Profile - Marc Fernandes

[fernandesvat19]

Hi All-

Here's a brief profile:

I'm from Trinidad & Tobago. I did my undergraduate studies at MIT: BS degree, major in Physics, minor in Economics, GPA 4.6/5.0. I graduated in 2005 and went to work at Stanford for a year doing economics research. I'm not a programmer but I've done JAVA, MATLAB, Stata and I am learning C++.

I chose Financial Engineering because I like the interdisciplinary overlap with math/physics and finance/economics; plus I want to develop relevant programming skills. Also, I have a few friends working in NYC's financial industry that have encouraged me to join them.

That's all for now.
Marc.

[Andy]

Hi Marc,

Glad to see you made it to this round. I would suggest that you take this chance to ask and learn more about our program so that you can make a more informed decision.

It's hard to make a choice among your admit offers. I hope you gather enough info about each program to make it a wise and worthwhile investment for your future.

Best of luck with your decision.
Andy

[luso]

Welcome Marc.
Good to see you here. If you have any question, please feel free to ask.

[RussianMike]

Welcome! If you have questions just ask. Good luck!

[fernandesvat19]

Hi Folks,

Thanks for the kind words. I applied to three programs: Baruch, Columbia and NYU. Honestly I prefer Baruch and NYU over Columbia because of the structure of the program that allows me as an international the chance to do a summer internship. But that is just one factor. So that we can have a better discussion let me elaborate more on my decision making process. It is heavily influenced by, in no particular order:

1) level of certainty with regard to job/internship placement -

After MIT I didn't get work visa sponsorship beyond my OPT so that impacted strongly on me psychologically. So things that can sway me one way or the other are industry connections, alumni network, meaningful mentorship and so on. Good job on quantnet by the way. Very impressive. It seems to me that particular programs have particular connections in different parts of the industry and so on. Perhaps you can elaborate on this issue further than what is on the website. For example, I know Prof Raines of R&R is quite instrumental. Can you tell me more about the process?

2) whether the curriculum best uses my skills and complements them with other relevant ones -

For example, on one hand I like the fact that Baruch is so strongly focused on C++ because I think I can learn it well with such practice but at the same time it is a double edged sword because the admission process probably selects for classmates who will be experienced C++ programmers so I will have to play catch up while say Courant will let me use some Matlab you know? I also have to look more deeply at the curriculum before I ask questions about it. For example, how much optimization will be taught in the future?

3) cost of program and the risk inherent in me taking a US loan out -

Because Trinidad is a 'developing' country and tiny island economy it lacks any real finance/mathematical opportunities that would mitigate the costs of my masters program so I can't hedge this bet that much. US$ 20K vs 40K are both exponentially ruinous in one state of the world (stuck in third world island without work) and mild burdens in the other (get finance job in nyc). Whether I am more risk averse to the cost when I am deciding depends on random state of mind I think. Also the process of getting a US loan is tedious and helpful assistance/advice goes a long way in getting my attention. I tend to look twice at the international students offices and financial aid offices to see how helpful they are.

Currently the only admit I am waiting on is Baruch so I am in a high pressure decision making situation. I am looking at all programs closely, Baruch and Courant most closely. I've tried to provide a glimpse into my frame of mind above so that you can respond to me accordingly. And also since there are so many Courant alumni amongst Baruch faculty it would be helpful to hear why they think Baruch would be better for me given all my concerns, if I get in!!

Thanks for bearing with this long winded soliloquy but big decisions require serious thought.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Marc.

[Andy]

Marc,

Since you're honest and up front about your concerns, I'll be honest and tell you what I know to the best of my knowledge. I assume you read my disclaimer so my opinions and a few of others would hopefully give you clearer path on your decision making process.

1) You are admitted to Columbia MSFE and NYU program and still waiting for Baruch decision. 99% of the time, someone in this situation would have already jumped the ship. Not you. Ok, let see why ?

If someone needs Ivy, big league name on their resume, obviously they would not think twice. But you already had MIT, the biggest of them all in your resume so there is little need for that to boost your career.

And you even experienced that MIT name alone didn't help when it's time to get a job. So there must be something more than just the name. (My only guess at why you didn't get a H1-B in the first place is because of the unfortunate timing. I have several friends who have to go back home because of the H1-B shortage a while back. Blame politics.)

When our Director admits one student, believe me, getting that student a good job after graduation is one of his main concerns. So he would admit only those he's sure will be successful in the program and will surely get a job with/without his help.

Prof. Raynes, as you pointed out, is very instrumental in getting our graduates jobs in the areas of structured finance. From what other students told me, he may be the leading job getter for our students. I even hear numbers like more than 50% of the students got job though him. I'm taking his class this semester and I'm very impressed by him so far.

Note: how the whole thing plays out from A-Z, I'm not sure as I'm somewhere in the middle of that alphabetical list. Someone who got job through Prof. Raynes may fill you in on this.

Also, this semester, each of our students has a mentor who is alum of our program. I'm very happy with my mentor. I'm a big fan of him, by the way.

2) I'm not sure why and how Baruch has the reputation as being heavy on C++. That title used to be reserved for CMU. It's nice to note that one of our C++ instructors was a CMU graduate and he noted that Baruch is just as equally focused on C++ as CMU.

Maybe it's a good thing for all the prospective students to know that we don't spend all of our time here studying C++. The point being made constantly on Quantnet is that you don't survive our program if you don't know C++ well and/or are prepared to spend considerable amount of time learning it before hand.

As for the NYU letting you use Matlab (they are not the only one doing this), maybe it's a bad thing. You are free to use C++/Matlab/Excel/VBA when you do your hw in their program but not in ours. Guess what they will ask you when you go interview ?

Another of our C++ instructor is a NYU graduate so we get the same kind of project they do at NYU. The only difference is we do it entirely in C++

Prof. Stefanica is from Courant so I assume he can fill you in with his take should you need to ask him :)

I think I should point out that NYU and Baruch programs are not similar in their focus and specialty. While Baruch is more practical (engineering side), the NYU program is more theoritical (mathematics side). I need to say this since the impression I have is that every prospective student seems to think all MFE/MF/MQF programs are the same. Big mistake

3) No argument here. It's simple math of where you get your best return of investment (ROI).
I applied to only Baruch since I know I can not afford the tuition anywhere else.

Since you are Int'l student, most likely you will take out loan anywhere you choose to attend. Taking 20K loan for Baruch and taking 60K loan for somewhere else is a huge difference (as you said coming from a developing country). Heck, it's even a huge difference for someone who lives in the US.

I'll let someone else who goes through the loan process to fill you in on this. I'm paying 10K for my Baruch investment. Sweet and easy \\:D/. No brainer for me.

As you said, big decisions require serious thought. These are the same thought I went through when I decided to go to Baruch. The assumptions above made really good sense for me. Your take on that may differ.

So, to respond to your long (very valid) post, I give you a longer post. I doubt that you would get this kind of feedback from anywhere you applied to. This, in my opinion, speaks for the community we have in our program. We take good time to evaluate each candidate to make sure that not only they are a good student, but also a good person who shares our community spirit and present us well. Above all, we care about one another. Our Director is the ultimate example of this. We are proud to have him. As you said before, it speaks for the quality of our program to have Prof. Stefanica as the director.

I prefer the way Baruch program is now. I would not like to see Baruch grows to be a "mass-produced" program as someone on Global derivatives put it.

I hope you find my post helpful. You are a very qualified candidate and I'd rather see you in our program than anywhere else. I met you before at Baruch and I sincerely hope to see you again at Baruch during orientation, Marc.

Regards,
Andy

[Yiping_Wan]

This post is really appreciated!!