Interview with Dr. Linda Kreitzman(1)

2007-04-16 11:08:09 [ Big Normal Small ]  Xing Zong  　Comment

Special：Xing Talk—Celebrities Interview

Editor's Note: Xing Talk is a new column runs regularly by Xing Zong, a Chinese graduate student at Duke University pursuing a Ph.D. degree in physics. As a rocket scientist, Xing’s passion also lies in writing and interacting with people. He contributes to China.com regularly with his interesting interviews of Presidents in U.S. top universities, Nobel Laureates, business/law school deans and leading academicians. As Xing said, “my biggest discovery after arriving in U.S. was that my first name “Xing” had a nice interpretation of the on-road sign crossing. Indeed, I stand at the cross road of two different cultures and eager to connect Uncle Sam and Red Dragon.” Recently Xing held an exclusive interview with Dr. Linda Kreitzman from UC Berkeley.


Dr. Linda Kreitzman
A career in Finance has now become one of the most popular career choices for young people. Goldman, Solomon, UBS, these names have now become household names in China. How can one prepare for a finance career? What can the world leading finance education offer? With these questions in mind, Xing Zong, the free lance writer from Duke University recently took an exclusive interview with Dr. Linda Kreitzman, the director of Master of Financial Engineering Program at the University of California, Berkeley.


Xing Zong: Linda, thanks for taking my interview! First question for you, why does a finance career appeal to so many people? Is it mainly because of high compensation packages you see in the industry?

Linda: May be for some money is appealing, but for the majority, money is not the reason for wanting to do financial engineering. To be successful in finance you need to be passionate about financial products and the theory behind them. Only creative minds can succeed in the financial industry. It's not enough to be a good technician - there are plenty already. To be creative you need first to have a deep understanding of the complex mechanism that drives the dynamics of financial markets - this can be acquired only if you love the discipline, and enjoy every minute spending long hours working on trading, structuring, pricing or measuring the risk of complex financial instruments. So, money is definitely not it!

Xing Zong: As the executive director of a prestigious finance master program. How do you measure the success of the program and what fulfills you most?

Linda: The success of this program is ultimately measured by how we successfully place our students in the industry. And we are great at it. I personally find it rewarding to help place the students in great careers.

Xing Zong: I am curious how MFE is perceived relative to MBA. In business word in general, is “MFE” seen as an alternative to the MBA, or a more focused degree?

Linda: The MFE is very specialized and teaches cutting edge finance. The MFE is not an alternative to the MBA. Two different degrees.

Xing Zong: In your experience, what kind of students will have the best performance in this program? Directly from undergraduate education? Work a couple of years and then go back to school? Or some math, physics or engineering Ph.D. students?

Linda: We do admit some candidates without experience in our MFE Program, a small number, every year. But they do have a strong quantitative/statistical background and strong computer skills. The best performing students are those with a passion for finance, a good understanding of how the economy functions and those who have the energy and the passion to go beyond the call of duty for each course. These students, in general, have shown already a strong interest for finance by managing a small stock portfolio, reading the financial and economic press as well as popular books on financial markets. They have already some idea of what type of job they are aiming for in a financial institution.

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