Quantitative Finance can be a great careermove. It can be very expensive as well. So I just want to call it from where I sit. I'm sure my opinions will change over time. Feel free to add comments.
I really like reading lists of things and so I'm going to publish a list of something that I actually have an opinion about: financial engineering master's degree programs.
Are you stoked?
1. New York University (NY, NY)
Masters of Science in Mathematics of Finance
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
In the heart of Wall St. and housed in a really good math program.
2. Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA)
Masters of Science in Computational Finance
Tepper School of Business
These guys do it right, interdisciplinary, career services available, internship after 2nd semester, and probably the biggest alumni network (for their program, not school).
3. Cornell University (Ithaca/NYC, NY)
Masters of Science in Engineering (Option in Financial Engineering)
School of Operations Research and Information Engineering
Third semester is in Manhattan at their Broad St. campus, which is a big plus for networking.
4. University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)
Masters in Financial Engineering
Haas School of Business
Probably the best public university in the world, and a top ten business program. On top of that you have the option of looking for work on the east and west coast. The program is short, so it seems like it is most beneficial to those with some industry experience.
5. Columbia University (NY,NY)
Masters of Arts in Mathematics (Specialization in Mathematics of Finance)
Departments of Mathematics and Statistics
6. Stanford University (Stanford, CA)
Masters of Science in Financial Mathematics
Departments of Mathematics and Statistics
7. Columbia University (NY,NY)Masters of Financial Engineering
Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
This list pretty closely resembles how I would respond to each of the schools if I were admitted to all of them. Fortunately I only applied to 3 of them and was admitted to one so my decision wasn't too difficult. It represents my overall view of the quality of the program, including job placement.
The first three programs (NYU, CMU, CU) top the list because they have summer internships built into the system, which is a must for me, coming without prior financial industry experience. CMU and Berkeley rank highly because they are both housed in B-schools and offer a lot of career assistance. CMU is the oldest of the programs, I'm guessing NYU, Stanford, and Columbia MAFN are the most mathematically intense, and that NYU, CMU, and Columbia have the best reputations on The Street. Although, I have heard negative things about Columbia's MFE program from multiple sources.
This seems like a pretty good resource with some basic info on different programs.
Quantnet 2009 Rankings
Top 10 Quant Schools
Global Derivatives rankings
Posts
11 comments:
Very helpful blog post. Can you do some research on the top history programs that will help me seemlessly transition into a general manager job in the Major Leagues? Much appreciated.
You must have used some severe algorithms to generate this list.
Here's a question for you:
Albert has seventeen apples in his bushel. He removes four apples. How many apples does he have?
17.
has your opinion changed now?
My opinion has changed a little bit. Columbia continues to go down in my opinion as CMU and NYU continue to rise.
So I would give the top spot to CMU, NYU, and Cornell. Then second place would go to Chicago, and reluctantly Columbia (It's just so close to the jobs though).
Rounding out the list I'd place Berkeley, Stanford, and Princeton.
So if I were making the decision I would go to one of those top 3 if I wanted to work in New York or London. I'd choose the bottom three if I were currently pursuing a PhD at one of those schools or wanted to work on the west coast.
This is helpful, thank you. Your list seems to lean towards NYC schools, understandably thats where most jobs are, but if I didn't necessarily want to work in NYC do you think the list should look differently? I've read what seems like only good things about CMU and UC Berkley. What are your thoughts on those two? When you mentioned CMU did you mean the NYC campus or Pitt? Thanks again!
Antisthenes,
Good questions:
"If I didn't necessarily want to work in NYC do you think the list should look differently?"
If you don't have a preference for location the list looks the same since, like mentioned, most jobs will be in and around New York. However, if you specifically would like to stay in the Bay area Berkeley shoots to the top of the list with Stanford. From my experience Berkeley places a lot of students in New York, as well as their San Fran offices for jobs they have there, e.g. FX Sales.
"What are your thoughts on those two? (CMU and UC Berkeley)"
These schools are quite invested in their MFE students. Other schools have MFE programs or something similar (Stanford, Princeton, MIT come to mind) but the school doesn't seem overly concerned with the marketing and placement of their students. I suspect they expect the brand name of their school will make up for a less aggressive approach to recruiting. You have to remember though that at a school like that, when the campus recruiters come specifically for Quants, PhDs may fill up the interview slots faster than MFEs.
"When you mentioned CMU did you mean the NYC campus or Pitt?"
Although both campuses deliver identical content they both have their own recruiting advantages. The CMU NY campus has the slight edge of being close to companies that you should be visiting during the recruiting process. And a lot of financial companies will conduct interviews right at the CMU NY campus because it's conveniently located in the financial district. Students at the Pitt campus have the slight advantage of being more aware of career fairs and campus info sessions directed towards a broader audience of students than just the MFE crowd (i.e. undergrads, and PhDs).
How is the MFE at University of Illinois , Urbana champaigne
Hi, I wonder why you put stanford/princeton after cornell? actually I applied for all the top7 this year and rejected by stanford&princeton but admitted in cornell...
William
How is the MFE at University of Illinois , Urbana champaigne?
Don't know anything about it.
William, don't be fooled. Stanford and Princeton may have the bigger name, but not necessarily the better program. That's what this whole thread is about. You have to look at the quality of the program and not be blinded by the brand name. Anyway, I hope you went to Cornell. I've never met anyone from those programs, so I can't judge too harshly. Actually that's a lie, I was interviewed by a guy that had a PhD in math, and a masters in Math Finance. I think having the math finance masters makes many PhD students better job candidates... and helps them make inroads to finance when they decide academia may not be their best option.
Post a Comment