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University of California, Berkeley - Master of Financial Engineering
Leverage the connections of a top placement team and a world-class university to launch your career.
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- curltron
- 5.00 star(s)
Joining this program was honestly the best decision I've ever made. People ask me all the time what sets it apart. First and foremost, the job placement is unmatched thanks to the program director who apparently never sleeps. She's the kind of person who knows your strengths better than you do, and knows how to sell you to your employer while pushing you in the exact direction you need to be truly prepared. And obviously, it never hurts to also have the extensive alumni network that the Berkeley MFE has built over years and years being one of the first programs.
Beyond that, the program really crams your brain with experience, and not just via the internship (which boasted 100% placement when I was there). Most of the curriculum is group work, and you really learn how to work with people, and more specifically, with the types of people you'll be working with in quant finance or data science.
It's not an easy program. It's really geared for those that are thirsting for the challenge of their lives, but it's a challenge that will transform you. Any Berkeley student will tell you a different way their life was changed. For me, beyond all the skills, it was really understanding my strengths-- how I stood out in the context of all these brilliant minds, both in the program and during the internship.
Overall, it's the program that will test your limits, raise them, and set the course for rest of your life.
Beyond that, the program really crams your brain with experience, and not just via the internship (which boasted 100% placement when I was there). Most of the curriculum is group work, and you really learn how to work with people, and more specifically, with the types of people you'll be working with in quant finance or data science.
It's not an easy program. It's really geared for those that are thirsting for the challenge of their lives, but it's a challenge that will transform you. Any Berkeley student will tell you a different way their life was changed. For me, beyond all the skills, it was really understanding my strengths-- how I stood out in the context of all these brilliant minds, both in the program and during the internship.
Overall, it's the program that will test your limits, raise them, and set the course for rest of your life.
Amazing program that will change your life. You might not get much sleep during the quick one year duration of the program but the benefits are worth it. Subjects are taught by great, world class pioneers in the field. Everything is taught from a very practical perspective.
Last but definitely not least, my hat's off to Linda for being the best at what she does. Because of her my class has reached 100% placement before our internship period started.
Last but definitely not least, my hat's off to Linda for being the best at what she does. Because of her my class has reached 100% placement before our internship period started.
Great program with a great team at the helm. Linda had managed to put together a perfectly balanced program with great professors, theoretical and applied classes and an amazing careers department. From day 1, you're in an environment that pushes you beyond your limits and prepares you for a career in the best institutions. The careers department understood right away what my goals were and worked hard to get me in front of the right people as the right companies to get my dream job. I couldn't have asked for more. My fellow students were also amazingly smart and I learnt as much from them as I did from the classes. The Berkeley MFE put together a group of students and an environment that fosters collaboration and you can see it with all the competitions that Berkeley teams win every year. The program is extremely intense since it's condensed in 1 year so you have to be ready to work really hard, but it's really worth it.
GREAT program with GREAT job placement! It is definitely the BEST. The one-year program is highly efficient in terms of course work and job searching. Everyone is expected to spend two months on 3 courses each quarter, and the contents are compact and useful for real finance industry. The curriculum covers nearly every important topic in finance, from fundamental mathematical theory to practical industrial techniques, taught by well-known professors and industry managers. Although the schedule is intense, every student of UCB MFE is able to do a 3-month internship at the most prestigious financial companies such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Blackrock, Barclays, etc. Also, the most important thing is that the EVERY student can be place if you check the placement history, and most of them ended up with great full-time offers afterwards. The strong connection between UCB MFE and industry is out of your imagination, and their top career service has already made its name all over the world.
I sought out an MFE program to switch out of the insurance industry -- and I firmly believe U.C. Berkeley's MFE program has not only helped me achieve that goal, but also went above and beyond in guiding me in the right path.
The program's one-year curriculum makes it particularly intense, and with quarterly schedule, the pace can be mind-bobbling sometimes. Having that said, that type of intensity certainly helped me prepare in going into investment banking!
The faculty is world-class, with some from U.C. Berkeley but others invited from renowned universities in the U.S. and around the world. Although some courses can seem not too useful, there are a number of elective choices you can make to better fit your needs/goals.
