First things first… Apologies for not being able to update my blog regularly. It has been a hectic couple of months, namely with exams, partying after exams and assessment centres (in that order). I’ll begin with the exams as that’s probably what will appeal to most of you. So there were four of them… Risk Management, Financial Statistics, Stochastic Calculus and Investment Portfolio Management. They were bloody hard!! To be fair, Risk Management and Financial Statistics were ‘fair’ papers as students who studied had the ability to do well. Stochastic Calculus was another paper that was reasonable although there was not sufficient enough time to finish the paper with most students complaining about this issue. As for IPM, I along with most of the students, could not believe the content of the exam. Approximately 40% of the exam was based on material we had spent about 3 hours in class (out of a total of 30 lecturing hours and 15 tutorial hours). It just goes to show that there is absolutely nothing that isn’t important and every little bit of material is vital to obtain top marks. In this instance, the RMFE class were not sufficiently prepared for the exam, period! I will keep you updated as to how Imperial deal with this situation, as although the paper was tough, if ICBS adjust the grades accordingly then this is testament to their abilities to solving student problems and being aware of the fact that there tuition for this module was ridiculous when compared to the examination material.
Christmas Holidays arrived and some of the RMFE students, including myself, went clubbing the same night exams had finished. It was a good night, most people got drunk and danced the night away. Probably one of the very few times we had a chance to socialise together properly.
3 weeks went by, and I’ve wasted my life away- although I’d have it no other way. Every student deserves the Christmas break to do absolutely shite all and relax after the ordeal that is sure to torment us again from January-March. It is important to note that although Imperial push you and that it is an extremely stressful MSc with the examinations being very tough, the amount of knowledge I have acquired is amazing, and I have absolutely no regrets in my decision to study here.
For me personally, things are looking up. I recently attended a Santander Assessment Centre for the Global Banking and Markets Internship which I was selected for and had a couple of other assessment centres lined up. So as for job prospects, Imperial should definitely be your choice. I have to give all credit to the extraordinary dedicated careers service team who are god sends. They have meetings to tend to almost all needs from Assessment Centre practise, mock interviews and telephone interviews to group exercise practise and negotiating salaries. With an internship secure, I’m looking to taking a break from studying next year and I’m currently planning my round the world trip for a year which is very much exciting times. I’m looking to travel to SE Asia, AUS, NZ and then Latin America nearer summer time for the World Cup 2014. With all this, I also have a great opportunity to travel to Antarctica with Sir Robert Swan in February to raise awareness of issues regarding global warming which is something that will be an amazing experience so long as I can achieve the funding required for it!
To finish off, I’ll give you a sneak preview as to how second term is like. I have picked International Finance as my elective with additional C++ classes. VBA classes is also compulsory which is great as it provides an opportunity to add a skill set whilst work load is less (as compared to first term anyways). These electives are supplemented by two core modules which are Advanced Financial Statistics and Financial Engineering. Only time will tell as to how these will progress but at the moment we are being taught C++ by an absolute legend, Advanced Financial Statistics and Financial Engineering by geniuses and VBA by an extremely resourceful tutor. I’m sure the work load will continue to get harder as expected, but without job applications and practise interview sessions to attend, this term promises to be less intense as the previous. Fingers crossed to that.
That will be all for now. I will update the post as soon as I get another chance and will update those of you who are crazy enough to still be following this on how the term has progressed in terms of coursework, work load and how examinations went. Stay safe until then…