Is CQF a good background for applying to MFE programs?

[Salman Qasim]

Profile:
22 yo
BS degree in Applied Accounting from UK non target(3.5 GPA/first class honors)
750 GMAT score
will have 22 months of PwC, Deloitte Consulting & Standard Chartered commercial banking experience when I apply
An Affiliate of ACCA UK(soon to be a member)
Passed CFA level 1
Skills: Core IB + Industry Specific Financial Modeling & VBA

Question:
I'm really interested in Quantitative Finance and it's more like a thirst: the more knowledge I gain, I crave for more. I don't have any US based or UK based experience though. Mostly, I worked in my own home country and Middle East as an expatriate. I've been looking into the MSF programs but they're more like what I've already studied during the processj of becoming an ACCA affiliate and they're more for rebranding with which, I didn't have any problem. So I don't want to repeat the same thing over again. I didn't take any STEM classes but really am good at math. I'm looking into CQF and Quantnet's C++ course and I'm really positive about both(the quality) and I'm not looking for any advices regarding quality of both. The only question I have to is that I have been hearing that the quant industry is mostly occupied by PhDs, so will the MFE help me in breaking into quant field in the US? Also, CMU MSCF & Haas MFE are my targets with BU MSMF as a safety but is CQF with rigorous C++/programming training a good background at all? Some people on here say that almost all MFE programs prefer engineering grads or those who took STEM classes(just know that I've studied statistics, algebra and calculus in ACCA and CFA but that doesn't count as STEM) in undergrad. So I'm kinda confused because I don't want to waste an year doing something at which I probably have no chance. So do you think I'll be competitive enough? Or am I better off applying to MSFs and try to break in quant field as mini-quant?

Thanks for reading

 

[Andy Nguyen]

https://www.quantnet.com/threads/cqf-as-a-prep-mfe.6466/
My experience is that if you strongly consider MFE at some later point, you need to meet the admission requirement by taking the specific courses somewhere and CQF while being useful for a working professional, may not provide what you need to apply to MFE program.
If you already meet all MFE requirement, doing CQF may refresh your memory. So go for it if you have time and money to do it.

 

[bassem]

i thought by doing the CQF i will get better prepared for an MFE, taking into account that i live in lebanon, here the CQF costs cheaper (around 8k$).
but do u recommend to do the pre-courses rather than a CQF to apply to an MFE?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Regardless of whether you take CQF, you still need to meet the requirements of MFE programs by taking all the math/finance/programming courses.

 

[bassem]

in most cases (columbia, baruch,...) and the best schools, it is optional to take them before doing the MFE right? or are they obligatory?