Perhaps the highlight of the program is the 3-month fall/winter internship that is truly unique among all MFE programs. Potential employers -- well-renowned investment banks, hedge funds, asset management firms, etc. -- recruit directly from the program, and because of the fall/winter schedule as opposed to the summer, your competition is basically limited to your own classmates instead of with other schools. That type of setup doesn't mean you don't need to work hard, but rather the transparency in the internship search process makes it an openly collaborative one instead of that shrouded in secrecy and opaqueness.
No mention of financial engineering programs would be complete without speaking of U.C. Berkeley MFE's program, and in fact, it is undoubtedly one of the best -- if not the best -- program out there!
The program's one-year curriculum makes it particularly intense, and with quarterly schedule, the pace can be mind-bobbling sometimes. Having that said, that type of intensity certainly helped me prepare in going into investment banking!
The faculty is world-class, with some from U.C. Berkeley but others invited from renowned universities in the U.S. and around the world. Although some courses can seem not too useful, there are a number of elective choices you can make to better fit your needs/goals.
Perhaps the highlight of the program is the 3-month fall/winter internship that is truly unique among all MFE programs. Potential employers -- well-renowned investment banks, hedge funds, asset management firms, etc. -- recruit directly from the program, and because of the fall/winter schedule as opposed to the summer, your competition is basically limited to your own classmates instead of with other schools. That type of setup doesn't mean you don't need to work hard, but rather the transparency in the internship search process makes it an openly collaborative one instead of that shrouded in secrecy and opaqueness.
No mention of financial engineering programs would be complete without speaking of U.C. Berkeley MFE's program, and in fact, it is undoubtedly one of the best -- if not the best -- program out there!
Berkeley's MFE is one of the best Master in Finance in the US.
The asset of this program are its excellent academic level and its top placement statistics.
Students learn there the all they need to be successful as a quantitative analyst: the program explains the nuts and bolts of complex financial products as well as how to use programming languages to price them efficiently.
The asset of this program are its excellent academic level and its top placement statistics.
Students learn there the all they need to be successful as a quantitative analyst: the program explains the nuts and bolts of complex financial products as well as how to use programming languages to price them efficiently.
I graduated from this program in March of 2009.
I had an undergraduate and Master's in Computer Engineering prior to joining this program. While I discovered this program accidentally, I was thoroughly impressed by how thorough the admission process was. The admission committee actually guides you through the process and suggests remedial measures to improve upon the experience.
Every one of the reviews here mentions how intense the program is. They are all correct. However, nothing prepares you for this. In addition to the academic component, you also get a lot of detailed career guidance starting from your resume all the way to the firms to target based on your interests/experience etc.
The learning is constant and it is in the form of challenging projects, great teaching, and tough assignments. When you finally reach the end of the program, you will be surprised by how much you have learned.
The focus of learning is in truly understanding the subject matter and not just giving you the ability to prove mathematical proofs.
Owing the fact that the program is part of UCB and Haas and the admission process is challenging, the very best in the world end up in this program. This makes learning from your peers a big part of the learning experience.
As I mentioned above I graduate in March of 2009, perhaps, the toughest job market on record and was easily able to find a position before graduation.
There are many more reasons to join this program, but those ought to cover the most common ones.
I had an undergraduate and Master's in Computer Engineering prior to joining this program. While I discovered this program accidentally, I was thoroughly impressed by how thorough the admission process was. The admission committee actually guides you through the process and suggests remedial measures to improve upon the experience.
Every one of the reviews here mentions how intense the program is. They are all correct. However, nothing prepares you for this. In addition to the academic component, you also get a lot of detailed career guidance starting from your resume all the way to the firms to target based on your interests/experience etc.
The learning is constant and it is in the form of challenging projects, great teaching, and tough assignments. When you finally reach the end of the program, you will be surprised by how much you have learned.
The focus of learning is in truly understanding the subject matter and not just giving you the ability to prove mathematical proofs.
Owing the fact that the program is part of UCB and Haas and the admission process is challenging, the very best in the world end up in this program. This makes learning from your peers a big part of the learning experience.
