University of California, Los Angeles - Master of Financial Engineering

About me:
I am a graduate from the 2015 batch, who came in to the program after considerable work-experience in financial sector, to support my career transition from corporate finance to quantitative finance.
I am sure anyone reading this review, by now must have developed a good sense about Financial Engineering programs, in general. They all comprise mainly 3 components: (1) Finance, (2) Financial Computing, and (3) Maths/Stats, with varying degree of each depending on how a particular program is structured.
When I started narrowing down on a program that would be a right fit for me, I had the following criteria in my mind:
>> I wanted the program to be Fast-paced, to help minimize my opportunity cost; but rigorous enough to make me competitive for the job market afterwards
>> Program to be more ‘Finance-heavy’, since I didn’t want to go into roles where I’d be competing with CS majors or Maths PhDs. Plus, this way I could leverage and develop on my existing knowledge and experience of finance
>> It should have sufficiently strong emphasis on Financial Computing and Financial Maths, to help me get the necessary theoretical background along with required hands-on skills, to allow me to hit the ground running
>> Offer a diverse peer group (in terms of academic background, age group, and ethnicity)
>> Program should be from a well-recognized university, and of course have an impeccable placement record

Overall experience with the program:
Having been through the program, I am happy that UCLA Anderson’s MFE program checked all the items on my list!! Here is how…
>> The program in its current avatar is quite compact at ~13 months, including a 3 month internship
>> The program is housed/owned/driven/directed by the Finance department at Anderson. Which is awesome!! As you must have gathered from other reviews, Anderson’s finance department has historically been one of the strongest in the country and continues to be so. And the faculty loves teaching the MFE program, since the curriculum is more advanced (then say an MBA program), allowing them to share more of what they know.
The curriculum comprises courses with strong theoretical emphasis, such as fixed income markets by the man himself, derivatives, credit modelling, empirical methods, risk management etc. Don’t get me wrong, when I say they have a relatively stronger ‘theoretical’ bent, because they are still enough hands-on programming assignments (fitting short-rate models, forward-rate models, 2 factor/ multi factor, MBS modelling, calibrating cox-process, time-series modelling etc. etc.), which give ample talking points in an interview
>> While financial computing, in a way, gets covered throughout the course by way of in-class examples and coding assignments, there is a dedicated course taken by Prof. Levon, who comes with a strong background in mathematics and finance, and makes certain that you are very comfortable working in MATLAB by the end of his course.
>> Anderson is a strong brand, on account of its MBA program, with a large and strong alumni base, including industry leaders, such as Larry Fink (Blackrock) and Bill Gross (ex-PIMCO)

Along the way, there were also a couple of pleasant surprises in the program:
>> Course work by Prof. Jason Hsu, where he not only covered the literature on well-known equity anomalies (making sure you know the language of the industry in case you walk into an Asset Management role), but has designed the course to be so hands-on that by the end of it I was comfortable working with equities data and replicating results from any academic paper. The skills learnt in this course were directly applicable during my internship.
>> Course work by Prof. Olivier Ledoit, who is this super smart guy, teaches a course on how to beat markets by way of statistical arbitrage – again a highly hands-on course, by the end of which, you have a working stat-arb model. (There is a reference to him in the book ‘The physics of wall street’, in case you’ve read it)
>> MFE students are allowed to attend finance seminars, where academic researchers and PhD job-market candidates from programs across the country, present on their research. It is a great way to learn about current research areas.

What this program is not
Now one thing that this program is NOT, is it is not a PhD program. So even though, the course-work is rigorous, the program simply does not afford the luxury of time to teach or study these topics in as much detail as a PhD would. Mind you, almost every subject which is taught can be made into a research career in its own right. So, if you are looking for that level of depth, any financial engineering program simply won’t make the cut!! Which is why some students go on to do a PhD. However, it does provide you with enough of a foundation to learn and explore further on your own.

Career services/ Job prospects
No review can be complete without a comment on career services. I think the stats published on the program website speak for themselves. All I’d like to add is, the program enables you to explore careers across spectrum – asset management/ hedge fund/ sell side strats/ risk/ fintech/ consulting/ third-party providers of tools/ regulator/ exchange (and others I cannot immediately recall)

Another thing that many students question when considering this program is – how effective is the program in placing students on east coast? Again, I’d advise any prospective student to look this information up first-hand on LinkedIn. You’d be surprised how many students end up working in NY. While the official stats for my batch are yet to come, I’d imagine around one-third have their clocks set on EST.

