University of Minnesota - Master of Financial Mathematics

As far as I can see, this program is great for students who has both mathematical and programming background. The courses provide deep insight of the financial world. And the teachers are from the industry who can offer us the first-hand information. Besides, the seminars are held weekly to help us keep in touch with the industry.

The MFM program at UMN has introduced me to various topics in the field of quant finance. Given the length of 2 years, it is hard to cover every comprehensive topic on an in-depth level. Nevertheless, the broad gamut of presented topics (e.g. stochastic calculus, statistical analysis such as VaR, copula, Bayesian, time series, the classical Black-Scholes, interest rate modeling, credit risk, numerical PDEs, etc) has allowed me to have a good feel for each subject. Most importantly, the program has a very strong network of experienced practicioners in the Twin Cities and Chicago areas. That has personally allowed me to tap into the well-connected network to eek my own research advisors who help guide my independent studies on my interested topics. As long as you're driven to learn and explore, there will always be mentors willing to help you. Furthermore, I also have been able to build very strong network with classmates who currently work in the field and get engaged in 'real-world' conversations.

Ultimately, how much I am driven to learn defines how much I got out of the program. My philosophy is that it is the students who guide their own academic and career pursuits. No classroom in the world can babysit and teach me through every single aspect of quant finance. Advisors and instructors are there to make sure I do my best to get what I want, NOT to grant me an automatic job nor baby feed me the highest specialist expertise. I have done so much work on my own, using the available resources and so when I heard classmates complaining about not being able to land a job or to study much as they had hoped for, I pity them for not doing themselves as a good favor with those great resources offered at the U.

Overall, I find the program worth my money. I came in with not so much quant skills (only a Finance/ CS major in Undergrad) but after 2 years of a lot of pain and hard work, I've learned so much. That lands me a great job in risk management in a big bank right when I finish the program.

Very resourceful faculty and advisers.
Pretty good job placement. (Most students who want to find a job find a job. )
Things learnt from class are really practical since faculty are from the industry and working with knowledge they taught us day t o day.
Weather is okay (except this year....) Twin cities are pretty decent metropolis in mid-west. We have many financial entities who hire every year.

Very helpful director: Approachable and gives personalized coaching and advice too.
a big percentage of your classmates are working professionals, who you might work for in the future. ( Faculty too)
Location is a slight disadvantage ( if you want to work for a NYC firm , you will have to fly out there by yourself for interviews etc). But if you plan to work in the twin cities area ( this program makes you top dog here.)
Nice place to live. Hedge funds and actuarial firms. For hardcore quant stuff ( chicago is 7 hours drive).

1 important thing about this program is that its very flexible. You can take any related courses in the other departments(even after finishing FinMath credits) and can also extend your program as long as your i20 allows it ( for international students) . So you can tailor your program according to your needs. You can take Machine learning, DSP , in fact any course related to your field.

The MFM is a great opportunity for students looking to gain a well rounded education in the Mathematical Finance space. The Twin Cities has a well diversified economy which includes a strong financial industry which supports the University of Minnesota and in particular this program.

The course work and faculty have really expanded and matured my talents. I was originally geared towards the actuarial side of things and have now all but abandoned it due to the program enlightening me to other career paths.

I particularly enjoyed the software development skills I have gained as well as the industry perspectives the majority working finance professionals faculty bring.

As a local student it gave me the opportunity to work and learn as the classes are in the evenings, for me this has been great as I have had the chance to see the class room side as well as the office side of things.

All in all it has been a positive experience for my peers (local and international) and I and it is has always been improving and growing during my time in the program.

-John Drinane

One of the main reasons I chose the MFM program at the University of Minnesota was that many of the MFM faculty are not only Math PhDs, they are also practicing quants, risk managers and traders. The curriculum gave me a strong foundation in the theoretical math required to get a deep understanding in the math finance applications taught later on in the program. The practitioners’ course with multiple modules taught by industry practitioners and the intensive year-long programming course using problems from finance greatly enhanced the skills I use in my quantitative risk analyst job today.

This MFM program fosters both mathematical skills and business astuteness. As a quant analyst, I have to be a bridge between highly technical researchers and business people. Because many of our MFM instructors were from different areas within the quant finance industry, they not only taught us advanced mathematical theories but also how to fully leverage our unique quant skills in a business setting. Also I really liked the program's career development support. It opened my mind and got me focused on building my career rather than just looking for a job. I was able to talk with my MFM career coach often. She helped me network and take advantage of MCFAM’s broad practitioner network. From talking to many successful people already in the industry, I gradually got a clear picture of what kind of financial field I wanted to be in.

It is part of one of the most important department of mathematics in the world that is way it combine a strong preparation of math skills and theory with the regular seminar with real practioners of the quantitative finance sector.
Students obtein the advises of people working in the field and work to solve real problems getting experience an knowledge of the labor market.
The Director is really working on having a great labor placement, so there is a big percentage of students who finish the program having a job.
It is a great program to enroll, and is getting more and more important.

It is hard to find so delicate a program which strikes a wonderful balance between theory and practice. Backed up by the strong faculty of mathematical department, this umn program is destined to gain a lot more success in the near future. No reason to miss it!

Nice program mainly because the people and stuff are excellent.
if you are eager to learn something, you can have quite a lot of options of minor in statistics, economics and computer science which are also quite helpful when you are searching jobs in US.
This is one of the high valuable programs across the country and I believe with Laurie's efforts, we are building the reputation in different areas now.

Good program and we can learn a lot in the modeling workshop and projects from the course work. The advisor is very helpful in job hunting and can always give a lot of good suggestion.

The Master of Financial Mathematics Program at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities is one of the top programs in financial mathematics/financial engineering. The courses offered in the program are comprehensive, covering a wide range of topics from mathematical background in finance (probability and measure theory, stochastic calculus, statistics, time series, optimization) to practical applications (options, futures and other derivatives, risk and asset allocation, fixed income markets, copula models and MCMC, volatility models, mortgage backed securities) to computer programming (MATLAB, C#, Excel VBA) in financial engineering. The rigorous coursework and challenging projects are beneficial to all who are interested in pursuing a career in quantitative finance. The faculty members (both professors from the University and practitioners from the industry) are nice and knowledgeable. The fellow students are smart and hard-working. The executive director of the program is very supportive of the students with respect to their job search, placement and career development. Graduates from the program land very decent jobs in the finance industry. In addition, the tuition of the program is relative low compared to similar programs in the US, and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities has one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever seen. Overall, the Master of Financial Mathematics program at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities has a lot to offer, and I highly recommend those of you who are interested in financial mathematics/financial engineering to apply and come to the program!

A good program offers you a lot of opportunities to learn from practitioners and participate in activities in the financial community in the twin cities. Good reputation among local firms.