Field of studies Financial Analytics (studies in English) - Krakow University of Economics (Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny w Krakowie), UEK (Cracow) - Financial Analytics - Study Bachelor's and Master's in English in Poland

1. A bank wants to predict which loan applicants are likely to default. How would you approach it?

Clean the data, engineer features, compare models from logistic regression to gradient boosting, and check fairness and interpretability. I’d use a ready-made tool and trust its output. I wouldn’t know where to start.

2. How do you feel about using Python or R to analyse millions of transactions?

Comfortable – and I want to go deeper into data engineering and machine learning. I mostly use spreadsheets, but I could learn. I avoid programming.

3. Your trading model looks brilliant on historical data but fails on new data. What do you suspect?

Overfitting or look-ahead bias – I’d rebuild it with proper out-of-sample and walk-forward validation. I’d just retrain it. I’d use it anyway.

4. You must present model results to a board with no technical background. How do you handle it?

I translate the results into business impact and risk, using clear visuals. I show them the output tables. That’s not my job.

5. How do you feel about building a system that flags fraudulent card transactions in real time?

Fascinated – anomaly detection on streaming data is exactly the kind of challenge I want. It sounds interesting, but hard. Not my area.

6. The programme is taught in English, with team projects in an international group. How do you feel about that?

Comfortable – documentation, libraries and research papers are in English anyway, and diverse teams build better models. I read technical English, but I’m less confident discussing in it. I’d rather study in my own language, with people from my own country.

7. A regulator asks why your model rejected a particular client. What do you do?

I use explainability methods and clear model documentation to show which factors drove the decision. I’d say the algorithm decided. I’d hope nobody asks.

8. You come across a research paper on modelling market volatility. Would you try to replicate it?

Yes – I’d reproduce the results on real data and test whether they hold up. I’d read the summary. No, I’d skip it.

9. Which future role sounds most like you?

Quantitative analyst, risk modeller or data science lead in a bank, fund or fintech. An analyst job of some kind. Something without data or finance.

10. What motivates you most to pursue a Master’s degree in Financial Analytics?

Applying advanced analytics and machine learning to real financial problems and leading data-driven decisions. Better pay and career prospects. I’m not sure it’s for me

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