The MS QCF Program

Prerequisites, Application, and Admission

Prerequisites

Applicants should have received a Bachelor's degree from a recognized institution and graduated in the upper half of their class.
As part of the application, the candidate will supply official transcripts of Bachelor's study and all other previous academic study; GRE test scores (Verbal, Quantitative, Analytic) for Mathematics and ISyE, or GMAT test scores (Total, Verbal, Quantitative) for Management; letters of recommendation; and TOEFL score (for international candidates whose first language is not English - a minimum score of 550 is required)
Applicants should have a working knowledge of calculus. This includes differential and integral calculus of one variable, multivariate calculus, fundamentals of linear algebra and linear systems of equations, and differential equations. This normally requires 4 semesters in a Bachelor's program. Applicants should also have taken calculus-based probability and statistics in 1 or 2 semester courses.
Applicants should have basic knowledge of a programming language such as C or FORTRAN.
The MS QCF program requires significant mathematical ability, which is indicated through strong performance on mathematics coursework during the candidate's Bachelor's degree program and a strong performance on the Quantitative-Analytical portions of the GRE or GMAT test.
There may also be prerequisites for admission from the academic unit of Mathematics, Management or ISyE before the candidate can be admitted into that academic unit as Home Unit. For example, this might involve GRE or GMAT score requirements or TOEFL score requirements. In particular, candidates choosing Mathematics or ISyE as their Home Unit should take the GRE test, and candidates choosing Management as their Home Unit should take the GMAT test.

Application

The MS in Quantitative and Computational Finance Program is a Georgia Tech Multidisciplinary Program with Home Units of Mathematics, Management, and Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE). As with other graduate programs at Georgia Tech, candidates must complete the on-line application for graduate study. In addition, applicants to the QCF program must also choose a home department from one of the three Home Units (Math, Management, ISyE).

Please note: We cannot evaluate an applicant's chances for acceptance into the program without a formal application. The factors considered by the admissions committees include more than just GPA and test scores and only a complete application with transcripts and letters of recommendation provides us with the necessary information.

Applicants should apply online through the following link:

Graduate Admissions Application Website

If you have difficulties with the online application process, please contact Gail Potts in Graduate Admissions.

Financial Aid

There is limited financial aid available for QCF students. To be considered for financial assistance, the applicant should indicate this desire on their online application to the QCF program. At this time, there is a small amount of financial aid administered by the MS QCF program itself. Some assistantships are available, but there is intense competition for these.

Information concerning other options for funding may be found on the Georgia Tech Office of Financial Aid website and at http://www.grad.gatech.edu/fellowship/.

Computer Policy

It is a policy in the MS QCF Program that every student admitted into the MS QCF Program will be strongly encouraged to have their own computer with software that includes a current version of Windows, Microsoft Office (97, 2000, or XP), and Mathworks MatLab (5.3 or later) with the Financial Toolbox.

Each QCF student will be admitted to one of the three Home Units of Mathematics, Management or ISyE. It is expected that the QCF student will use the student computer laboratory facilities of the student's Home Unit (e.g., for email, word processing, etc.), but the student is permitted to use the student computer lab facilities in all of the three Units of ISyE, Management and Mathematics.

The MS QCF program has its own QCF Laboratory/Trading Area with state-of-the-art PC's and workstations that provide data feeds, and financial, statistical, mathematical, and general purpose software applications for use of the QCF students.

Admission into the MS QCF Program

If (i) the QCF Program Director and the QCF Executive Committee approves admission of the candidate into the MS QCF Program and (ii) an academic unit of Mathematics, Management or ISyE approves the admission of the candidate into its unit, the candidate will then be admitted into the MS QCF Program with that academic unit as Home Unit.

It is expected that approximately 50 students will be admitted to the MS QCF Program each year.

Once admitted into the MS QCF Program with a specific Academic Unit as Home Unit, a student will be treated as a full-fledged graduate student within that Academic Unit, and will receive the same consideration with respect to work assignments, space assignments, financial aid, etc. as other students in that Academic Unit.

Each student must satisfy the Institute requirement of grade point average of at least 2.7 overall. The student must take for a letter grade every core course, the courses to satisfy the Type I and Type II constrained electives requirements, and two of the three 'free' electives. For each core course in the Program the student must receive a grade of C or better. If a core course is repeated, only the highest grade received for that course will be used in determining whether the above grade point average requirement is satisfied.