As I mentioned above I graduate in March of 2009, perhaps, the toughest job market on record and was easily able to find a position before graduation.
There are many more reasons to join this program, but those ought to cover the most common ones.
- TheQuantFifteen
- 5.00 star(s)
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
I have a Bachelors degree in Engineering and an advanced degree (masters).
Did you get admitted to other programs?
Yes and also got admitted but chose UCB.
Why did you choose this program (over others, if applicable)?
First its within Haas Business school, most quant programs were in engineering schools so I felt they would be significantly lacking on the business side of the education, so having the program in the business school was a huge plus for me. Other factors were the reputation, one year to complete (two year programs were too long and expensive) and the placement records.
Tell us about the application process at this program?
I applied got a very technical interview (brain teasers, statistics, maths – probability, derivatives: integrate this, economics and current finance related news and events) and it was very well structured, then one other more relaxed behavior interview and got admitted.
Does this program offer refresher courses for incoming students? How useful was it?
Yes. C++ and 2math courses. If you successfully complete them you should have a good foundation for the program, but it was just a lot of work and plenty assignments involved.
Tell us about the courses selection in this program. Any special courses you like?
Solid course selection from derivatives (even an advanced derivatives course if you want to knock yourself out), empirical, fixed income, credit risk, etc. My best course was the equity and currency market, specifically equities portion – active portfolio management taught by the godfather himself Ron Kahn. The currency portion by Michael Melvin was great too.
Tell us about the quality of teaching
Most of the classes were top notch, Johan Walden’s teaching of derivatives – excellent. When you are taught by people who know their stuff inside out, its really great. With that said of course one or two classes were just ok, nothing special but most were a solid learning experience. The program is usually quick to correct issues with courses, once the half way evaluations are out.
Materials used in the program
Lecture notes were provided but I’m a huge fan of textbooks so I used a lot of text to supplement the lecture notes.
Programming component of the program
Most of the programming is done in Matlab, especially for group courses but individually you are free to use anything you like. Most people use: Matlab, C++, Java, R, Python, VBA etc, really unless specified otherwise, you can use what you are most comfortable with. Towards the end most people had switched to the language required by their jobs: Python, R, etc.
Some compulsory courses are very programming-heavy: Empirical Methods, stochastic, Fixed Income and Quantitative Methods in Derivatives Pricing.
Projects
The program does a good job with projects. In the first semester projects are brought in from big name financial firms (i-banks, hedge funds, rating agencies etc) and students apply to work on the projects, individually or in groups. This is especially great for people without direct finance experience to get something under their belt and it really helps to be able to talk about them during interviews, heck some people even got internships from working on projects.
Individual projects are also allowed later in the program and a final applied finance project is a requirement for graduation.
Career service
In two word – Exceptional & Unparalleled!
I’m going to deviate for a second here and say it’s a bit sad UCB MFE’s are possibly too busy to post reviews and it makes the program not so popular on the internet community, definitely not the same in the finance community, with that said I can’t for the love of my life understand how the program is ranked on quantnet, it definitely should be number one or at worst second. Why? Amazing business school, placement record, starting salary, exclusivity (really important), and a target school (I can’t even over-emphasize this especially for international students).
Back to career services – The careers team headed by Linda is amazing, they work day and night to move heavens for you, how? For my internship I must have got close to 10 interviews, and they all seemed to all happen at once. People shouldn’t even need that many but I never said no to an interview even if I didn’t want the company. Fulltime was just as many firms. The most random thing is the class receiving emails on Saturday at 2am of Linda saying this job is available, apply – I’m like doesn’t she take the weekend off or sleep!!! But I definitely do appreciate her efforts and the teams effort – they are really the best.
One other thing is you get calls from jobs you never applied to because your resumes are sent to every top company possible and the programs deep connections means someone is almost always calling. If you are not getting calls, have someone look over your resume or work with the office because something is wrong, even people straight out of undergrad with no experience had lots of interviews! The careers service also negotiates salaries if needed!
