The Ivey MSc in Business Analytics relies heavily on incoming students’ comfort with, and understanding of, various quantitative analysis tools and technical skills. Please explain to the Admissions Committee how you have worked with, developed, or demonstrated an understanding of similar tools and skills, and how they will help you to succeed in the program.
During my undergraduate studies, I completed coursework in statistics, data structures, and database management, which laid the groundwork for my technical proficiency.I signed up for an online research project about financial markets and investments led by Professor Ludovic from the University of Oxford in January 2024. I was introduced to knowledge concerning the principles of financial market efficiency and arbitrage, diversified portfolios and portfolio theory, target-oriented investing, public funds, ETF funds, stock, bond and financial derivatives markets, factor investing, efficient markets hypothesis, debt hedging, and financial market volatility. In the course, I used Python and R to analyze a set of historical data on rural financial product purchases, identified key trends and patterns, and provided data support for strategy formulation. At the end of the project, I completed a paper analyzing problems in China’s rural area finance, including small rural market size, high market risk, lack of financial literacy, and poor supervision, and offering solutions and programs which will have a significant and far-reaching impact on supporting the national policy for rural areas, eliminating the wealth gap between people and realizing shared prosperity.
In the process of the research project, I recognized the significance of computer tools in financial analysis and modeling, so I took advantage of the summer vacation of 2024 to attend two online courses on Coursera. Data Analysis with R Specialization gave me a statistical mastery of data analysis including basic data visualization, statistical testing and inference, and linear modeling. CS50’s Introduction to Computer Science not only equipped me with a robust understanding of computer science and programming and taught me to think algorithmically and solve programming problems efficiently but also familiarized me with a number of languages, including C, SQL, and JavaScript plus CSS and HTML.
Through these learning and practical experiences, my technical capabilities have been significantly improved, laying a solid foundation for future in-depth research in the field of financial data analysis.
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