Master's Degree Essay Requirement

Our program has no comprehensive exam or thesis requirements, but the Graduate School-New Brunswick requires candidates to complete a master's degree essay. In order to graduate, a candidate's essay must be approved by a committee of three (3) faculty members appointed by Mathematical Finance Program Director.

Archive of Master's Degree Essays

For a list of master's degree essays completed by students in our program, please visit our archive.

Essay Motivation

The market for job-seekers in the financial industry is competitive. A well-crafted essay, based on a carefully designed project, can be listed in the student's résumé and serves to distinguish the applicant. A good project integrates (a) mathematical finance theory, (b) computer programming with C++, Excel/VBA, MATLAB, Python or other approved programming languages, and (c) analysis and processing of empirical financial market data. Most industry careers involve extensive report and presentation writing for both technical and non-technical audiences. A facility for rapid preparation of good reports or presentations is a requirement in most industry careers.

Essay Sources

The essay can originate from one of the following sources:

Recommended: A final project assigned by the instructor of Math 16:642:623 Computational Finance, or
A final project assigned by the instructor of
Math 16:642:624 Credit Derivative Modeling, or
Math 16:642:628 Topics in Mathematical Finance – Portfolio Theory and Applications, or
A pre-approved quantitative financial industry internship project, or
A pre-approved project supervised by a faculty member affiliated with the Mathematical Finance Program.

For Options (1) and (2), the final project report will normally be accepted as a master's degree essay provided the final course grade is at least B; borderline cases will be reviewed and decided by the Mathematical Finance Program Director.

While Options (3) and (4) are permitted, a student selecting one of these options must

Obtain approval for the essay topic from the Master's Essay Coordinator,
Be responsible for selecting a project supervisor and obtaining final essay draft approval, and
Understand that graduation may be delayed if an essay is not approved.

For these reasons, we strongly recommend that students select Options (1) or (2), where the preceding steps have been streamlined.

Essay Topic Pre-Approval

Topics selected under Options (1) or (2) do not require pre-approval; students are offered a choice of suitable projects.

For Options (3) or (4), the essay topic must be pre-approved by the Master's Essay Coordinator prior to committing to the project. Students considering Option (3) should be aware that internship projects may not provide suitable essay topics and that firms often do not permit disclosure of internal technical reports, market data, or computer code. Students considering Option (4) are responsible for contacting a faculty member affiliated with the Mathematical Finance Program prior to the semester the student expects to graduate. Please consult the master's essay guidelines before writing the essay and consult the master's essay list for examples of suitable topics.

Essay Project Supervision

Essay projects selected under Options (1) and (2) are supervised by the instructor.

Essay projects selected under Options (3) or (4) are supervised by the course instructor, industry internship or faculty supervisor. The Master's Essay Coordinator checks that the project report satisfies our master's degree essay guidelines. We strongly recommend that students regularly consult the Master's Essay Coordinator from the start of the project and while preparing the essay draft.

Essay Guidelines

Please consult the essay guidelines for examples of suitable topics and essay formats. A full-time student taking 3 or 4 courses, with no other commitments (such as off-campus part-time employment), should allow three (3) months to complete the essay. Most essays will be approximately 20-30 pages in length (excluding any computer code), contain a literature review with references, and focus on one topic in mathematical finance. A typical essay would discuss the mathematical theory of a derivative pricing model, describe and document its implementation and calibration with C++, Excel/VBA, MATLAB, or Python, make use of empirical financial market data, and include a comparison of model and market prices and hedge ratios. Essays must be typed using LaTeX (preferred) or Word and the final electronic PDF copy must include all figures. See this page for one Rutgers guide to LaTeX document preparation.

Essay Submission and Deadlines

For Options (1) or (2), the essay must be submitted by the final exam date. Both a printed and emailed (PDF) copy must be provided to the Mathematical Finance Program Administrator. For Options (3) and (4), the essay must be submitted four (4) weeks prior to the Graduate School-New Brunswick deadline for submission of the Application for the Degree of Master of Science form. For Option (3), the essay should be accompanied by a letter from the student's industry supervisor providing his or her

Assessment of the project report, and
Permission to use the internship report as the basis for the master's degree essay.

Essay Review and Approval

Essay projects are reviewed by a committee comprising the Master's Essay Coordinator, the Mathematical Finance Program Director, and one of the following:

Option (1) or (2): Course instructor.
Option (3): Another faculty member affiliated with the Mathematical Finance Program.
Option (4): The faculty member who agreed to supervise the essay.

Essay approval is recorded on the Application for the Degree of Master of Science form; the student is responsible for obtaining the necessary signatures, noting that faculty members may not be available outside of the regular Fall or Spring semesters.