The placement record is available on the website and its great, I know there was a debate a while back about it validity and I can now attest to that, I got way more than the average for the internship and for fulltime as well, again the beauty of averages and median is half are above and the other half below, strive to sell your skillset and you should be compensated well for it (an insight - I actually tripled my salary after the program, and I was making decent money before I joined). One of the big banks is even rumored to give sign on bonuses that makes it seem like it paid for your whole tuition (must be nice!). I ended up at a big ibank, so I’m more than happy. At the end of the day two things mattered to me prior to joining the program – Knowledge and end up in a great well paying career, both were achieved.
Can you comment on the social interaction between students of different ethnics, nationalities in the program?
I think it is still the most diversified MFE program on the market, countries represented 20+ across every single continent (again not blaming quantnet rankings but you see a theme here?) However lots of people flock to people from the same countries initially because they are shy, just more comfortable etc. But nothing a few social events (beers) can’t shake up.
What do you like about the program?
It met my goals and objectives.
What DON’T you like about the program?
Off cycle makes it hard to get into some graduate programs, shouldn’t be a problem as a good number of students still end up in ibanks like myself. I would like to see better GSI/Graduate instructors to complement the class lectures. Some people say its in the west coast so it limits placement in new york (this wasn’t the case for me, I interned and I’m working full time in the east coast).
Suggestions for the program to make it better
More interaction with the MBAs (I know this is hard because we don’t have the same timeline) and maybe more electives.
What is your current job status? What are you looking for?
Employed at a large i-bank in the east coast - solid title, solid pay.
Other comments
Damn! The program is too intense, can we please turn the second semester down a notch and not try to boil the Atlantic ocean?
On a side note there is loans for international student which is really a huge plus and doesn’t need a co-signer or credit history. I had gone thru hell to secure a loan elsewhere before I became privy to this information :( (I wish I knew I could get a loan without a co-signer before I joined) I didn’t end up using it, but a lot of international student did use the loan services.
Thanks to quantnet for the knowledge pre-application, during and post. It only felt right giving back to the quantnet community by sharing my experience during the program. With that said the quantnet ranking still bothers me, it should be definitely higher. I am interested in how the next ranking looks.
Sorry for any typos, I couldn’t proof read before posting.
– TheQuantFifteen.
I have a Bachelors degree in Engineering and an advanced degree (masters).
Did you get admitted to other programs?
Yes and also got admitted but chose UCB.
Why did you choose this program (over others, if applicable)?
First its within Haas Business school, most quant programs were in engineering schools so I felt they would be significantly lacking on the business side of the education, so having the program in the business school was a huge plus for me. Other factors were the reputation, one year to complete (two year programs were too long and expensive) and the placement records.
Tell us about the application process at this program?
I applied got a very technical interview (brain teasers, statistics, maths – probability, derivatives: integrate this, economics and current finance related news and events) and it was very well structured, then one other more relaxed behavior interview and got admitted.
Does this program offer refresher courses for incoming students? How useful was it?
Yes. C++ and 2math courses. If you successfully complete them you should have a good foundation for the program, but it was just a lot of work and plenty assignments involved.
Tell us about the courses selection in this program. Any special courses you like?
Solid course selection from derivatives (even an advanced derivatives course if you want to knock yourself out), empirical, fixed income, credit risk, etc. My best course was the equity and currency market, specifically equities portion – active portfolio management taught by the godfather himself Ron Kahn. The currency portion by Michael Melvin was great too.
Tell us about the quality of teaching
Most of the classes were top notch, Johan Walden’s teaching of derivatives – excellent. When you are taught by people who know their stuff inside out, its really great. With that said of course one or two classes were just ok, nothing special but most were a solid learning experience. The program is usually quick to correct issues with courses, once the half way evaluations are out.
Materials used in the program
Lecture notes were provided but I’m a huge fan of textbooks so I used a lot of text to supplement the lecture notes.
Programming component of the program
Most of the programming is done in Matlab, especially for group courses but individually you are free to use anything you like. Most people use: Matlab, C++, Java, R, Python, VBA etc, really unless specified otherwise, you can use what you are most comfortable with. Towards the end most people had switched to the language required by their jobs: Python, R, etc.
