Columbia MFE Any testimonies of careers service and career prospects at Columbia?

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PraveenK

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Hi everyone,

I have received an offer for the Columbia MFE starting Fall this year. But I've read a couple reviews saying that the careers service at Columbia isn't stellar. I've read about CMU's MSCF and the prospects seemed to be a lot better. Am I losing out by going to Columbia? I feel this might be considered a silly question as Columbia is well reputed, but I am an international student from a very poor country paying over $100,000. And I want to know whether I am getting the best out of it?

Is there anyone who is an alumnus of Columbia who can give me some updated information about the prospects at bulge bracket investment banks/hedge funds? I've looked at the webpage but the statistics are outdated.

Many thanks in advance,

Cheers
 
I've read thousands of threads about programs and career services and my conclusion is: if you're smart enough you'll end up grabbing a legit full time job by going to any decent program, even without an internship, if you're just an average student then yes career services do matter.
 
xiaoyin said:
I've read thousands of threads about programs and career services and my conclusion is: if you're smart enough you'll end up grabbing a legit full time job by going to any decent program, even without an internship, if you're just an average student then yes career services do matter.
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op doesnt want to hear this. he wants reassurance. unless someone provides that, he wont stop asking
 
IntoDarkness said:
op doesnt want to hear this. he wants reassurance. unless someone provides that, he wont stop asking
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for you to tell me I'm going to get a job. I know you can't do that. Which is precisely why I'm asking for an alumnus of the institution for his/her opinion.

I'm aware that with enough effort, students from decent programs will get jobs but in the past, I've cut my internship prospects by attending a semi-target undergraduate institution at best which is why I'm looking into this in detail.

Columbia are not providing me with extra information which is why I've turned to my peers. Is anyone able to help?

Cheers.
 
well no one can give op reassurance. even CMU does not have 100% placement rate. if op wants to know, he can go to linkedin and search. i would say CMU has better career services; at least they have strong ties with DB. Columbia has MSFE, MSOR, and MAFN programs that are competing for similar positions. however, both programs will let you pass through HR screening. then it is up to you to impress people. if you fuck up interviews, you have no one but yourself to blame.
keep in mind though, if you cant get a job in US, at least people know about Columbia when you go back to Europe; I cant say the same about CMU. that is the trade off you need to make.
maybe one day we will meet on campus. we almost became schoolmates(i got into IC too).
 
implol said:
well no one can give op reassurance. even CMU does not have 100% placement rate. if op wants to know, he can go to linkedin and search. i would say CMU has better career services; at least they have strong ties with DB. Columbia has MSFE, MSOR, and MAFN programs that are competing for similar positions. however, both programs will let you pass through HR screening. then it is up to you to impress people. if you fuck up interviews, you have no one but yourself to blame.
keep in mind though, if you cant get a job in US, at least people know about Columbia when you go back to Europe; I cant say the same about CMU. that is the trade off you need to make.
maybe one day we will meet on campus. we almost became schoolmates(i got into IC too).
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Other programs are also competing with MSOR and MAFN students as well.
 
implol said:
well no one can give op reassurance. even CMU does not have 100% placement rate. if op wants to know, he can go to linkedin and search. i would say CMU has better career services; at least they have strong ties with DB. Columbia has MSFE, MSOR, and MAFN programs that are competing for similar positions. however, both programs will let you pass through HR screening. then it is up to you to impress people. if you fuck up interviews, you have no one but yourself to blame.
keep in mind though, if you cant get a job in US, at least people know about Columbia when you go back to Europe; I cant say the same about CMU. that is the trade off you need to make.
maybe one day we will meet on campus. we almost became schoolmates(i got into IC too).
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Thanks for your reply mate,

Yeah I've already done the linkedin search but I haven't been able to find a lot of information. But thank you for your insight. I have the personality to impress at interviews but technical knowledge has not been my forte as I've always been a Mathematics/Science student trying to get a sell-side internship. I guess Columbia would give me sound technical knowledge.

My goal is to get as many interviews with firms of the same stature as GS, MS and DB. Are you going to Columbia as well or are you going to Imperial?
 
PraveenK said:
Thanks for your reply mate,

Yeah I've already done the linkedin search but I haven't been able to find a lot of information. But thank you for your insight. I have the personality to impress at interviews but technical knowledge has not been my forte as I've always been a Mathematics/Science student trying to get a sell-side internship. I guess Columbia would give me sound technical knowledge.

