorous program like any other Financial engineering program.

I would love to work for one of the prop firms in Chicago for an internship or job. I was wondering if you guys cam advice me on which possible courses I should take as electives? I get to pick 6 out of the 12 courses for electives. I want to get into algorithmic trading. I have been building some algorithmic trading strategies on MATLAB. I recently interviewed with Morgan Stanley, but because I want to get my Masters degree first I will not be going to work for them at the moment.

I have an undergrad degree in Mechanical Engineering and have a very strong quant background. Also, if there are any recommendations for internships in the Chicago area that would be great. I have looked at several firms and have a huge list of firms that I will be contacting for internships but any suggestions would be helpful.

 

[nazzdack]

Quote from Joy_Pathak:
----this is an amazing resource.
----my Masters in Finance.....
----It is a 1 year long program at Illinois Institute of Technology....
----It is a fast-track and VERY rigorous program like any other Financial engineering program.
----I have an undergrad degree in Mechanical Engineering....

1) Another engineering career snuffed out by finance. Welcome to the club.
2) Try to solicit additional input from wilmott and linkedIN about the "prestige" of the IIT program.

 

[Joy_Pathak]

Thanks for the welcome. I am very excited. I just finished my first research paper in Finance and am super excited to send it to a journal soon.

Oh I have talked to several people about it;Global Derivatives/QuantNet, Previous students, current students, etc.

The views were basically,
1) Excellent Faculty with tons of practitioners and well renowned people in the quant world.
2) Excellent downtown Chicago Location
3) No dedicated placement services but a Career Management Center that sets up 2 career fairs.
4)Good reputation in Chicago but does not translate that well outside Chicago or on the street.
5) Great flexibility of program with a huge range of concentrations for all fields of finance.

More detailed: http://www.quantnet.com/reasons-i-joined-illinois-program


I will be begining the program May 24th.

My queries were more on the terms of courses. I understand many people on this forum work in prop firms/IB/Hedge funds and are day traders.
Just trying to get a view on what courses I should focus on to be a frontrunner in terms of knowledge for positions at such firms especially ones out of Chicago.

I was planning on taking : To get the trading specialization in addition to the advance math classes I will be taking.

• MSF 575 C++ with Financial Applications
• MSF 576 OOP and Algorithmic Trading Systems.
• MSF 524 Models for Derivatives
• MSF 584 Equity and Equity Derivatives Trading
• MSF 585 Fixed Income Trading Strategies

Atleast possibly. I was just wondering if there were anything specific people would recommend? There is almost everything that you can think off available so feel free to shoot off any possible courses.