Some compulsory courses are very programming-heavy: Empirical Methods, stochastic, Fixed Income and Quantitative Methods in Derivatives Pricing.
Projects
The program does a good job with projects. In the first semester projects are brought in from big name financial firms (i-banks, hedge funds, rating agencies etc) and students apply to work on the projects, individually or in groups. This is especially great for people without direct finance experience to get something under their belt and it really helps to be able to talk about them during interviews, heck some people even got internships from working on projects.
Individual projects are also allowed later in the program and a final applied finance project is a requirement for graduation.
Career service
In two word – Exceptional & Unparalleled!
I’m going to deviate for a second here and say it’s a bit sad UCB MFE’s are possibly too busy to post reviews and it makes the program not so popular on the internet community, definitely not the same in the finance community, with that said I can’t for the love of my life understand how the program is ranked on quantnet, it definitely should be number one or at worst second. Why? Amazing business school, placement record, starting salary, exclusivity (really important), and a target school (I can’t even over-emphasize this especially for international students).
Back to career services – The careers team headed by Linda is amazing, they work day and night to move heavens for you, how? For my internship I must have got close to 10 interviews, and they all seemed to all happen at once. People shouldn’t even need that many but I never said no to an interview even if I didn’t want the company. Fulltime was just as many firms. The most random thing is the class receiving emails on Saturday at 2am of Linda saying this job is available, apply – I’m like doesn’t she take the weekend off or sleep!!! But I definitely do appreciate her efforts and the teams effort – they are really the best.
One other thing is you get calls from jobs you never applied to because your resumes are sent to every top company possible and the programs deep connections means someone is almost always calling. If you are not getting calls, have someone look over your resume or work with the office because something is wrong, even people straight out of undergrad with no experience had lots of interviews! The careers service also negotiates salaries if needed!
The placement record is available on the website and its great, I know there was a debate a while back about it validity and I can now attest to that, I got way more than the average for the internship and for fulltime as well, again the beauty of averages and median is half are above and the other half below, strive to sell your skillset and you should be compensated well for it (an insight - I actually tripled my salary after the program, and I was making decent money before I joined). One of the big banks is even rumored to give sign on bonuses that makes it seem like it paid for your whole tuition (must be nice!). I ended up at a big ibank, so I’m more than happy. At the end of the day two things mattered to me prior to joining the program – Knowledge and end up in a great well paying career, both were achieved.
Can you comment on the social interaction between students of different ethnics, nationalities in the program?
I think it is still the most diversified MFE program on the market, countries represented 20+ across every single continent (again not blaming quantnet rankings but you see a theme here?) However lots of people flock to people from the same countries initially because they are shy, just more comfortable etc. But nothing a few social events (beers) can’t shake up.
What do you like about the program?
It met my goals and objectives.
What DON’T you like about the program?
Off cycle makes it hard to get into some graduate programs, shouldn’t be a problem as a good number of students still end up in ibanks like myself. I would like to see better GSI/Graduate instructors to complement the class lectures. Some people say its in the west coast so it limits placement in new york (this wasn’t the case for me, I interned and I’m working full time in the east coast).
Suggestions for the program to make it better
More interaction with the MBAs (I know this is hard because we don’t have the same timeline) and maybe more electives.
What is your current job status? What are you looking for?
Employed at a large i-bank in the east coast - solid title, solid pay.
Other comments
Damn! The program is too intense, can we please turn the second semester down a notch and not try to boil the Atlantic ocean?
On a side note there is loans for international student which is really a huge plus and doesn’t need a co-signer or credit history. I had gone thru hell to secure a loan elsewhere before I became privy to this information :( (I wish I knew I could get a loan without a co-signer before I joined) I didn’t end up using it, but a lot of international student did use the loan services.
Thanks to quantnet for the knowledge pre-application, during and post. It only felt right giving back to the quantnet community by sharing my experience during the program. With that said the quantnet ranking still bothers me, it should be definitely higher. I am interested in how the next ranking looks.
Sorry for any typos, I couldn’t proof read before posting.
