“You have no choice but to love mathematics”: Alumni talk to prospective students about their choice and motivation

© HSE

At the Open Day of Master’s Programme in Financial Economics, the prospective students learned about the learning process and admission. The session with alumni gave details about the employment prospects, academic opportunities and other perspectives the future diploma can open up for its holders.

Presenting at the event was Maxim Nikitin, Master’s programme Academic Supervisor. His presentation of the history of ICEF – the college that has been Russian students’ access to international education that builds on standards of the world’s top universities – was followed by outlining the contents and advantages of the Master’s programme, the latter having its focus shifting increasingly towards data science and programming skills in economics and finance. The prospective students were presented cases of graduates’ career tracks with major companies and schools around the world.

A collaborative effort of ICEF and the London School of Economics (LSE), the Master’s programme “Financial Economics” builds on the international academic standards, serving as one of the best providers of the fundamental academic skills at master’s level. Every year, the programme reaffirms its value through career achievements of its graduates and global ratings, being among the top 100 of the QS Business Masters Rankings.

ICEF master’s students have the opportunity to study for two degrees, one from HSE and the other from LUISS University in Rome. They are also invited to join the exchange programme that involves dozens of universities in different countries.

Admission requirements and how students can combine their study with being employees of HSE, were presented by Olga Nizhevich, Programme Coordinator. Olga gave details about the incentives and the scholarships, one provided by VTB Bank, available to students. The prospective students learned about fast-track admission and were able to ask questions in the end of the event.

The final part of the Open Day was led by programme graduates. Telling their experience as students and early-career specialists were Anatoly Potashov, member of the class of 2014, Ex-Vice President for Investments, RT-Business Development, lecturer in RE & VC; Vasily Machigin, member of the class of 2020, Corporate Banking Senior Analyst/ Citi; and Shukhrat Khalilbekov, member of the class of 2021, Senior Data Scientist/ OKKO. Their talk was followed by Q&A.

Anatoly Potashov, Ex-Vice President for Investment, РТ-Business Development, lecturer in РЕ&VC

Ten years ago I was a graduate applicant just like you are now. I had good English language skills but I didn’t really like math, so let me give you a friendly word of warning: you have no choice but to love mathematics. You are going to have a great deal of it. Before enrolling in ICEF, I completed a degree at finance university’s international faculty and had some work experience as a financial analyst at a German pharmaceutical company. But, I wanted to be in more complex finance work – transactions and investments. Many of the people I met in the investment banks happened to be graduates of ICEF, so I thought I was a good idea to enroll as a way to get into the heart of the financial industry.

Next 

During my studies at ICEF I joined Citi Group’s M&A team as an intern and then, right after graduation, landed a job at Sberbank CIB’s team for investment and corporate finance. I have five years of experience in different investment funds, and I also worked at RosTech as Vice President for asset management and venture capital deals.

Juggling work and study, I never missed a lecture or a practical, but I do not recommend that you follow my example because this is a highly demanding programme and one should at all times learn efficiently. And because the community of ICEF alumni is simply huge, you can be sure that job vacancies will be reaching you as already as your first year. With offers coming in from companies around the world, you might be tempted.

I currently teach Private Equity & Venture Capital to ICEF master's students. It isn’t a core course, but in my case it was the electives that have played a big role in choosing my future career path. Not only will doing the optional courses expand your knowledge, it will ease your way into the industry.

Vasily Machigin, Corporate Banking Senior Analyst/ Citi

I enrolled in ICEF on my second attempt. As someone with a Social Studies degree I had no background in economics. It took me two years to prepare – and those years coincided with my military service – luckily enough, I still had the time to learn economics and improve my mathematics. Then, my wining place in “I’m a Professional” contest earned me a privilege in admission to ICEF master’s programme. I’m living proof that having a strong motivation is key to admission success.

Next 

Surviving the first semester can be real hard because the mathematics course is really demanding here. Me and my classmates would get together after classes to work on our math skills. My most memorable highlight is probably stochastic analysis. Although I never really got to use it in my current job, learning the stochastic analytic techniques is a great way to structure your thinking.

After the first semester I interned at KPMG and then at Citi in the summer, where I continued as a permanent employee in corporate finance department. I am currently in charge of various products implementation and some of the IB-related tasks. I really liked my internship. I got a job offer right after I completed it, so I entered my second year of study as a working student, which was challenging enough. I remember working until midnight and writing my thesis until 5 a.m, but you probably shouldn’t do that.

If you have chosen finance as a career, be prepared for a demanding schedule. On the up side, you’ll meet a variety of industries and will try the entire range of banking products, communicating with interesting clients. My current career interest lies in IB and I am planning to pursue it.

Shukhrat Khalilbekov, Senior Data Scientist/ OKKO

I earned my economics degree from HSE campus in St. Petersburg in 2019. I chose to do data science as a minor but I couldn’t attend full course because I went to Sweden on an exchange. So, even though I really wanted to get into data science, I didn’t feel I had enough of a background. Nor did I feel prepared to enter the labor market with my bachelor's degree. My knowledge base needed to be structured and doing a master’s was certainly the right choice.

Next 

I was choosing between NES and ICEF. While NES looked a perfect fit for those wishing to follow PhD career paths, ICEF turned out to offer an ideal balance between hands-on courses and opportunities to start careers in academia. I applied using the early offer of admission scheme  and was in the meantime, amid my learning conundrum, doing multiple job interviews because I needed a job to be able to support myself.

My goal was to get a job in data science. Eventually, I got hired to a junior position at Oliver Wyman. I qualified only barely, though.

While waiting to start my job, I used the time to study real hard after classes on my own. My rigorous schedule and self-discipline did benefit me later in my career and life in general. But, I had to retake two exams anyway in my first year. It wasn’t after Module 3 that I got used to getting only four hours of sleep each night.

Be prepared to adjust your sleep needs and your daily tasks, if you wish to enroll in ICEF.

One course that really leveled up my data science knowledge was by Fabian Slonimczyk. Its contents are sufficient to make learners qualifying for an internship or a junior position at an IT company. Five of the members of my graduation class who completed this course are now working at Yandex, AliExpress, Avito and are confident data scientists.

My next employer after Oliver Wyman was EY Technology Consulting and then Citymobil. The latter offered me a job right after I earned by master’s from ICEF and was where I capitalized on my knowledge of pricing and product development. In 2022 I joined OKKO and am currently dealing with recommendations and search. Everywhere I worked there were ins and outs to be learned, and my ability to adapt and being a fast learner did help me work my way up. Motivation opens doors.

Click here to view programme presentation

Watch video