<p>Could someone please explain what Financial Engineering is exactly. does it differ significantly from operations research/finance/management? and what sort of careers (specifically) does it prepare you for, i.e. where is it most marketable (i don't know if that's the right word) and useful?</p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=2295%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=2295</a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=122183&page=2%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=122183&page=2</a></p>
<p>monydad,</p>
<p>FEer are not as pressured and don't work as much as the IB people, are they?</p>
<p>IN IB the hours and the pressure relate to deadlines. Pricing the deal, making the proposal/presentation, having the #s for the big meeting,responding to the RFP, etc. Seemingly every endeavor demands quick turnaround times.</p>
<p>In FE, a portion of work/people may be transactional, which will be subject to similar deadline pressure.Other assignments/activities will be non-transactional, more long-dated, and hence less time-pressured. From what I've seen, which isn't everything.</p>
<p>In both areas, the pressure to be right is tremendous. Millions of dollars are at stake. The financial consequences/magnitude of one's individual work effort was to me the biggest difference between work as an engineer vs. financial markets.</p>
<p>would financial engineering be more appropriate as a undergraduate or graduate degree? as in, should one concentrate on different areas for undergrad (such as math, or computer science) and then try to pursue a masters in financial engineering? is undergraduate financial engineering too early?</p>
<p>Financial Engineering (aka Computational Finance) is usually a grad subject. In some schools, it is a concentration within the MBA program. But there is no reason it cannot be taken as an undergrad program. If you take a program like a double honours in Maths and Economics with some computing, this is basically the same thing. I know Cornell has something like Financial Engineering in undergrad. I do not know about other schools.</p>
<p>isn't Financial E also a part of I E?</p>