– TheQuantFifteen.
- berkeley quant
- 5.00 star(s)
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
I hold a Bachelor's degree and have a little experience in finance
I studied full-time in the program from 3/2009-3/2010
Did you get admitted to other programs?
No
Why did you choose this program (over others, if applicable)?
The program's reputation, situation within a business school and placement record sealed the deal for me.
Tell us about the application process at this program
I applied just before the very last deadline. Within a couple of weeks I had had a 10 minute "interview" with the program director and was granted admission. Communication throughout the process was excellent and I have no qualms with any aspect.
Does this program offer refresher courses for incoming students? How useful was it?
I enrolled in all three of the pre-program courses: math, statistics and C++. Having never had any exposure to C++ before, this course was challenging but nonetheless valuable. The value of the others came as much from a reminder of the hard work required in education as for their content specifically!
Tell us about the courses selection in this program. Any special courses you like?
The program covers all major asset classes bar commodities. Although there are only a handful of opportunities to be selective with regards to module options, there is enough variety to keep most people happy.
Mark Rubinstein's course on derivatives was brilliant. He was energetic, enthusiastic, knowledgable and even had the best set of lecture slides I have ever seen. Where other programs may produce students who know mathematical option theory well, I believe that not only do I now have this but that I can also "feel" options.
Tell us about the quality of teaching
The overwhelming majority of the teaching was top quality. I congratulate Alexei Tchistyi for successfully teaching me stochastic calculus (something I originally thought may be an impossible task for anyone!). Further excellent instruction was delivered by individuals such as Domingo Tavella, Richard Stanton, Suneel Udpa, Jeff Shen and Michael Melvin, and the contributions from the GSIs were invaluable.
It would be remiss of me not to mention that there was a problem perhaps with one course early on which soured the first impression of the program. The response from the program office however has been very encouraging and the material was re-covered by the likes of Rubinstein, Ron Khan and Hayne Leland. Future applicants need not worry as the issue has been comprehensively rectified.
Materials used in the program
I have tended to prefer to use the lectures and notes provided during the courses so I'm not really in a position to comment on the quality of the backup reading material.
Programming component of the program
At different times I have used C++, Matlab and VBA for homeworks and projects. Most students settled on a language of choice (usually Matlab but in some cases C++). A few of the compulsory courses are very programming-heavy: Empirical Methods, Fixed Income and Quantitative Methods in Derivatives Pricing.
Projects
There are a number of group projects and a liberal smattering of individual projects. Topics vary, and include the creation and pricing of new derivative instruments and the design and backtesting of trading strategies.The Applied Finance Project has been referred to as the "final exam" for the MFE program, and is an individual project attempting to answer a topical quantitative financial question using the quantitative techniques taught in the course.
Career service
Exemplary. At one stage during my internship search I was emailed out of the blue by a trader at a leading Investment Bank requesting an interview for something closely resembling my dream job. I had not seen the position advertised anywhere else - he had apparently just received my resume from the program office. This is the kind of opportunity not afforded by other MFE programs lacking dedicated placement teams. In the end I interned at a different bulge bracket IB in New York after having turned down another offer elsewhere.
Can you comment on the social interaction between students of different ethnics, nationalities in the program?
There are bound to be friendship groups amongst people sharing common first languages, but at UCB these were easily pierced. I will leave the program with 62 new friends, ALL of whom I feel I know well and have interacted with socially outside the MFE program.
What do you like about the program?
The commitment to placement is second to none. The program director works day and night for her students and the reaction to student feedback is swift and decisive.
What DON’T you like about the program?
Because the program is off-cycle, some students find it difficult to get on to companies' graduate programs which run from July/August.
Suggestions for the program to make it better
Each concern I have had during the program was raised to the office, and each has been acted upon already.
What are your current job status? What are you looking for?
I have turned down one full time offer from a bulge bracked IB and will wait patiently for my dream job. I am quite sure it is not far away, given the efforts of the placement team on my behalf.
Other comments
Side note: my bald spot appears to have shrunk during the MFE program. Perhaps there is some kind of "inverse-stress" aspect at work from the knowledge of having made the right decision in joining the program!
