Certificate in Quantitative Finance (CQF) - 7city Learning

[MARALB]

Hello everyone,

While I was searching for some information regarding how to improve my candicacy to a financial engineering program (such as Stanford's, Berekeleys, Baruch's, etc), I came accross an online Program which is administered by an impressive Faculty and it is endorsed by the CFA Institute, on the following website: http://www.cqf.com

It is a 6 month intensive course so I do not expect it to be as thourough as all the other programs, but I was wondering if anyone can provide some more details regarding this Program, namely:

- Quality of curriculum;

- Worldwide recognition and prestige;

- Tangible possibilities of raising a person's employability outside of his home country (in my case, I'm from Portugal and I would be interested in working in a US based asset manager or hedge fund, for example Pimco or D.E. Shaw respectively. I realize these are top tier companies which are very hard to get in but I do want to frame this course on those possibilities);

- Stats and facts about placement information regarding this course;

- What other alternatives would you recommend to an international prospective student in order to strengthen his core mathemtical background (linear algebra, ODE and PDE and stochastic calculus) besides attending this course?

Thank you very much.

Best regards,
Mário

 

[Andy Nguyen]

http://www.quantnet.com/review-cqf-program/
@DominiConnor who teaches C++ is also a member here so hopefully he gives you some info on the placement stats

You may also want to look at http://www.wilmott.com/messageview.cfm?catid=16&threadid=82245
I don't have enough info on the placement for those taking CQF to say with certain that it's a suitable choice for you. Remember MFE is a master degree while CQF is not so when it comes to level of education required for some jobs, it's something to keep in mind. It is not a problem for people with a job in banks and looking to make a move internally but for people trying to break into finance, it's important factor.

 

[D Serg]

- Worldwide recognition and prestige;
In my experience, prestige and recognition are low.
It may only say to your employer that your are familiar with some fundamental business concepts.

- Stats and facts about placement information regarding this course;
British are very political and you will never know the true unless you do your own research.
I just tried to search on eFinancial UK&US and dice.com by "CQF" word and I was able to find zero job descriptions there.

-Tangible possibilities of raising a person's employability outside of his home country
Not so many chances even with math PhD

 

[SeanEager]

I have a BS in Civil Engineering from USC and am looking to start a career in quant finance. I have a mediocre GPA and a 770 on the GMAT and recently got rejected from the USC and UCLA programs. I am considering getting a Masters in Finance from University of Tampa to build a background in general finance and the online Certificate in Quant Finance from 7city to supplement my Masters.

I was wondering if anybody has any comments on whether they think this would be a good option to start a career in finance because I am not sure whether I would be able to be accepted to a good MFE program.

Thanks for the advice.