University of Toronto - Master of Financial Insurance

The MFI program's name is slightly misleading: The 'insurance' in the title would maybe lead you to believe that it's an actuarial science program, but in reality the coursework is more suited to a financial engineering / quantitative finance degree (Actuarial science is only 1 course in the entire year).

The coursework is difficult. The more theoretical courses (Like mathematical finance, machine learning, etc) have a thorough amount of theoretical depth for the class content, while focusing on the application of theoretical concepts for assignments.

The professors are some of the best you'll ever be taught by: They are leading authorities in their respective fields and don't only have experience in academia, but in the industry as well. If you're struggling with coursework, the professors are more than willing to take time out of their day to assist you, which great helped my time in the program.

The career services are not a 'get a free job' pass. They give you the tools and set up as many interviews for you with their contacts as possible. You still very much have to look for your own opportunities and grind internship applications, but the internship coordinators will be more than willing to help.

Employability after the program is mostly what you make of it. Most people get jobs in banking, portfolio management, risk or data science. Even though the degree helps a ton with employment, you still need to make an effort in networking, applying and learning additional skills.

The students admitted into the program are generally intelligent and hardworking. Most of them are nice, and a lot of them will most likely be lifelong industry connections.