I hold a Bachelor's degree and have a little experience in finance
I studied full-time in the program from 3/2009-3/2010
Did you get admitted to other programs?
No
Why did you choose this program (over others, if applicable)?
The program's reputation, situation within a business school and placement record sealed the deal for me.
Tell us about the application process at this program
I applied just before the very last deadline. Within a couple of weeks I had had a 10 minute "interview" with the program director and was granted admission. Communication throughout the process was excellent and I have no qualms with any aspect.
Does this program offer refresher courses for incoming students? How useful was it?
I enrolled in all three of the pre-program courses: math, statistics and C++. Having never had any exposure to C++ before, this course was challenging but nonetheless valuable. The value of the others came as much from a reminder of the hard work required in education as for their content specifically!
Tell us about the courses selection in this program. Any special courses you like?
The program covers all major asset classes bar commodities. Although there are only a handful of opportunities to be selective with regards to module options, there is enough variety to keep most people happy.
Mark Rubinstein's course on derivatives was brilliant. He was energetic, enthusiastic, knowledgable and even had the best set of lecture slides I have ever seen. Where other programs may produce students who know mathematical option theory well, I believe that not only do I now have this but that I can also "feel" options.
Tell us about the quality of teaching
The overwhelming majority of the teaching was top quality. I congratulate Alexei Tchistyi for successfully teaching me stochastic calculus (something I originally thought may be an impossible task for anyone!). Further excellent instruction was delivered by individuals such as Domingo Tavella, Richard Stanton, Suneel Udpa, Jeff Shen and Michael Melvin, and the contributions from the GSIs were invaluable.
It would be remiss of me not to mention that there was a problem perhaps with one course early on which soured the first impression of the program. The response from the program office however has been very encouraging and the material was re-covered by the likes of Rubinstein, Ron Khan and Hayne Leland. Future applicants need not worry as the issue has been comprehensively rectified.
Materials used in the program
I have tended to prefer to use the lectures and notes provided during the courses so I'm not really in a position to comment on the quality of the backup reading material.
Programming component of the program
At different times I have used C++, Matlab and VBA for homeworks and projects. Most students settled on a language of choice (usually Matlab but in some cases C++). A few of the compulsory courses are very programming-heavy: Empirical Methods, Fixed Income and Quantitative Methods in Derivatives Pricing.
Projects
There are a number of group projects and a liberal smattering of individual projects. Topics vary, and include the creation and pricing of new derivative instruments and the design and backtesting of trading strategies.The Applied Finance Project has been referred to as the "final exam" for the MFE program, and is an individual project attempting to answer a topical quantitative financial question using the quantitative techniques taught in the course.
Career service
Exemplary. At one stage during my internship search I was emailed out of the blue by a trader at a leading Investment Bank requesting an interview for something closely resembling my dream job. I had not seen the position advertised anywhere else - he had apparently just received my resume from the program office. This is the kind of opportunity not afforded by other MFE programs lacking dedicated placement teams. In the end I interned at a different bulge bracket IB in New York after having turned down another offer elsewhere.
Can you comment on the social interaction between students of different ethnics, nationalities in the program?
There are bound to be friendship groups amongst people sharing common first languages, but at UCB these were easily pierced. I will leave the program with 62 new friends, ALL of whom I feel I know well and have interacted with socially outside the MFE program.
What do you like about the program?
The commitment to placement is second to none. The program director works day and night for her students and the reaction to student feedback is swift and decisive.
What DON’T you like about the program?
Because the program is off-cycle, some students find it difficult to get on to companies' graduate programs which run from July/August.
Suggestions for the program to make it better
Each concern I have had during the program was raised to the office, and each has been acted upon already.
What are your current job status? What are you looking for?
I have turned down one full time offer from a bulge bracked IB and will wait patiently for my dream job. I am quite sure it is not far away, given the efforts of the placement team on my behalf.
Other comments
Side note: my bald spot appears to have shrunk during the MFE program. Perhaps there is some kind of "inverse-stress" aspect at work from the knowledge of having made the right decision in joining the program!