2025 QuantNet Rankings of Quantitative Finance, Financial Engineering Programs

We are pleased to announce the publication of the QuantNet 2025 Rankings of Financial Engineering programs.
The full 2025 QuantNet MFE ranking is released here
For comparison, the 2024 QuantNet MFE ranking is here.

 

[marcusaurelius]

Ah wonderful, thanks for this.

 

[Patto]

What is everyone thinking about the 2025 rankings? Curious to hear people thoughts on some of the big jumps in the ranking this year.
@LinearAlgebraLover @twood @zephyrus @MikeLawrence

 

[Kevin Griffin]

@Andy Nguyen out of curiosity, would you ever consider posting more information about compensation distributions. In particular, I think it'd be interesting to see median compensation.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

@Andy Nguyen out of curiosity, would you ever consider posting more information about compensation distributions. In particular, I think it'd be interesting to see median compensation.

It is always better to have meaningful data. I definitely would love to share them when I have access to them.

 

[CustomHits]

The employment rates is very interesting... shows that nothing is guaranteed!

 

[MichaelLewis]

Would be cool to add a column that shows the number of spots the program in read or decreased in the rankings relative to prior year. Seems like a big shake up this year.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Yes, that idea did cross my mind. In the meantime, we do keep track of each program's rank over the years. Here is an example

Princeton University - Master in Finance - Extra info

quantnet.com

 

[LinearAlgebraLover]

For the employment “3 months” data, how was this captured? Was this only considered for related careers to FE or is this any employment? Some jumps in employment from post graduation to 3 months are a bit large

 

[zephyrus]

What is everyone thinking about the 2025 rankings? Curious to hear people thoughts on some of the big jumps in the ranking this year.
@LinearAlgebraLover @twood @zephyrus @MikeLawrence

To me, the three main observations are: MIT jumping back to 5, Courant falling heavily and GT entering top 10. I think all of them can be explained by the employment figures, it was a bad market in general.

 

[tired_aspirant]

Can anyone help me understand what does the 2025 data stand for? Because Fall 2025 admissions are still going on and current batch ( started in Aug 2024) is batch of 2024. What exactly 2025 data represent? Example 28% acceptance rate for NYU Tandon 2025

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Can anyone help me understand what does the 2025 data stand for? Because Fall 2025 admissions are still going on and current batch ( started in Aug 2024) is batch of 2024. What exactly 2025 data represent? Example 28% acceptance rate for NYU Tandon 2025

2025 Rankings takes inputs as below

• Admissions data for students starting in Spring and/or Fall 2024.
• Employment data for graduates in Dec 2023 or May 2024 (depends on programs).

For example, looking at NYU Tandon acceptance rate in the 2025 rankings, the 28% is based on those starting in Fall 2024.
This same rule applies across the data in our rankings.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

For the employment “3 months” data, how was this captured? Was this only considered for related careers to FE or is this any employment? Some jumps in employment from post graduation to 3 months are a bit large

The survey sent to programs follows a standardized format for calculating and reporting placement data at graduation and the three-month mark, a process we’ve maintained consistently for many years. Programs are responsible for surveying their graduates and providing accurate and truthful data.

If you come across figures that seem incorrect, we encourage you to bring it to the program’s attention. They are best positioned to verify and confirm the data.

 

[Tigga]

Some jumps in employment from post graduation to 3 months are a bit large

Looking at the TableView of the rankings, Columbia MFE stands out with the jump from 37% to 100% for 3 months. Does this look off to you?
Blink twice if yes.
I heard rumors about it in the past and looking at their recent reviews, it's hard to believe the 100% placement.

 

[GWeitz]

Let’s cut to the chase shall we: 260k (very impressive) average first year comp on a 125k investment doesn’t seem like a great ROI given the other options… Needless to mention the positive skew of these distributions. Oh and an extra semester of unemployment… Do you think adding ROI as a factor is important? @Andy Nguyen

 

[MichaelLewis]

Let’s cut to the chase shall we: 260k (very impressive) average first year comp on a 125k investment doesn’t seem like a great ROI given the other options… Needless to mention the positive skew of these distributions. Oh and an extra semester of unemployment… Do you think adding ROI as a factor is important? @Andy Nguyen

really?

$260K first year … over let’s say 30 years. Seems like a great investment.

 

[GWeitz]

really?

$260K first year … over let’s say 30 years. Seems like a great investment.

Sorry, what?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Let’s cut to the chase shall we: 260k (very impressive) average first year comp on a 125k investment doesn’t seem like a great ROI given the other options… Needless to mention the positive skew of these distributions. Oh and an extra semester of unemployment… Do you think adding ROI as a factor is important? @Andy Nguyen

Factoring in ROI when evaluating programs is certainly a valid approach, and it’s likely that many applicants already perform their own mental ROI calculations by considering variables like tuition, compensation, cost of living, and other factors.

In fact, numerous publications already rank colleges based on ROI, providing valuable insights for prospective students. Programs with lower tuition and high comp like Baruch usually performs very well in those rankings.
Here is an example

https://newscenter.baruch.cuny.edu/news/baruch-named-best-value-college-2024-the-princeton-review/

 

[Tigga]

By @MRoss

Mark Ross on LinkedIn: WARNING: Anti-College Rant INCOMING... 😤 Columbia Universities Master's… | 19 comments

WARNING: Anti-College Rant INCOMING... 😤 Columbia Universities Master's in Financial Engineering program ranked #6 on QuantNet's list this year. TBH, without… | 19 comments on LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com

 

[LinearAlgebraLover]

By @MRoss

Mark Ross on LinkedIn: WARNING: Anti-College Rant INCOMING... 😤 Columbia Universities Master's… | 19 comments

WARNING: Anti-College Rant INCOMING... 😤 Columbia Universities Master's in Financial Engineering program ranked #6 on QuantNet's list this year. TBH, without… | 19 comments on LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com

Appears to unfortunately be a fairly accurate and consistent post with nearly all information regarding the program. Truly is only hanging on by the schools reputation, it really is a shame that career services could care less whether the students are employed. I do wonder if that 100% employment after 3 months is somehow inflated, it seems suspicious.

 

[kombuchalover]

Let’s cut to the chase shall we: 260k (very impressive) average first year comp on a 125k investment doesn’t seem like a great ROI given the other options… Needless to mention the positive skew of these distributions. Oh and an extra semester of unemployment… Do you think adding ROI as a factor is important? @Andy Nguyen

What other schools do you think have a better ROI? Maybe Baruch? To me it seems like only Baruch offers a better ROI.