Spring Semester
It has been a while since I put some thing down on the page. My flatmates say that I have turned into a nerd but I guess it’s the interesting courses this semester which are keeping me busy. I was supposed to take 4 courses this semester but have ended up taking 5 of them. I wanted to write a little bit about the elective courses in the spring semester and my take on them.
Introduction to Implied Volatility Smile : – Prof. Emanuel Derman
Coming to Columbia and not doing this course would be a grave mistake. The man behind the Volatility Smile is right here teaching the theory he developed. Very interesting and the right mix of math and finance.
Structured Products: – Dr. Iraj Kani
Another well known name in the Industry who have had numerous papers with Dr. Derman. This course is purely assignment based with us pricing and analyzing different financial products.
Security Pricing: – Prof. Mark Broadie
This is a course offered in the Business school and our department has bought a special section for FE students. Prof. Broadie is excellent in giving you an intuitive feel of the subject and I am finally getting good with Excel and VBA.
Important Papers in FE – Prof. Emanuel Derman
This is a very different course which consists of seminars on varied quant finance topics. The entire class is divided into groups and each group picks up 2-3 papers and explains it to the class. The best part about this course is that it acts as a cushion when you are swamped with a lot of work. You can choose to just read one paper and go to class or read as much as you can depending on your interest and enthusiasm. Prof. Derman does an excellent job of moderating the seminars and pitching in from time to time to explain some complex concepts. By the way I have never seen a person more humble than Prof. Derman.
Hey Amber, thanks for your prompt update!! I am also considering the classes that you are taking but I’d better worry about the first half of the program. Anyways, good luck with work and I look forward to meeting you in July!!
Hi there. I’m staring the program this July. You mentioned that you’re taking 5 classes, but only listed 4. What is the 5th one ?
1 course was compulsory for everyone and it is called Data Analysis For FE