My goal is to get as many interviews with firms of the same stature as GS, MS and DB. Are you going to Columbia as well or are you going to Imperial?
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i am going to Columbia business school program. i do not like financial engineering that much.
 
Congrats on your offer first...
Business school has a better career service as opposed to engineering vs math department...bit unfair to compare its career service... but Columbia has a location advantage plus the big guy Derman... no need to worry...
 
PraveenK said:
Thanks for your reply mate,

Yeah I've already done the linkedin search but I haven't been able to find a lot of information. But thank you for your insight. I have the personality to impress at interviews but technical knowledge has not been my forte as I've always been a Mathematics/Science student trying to get a sell-side internship. I guess Columbia would give me sound technical knowledge.

My goal is to get as many interviews with firms of the same stature as GS, MS and DB. Are you going to Columbia as well or are you going to Imperial?
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what information were you lookin for on linkedIN?
 
TehRaio said:
what information were you lookin for on linkedIN?
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I searched for the profiles of people who have completed the MFE to get an idea of how post-study prospects are. I'm not sure if this search was extensive enough but I didn't see names like Goldman, MS etc but smaller asset management companies and hedge funds. This is why I asked the question.
 
PraveenK said:
I searched for the profiles of people who have completed the MFE to get an idea of how post-study prospects are. I'm not sure if this search was extensive enough but I didn't see names like Goldman, MS etc but smaller asset management companies and hedge funds. This is why I asked the question.
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i suggest that you do your research properly. i just did a quick search. i have seen people working in goldman sachs MS strats division. i do not know how many are actually able to get jobs like that. but i suspect the career prospects would be similar to CMU. the ones i saw were all class of 2014(most recent class).
 
PraveenK said:
I searched for the profiles of people who have completed the MFE to get an idea of how post-study prospects are. I'm not sure if this search was extensive enough but I didn't see names like Goldman, MS etc but smaller asset management companies and hedge funds. This is why I asked the question.
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use this:

columbia financial engineering morgan stanley site:linkedin.com


______


edit this if you want to see different results, as @impol it's all there.
if I can give you one advice though, don't focus on that kind of thing, as you may have noticed with a degree from Columbia or the other ivy league or top business schools: it's hard to go wrong. Maybe you will get the MS/GS jobs right out of college, or maybe it will take a year or two, who knows?
the only certainty you can have is that, wherever you go with your education, people will highly respect it: the rest is up to you. no degree is a magic key to a job, it's more like a damn good ax (or a katana is you're more into Japanese stuff like me lol ) that you can use to knock it down.
 
Hey Praveen
Did you have to give an interview?
If so, what were the areas you were tested on?
Were there a lot of technical questions?
 
Thanks TehRaio.

Swat, yes I did have an interview. There were no technical questions and he mainly asked me questions like why columbia and who else have you applied to. I was asked to define success, professionalism etc. That's all I remember of the interview. Good luck.
 
I was also accepted to both Columbia MSFE and CMU MSCF. I chose Columbia and I am very satisfied with my decision. Both are very good programs, but I think different personalities are better fits for either program. Columbia is mostly engineering minded. That being said, the program is designed to pack in the quickest, most useful stuff into a year, and get you ready for interviews faster than CMU, or Princeton which bog you down with theory which you don't need to know. That being said, Columbia caters to already very strong students that don't need a lot of handholding. CMU caters to students that want to be spoonfed everything. Also, people speak better English at CMU.

As for the career services, I think Columbia definitely has the best opportunities and the best employment and career services. But they don't help you that much beyond putting the employers in front of you. They have the best NYC connections, but it's up to the students to really take it. Not all know how. Hence, the complaints. CMU is more likely to hold your hand. Columbia has little sympathy for students who don't know how to help themselves. Quite frankly, that's how business works, and the best students from Columbia in my opinion, are better than the best students from CMU. As for me, I went through two great internships, and became a fixed income derivatives trader after graduation, all through Columbia career services. CMU is too academic/programming heavy for me. I'd rather be trading than doing quant/coding for the rest of my life. That's just my experience.

Feel free to PM me with questions.
 
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PraveenK said:
I searched for the profiles of people who have completed the MFE to get an idea of how post-study prospects are. I'm not sure if this search was extensive enough but I didn't see names like Goldman, MS etc but smaller asset management companies and hedge funds. This is why I asked the question.
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P.S. I know two from GS strats and three from MS trading/strats off the top of my head from my year alone. If you really want to see all the details, it might be a good idea to go talk to the department.
 

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