Bottom line
Anderson’s MFE program is one of the best programs with its unique areas of strength. Housed under the Anderson business school and driven by finance department, it has been designed to be compact, rigorous and yet well-rounded. Plus, it happens to be in one of the coolest cities to not just study, but also work in.

I graduated from class 2015 and here is my review:

Good:
1. The program is in business school. Compared with many other MFE programs, it looks decent at least.
2. Really famous faculties in finance area. Some of them even provide personal connections to help students find summer internships and full-time jobs
3. Comprehensive curriculums.
4. Weather and view.
5. Safe. It's in Westwood, close to stone canyon and beverly hills.

Not that good:
1. Need more serious programming training since most candidates didn't graduate from computer science program. Algorithm, Data Structure, Database and Machine Learning are essential for job hunting. As for the programming skill set, we have enough training on Matlab, R and SAS. However, we lack training on python and C++(or Java) which are even more important.
2. If the program could be longer, that would be better. Having 4 classes in one quarter, it's a bit too much. Students need more time to prepare interviews and improve skill sets which are missed in the curriculums.

All in all, it is a very good program. The job placement is very good. The rate of summer internship return offer is pretty high. The ranking of 2015 in Quantnet didn't reflect the true value of UCLA MFE.

I’m a recent graduate from the UCLA Anderson MFE program. I enjoyed it very much and think it is an excellent program because of these reasons:

Courses/Subjects: The curriculum is broad and covers diverse aspects of finance (risk management, derivatives, quant asset management, risk management, etc.). I felt submerged in many aspects of finance and was able to build a deep understanding of the diverse quant models. All professors are outstanding and really teach the ins and outs of finance. They are specialists in their fields and many of them have helped shape the world of finance! Ideally, I would have liked to see even more programming intensive courses to prepare me even better for the job search afterwards.

Career Services: It was great to have a team dedicated to help you find internships and full-time employment. I got advice on cover letters, my resume, interviews, where to steer my career and much more. The school is well connected to the industry and is always expanding its connections through its alumni network and I was able to leverage upon that. I was able to get a foot in the door with several finance companies across the US through the Anderson alumni network to find a job/internship. But remember, it was always up to me, the candidate, to find a job and be as prepared and qualified as possible. It took a lot of hard work. Going the extra mile in my area of interest was what made me stand out and helped me secure a job.

Advice to applicants: the job market in quant finance is highly competitive. It is good to know what you want before the program starts so that you can really focus on that field and become an expert. CFA and FRM certifications help you prepare for the program but programming skills in Matlab, R, Python, C++, etc. are more important to have before the program starts. It’s a real challenge to learn programming skills from scratch during this intense program.

I would highly recommend this program if you are profoundly interested in quantitative finance.

My Experience:
The reason why I am writing this review is because the UCLA MFE has been underplayed by most applicants as a weak/fledgling program and to increase awareness amongst new applicants about the UCLA MFE and my experience. As a current student in the UCLA MFE 2014 batch, I can say my experience has been absolutely fantastic. Having an undergrad in engineering and an MBA in finance coupled with experience as a programmer, prop trader and a research analyst, I joined the program with a thirst to learn advanced Math & Stats, build and implement models in Finance and move into the buy-side of the financial industry. The information and knowledge imparted in the course was much more than what I had expected and am very satisfied.


About the program:
Since the program spans for only 14 months, it can be extremely demanding, but the knowledge gained in those 14 months is enormous. Students gain a high level of proficiency in subjects like Econometrics, Stochastic Calculus and Computational methods in Finance along with enhanced programming skills in MATLAB, R and SAS.

Job placement:
The career management cell does an excellent job reaching out to companies and everyone has been very successful in securing an internship in my batch. I can't speak about full time jobs, since I am yet to graduate. But looking at the previous batch, I am quite confident that our batch will be well placed. You should also keep in mind that the career management can get you an interview, not a job! It is up to the candidate to impress and convince potential employers of his/her skills and knowledge.


Pros & Cons:
Although, UCLA covers all areas in quantitative finance, the course material caters more towards careers in Asset Management and Hedge funds. If you are looking for an HFT or intense C++ programming or a pure Math finance course then this is not for you. The UCLA MFE is a fine balance achieved by combining the necessary applied Math, Stat and Programming to the field of Finance.


Best taught subjects:
1) Econometrics by Prof. Hanno Lustig: Almost parallel to the PhD level 1 class taught by Prof. Cochrane at Chicago Booth.
2) Fixed Income by Prof. Francis Longstaff: Taught by the man himself. Co-inventor of the LSM method used to price path dependent options which is used by most option pricing models and many more path-breaking achievements.
3) Quantitative Assent Management by Prof. Jason Hsu: CIO of Research Affiliates, which manages more than $169 Billion. What works and what does not from the practical standpoint.
4) Computational Methods in Finance by Prof. Levon Goukasian: Specialist in Portfolio Optimization. After this class you can price almost any derivative security by solving or implementing SDEs and PDEs


My advice to new applicants:
1) Know what you want: It is very important to understand why you want the MFE and what career track you wish to pursue after the MFE. If its Investment Banking associate or corporate finance or general jobs in finance, get an MBA!
2) Be open minded:- A trader at an I-bank is no longer the ideal job! Even if you believe it is, not everyone can get it. Look at other job profiles, the industry is booming with quant jobs in Risk Management and Analytics.
3) Get a CFA level 1 if you don't have experience in finance. The exam will help you answer the most important question, are you really passionate about finance?


Bottom Line:
I won't be surprised if you see the UCLA MFE ranked amongst the top 5 in the next few years.

What do you think is unique about this program?
The faculty at UCLA Anderson is truly great. Most of the courses are very hands-on, you learned a lot of techniques and skills in solving real-world problems. Many professors come with an industry background, so it's interesting to hear them talk about how what we learned in the class could be applied to real world. I especially enjoyed the Fixed Income class given by Professor Francis Longstaff. His class got me interested in the world of fixed income, and the class material proves to be pretty practical and useful when it comes to my current job in short term interest rate trading.

The Quantitative Asset Management class given by Professor Jason Hsu provides the most up to date material in the asset management industry, including the research method they employed and the latest trend in the industry, as the professor himself works as CIO at an asset management firm. The Computation Finance class is a good combination of learning the derivatives pricing theory and the techniques of pricing those options and mortgage backed securities, which is the critical part to financial engineering. All in all, I was really satisfied with the organization of classes and the quality of the faculty.

The fact that UCLA MFE program is housed under Anderson school is one of the reasons why I chose this program against others, because being in business school gives you more resources in terms of job search, networking with alum and learning finance from a more business world point of view. The guest speaker sessions arranged by school, conversation on finance, and the NY Wall Street orientation street are all very good resources in helping you understand more about the finance industry, and that's something you can only find at a business school.

Career services
In terms of career service, we have a dedicated career director at UCLA MFE. The program works really hard in helping placing every student for summer internship and full time. Given that the program is still pretty young, not many bulge-bracket investment banks would come all the way to LA to set up an on campus recruit for our MFE students, but we have very good connection with local buy-side firms in LA, and the network and reputation is starting to build up.

But no matter how strong the school's brand name is, in the end, job search still comes down to whether you have a solid enough resume to catch hiring manager's attention. As far as I know, we had many classmates who got interviewed by investment banks and big asset management shops, so getting interviews is not a concern. The harder part falls on whether you are well prepared for interviews, and that's something that can only be done by you.

UCLA Anderson has a great finance faculty, who along side a good career service provide a great help in defining your ambition and rigour.

What do you think is unique about this program?
Faculty is great and very focused. Secondly, owing to part of management school, the program provides a overall grooming quite well. It is more like Finance MBA with a great deal of quantitative focus- in my view.

What are the weakest points about this program?
Too many courses in shorter time but this going to be changed from 2013 as the new program will be probably 14/15 months long.

Career services
It is quite good and after talking to seniors and comparing with our opportunities- I feel that placement service has become a lot better and and there is lot more visibility for this program on both- east coast and west coast.

Student body
Through career services predominantly. Moreover various events/trips are organized by career services, which help in building networks. Moreover, since this program is in business school- there is no dearth of networking. This is quite useful.