COMPARE Carnegie Mellon University MSCF vs University of Chicago MSFM

[neill_gonz]

81% of CMU students had no full time work experience in 2024 according to the 2024 class profile…

of those 81%, how many had prior internship experience? (It's a lot easier to get placements with prior internships)

 

[kombuchalover]

of those 81%, how many had prior internship experience? (It's a lot easier to get placements with prior internships)

If you haven’t had an internship you have no chance of landing a higher end quant internship anyway (hedge fund / prop shop trading/research) to be honest with you. Having an internship is a very low bar. I don’t think students having an internship discredits CMUs placement if that is what you’re getting at.

 

[neill_gonz]

If you haven’t had an internship you have no chance of landing a higher end quant internship anyway (hedge fund / prop shop trading/research) to be honest with you. Having an internship is a very low bar. I don’t think students having an internship discredits CMUs placement if that is what you’re getting at.

Usually, yes, but in the current market where a good amount of firms don't take in a lot of interns (say 10/2000 from my experience), those without internships/experience will be forced to go for a master's to avoid CV gaps

 

[Siiilvaaa]

These are objective opinions from the data that CMU MSCF is superior to UChicago in various aspects.

- Rankings
As you can see from the QuantNet ranking, CMU is #3 behind Princeton and Baruch, but UChicago is #7.

- Carrier Outcomes
CMU has one of the strongest connections in New York (because CMU MSCF has a campus there), where top-tier funds and investment banks are most concentrated, alongside of Baruch, MIT and Columbia, so if you want a job in New York or Pittsburgh, CMU is your better choice. My friend also attended CMU New York campus and received an offer from a hedge fund. (The basic premise is that the market has been bad for the past few years, so employment results have been down everywhere.)

- Expected Salary.
According to official data, the average salary at CMU MSCF is $165,025, while UChicago MSFM is $134,285. If the scholarship from UChicago is $20,000 - $30,000, I will chose CMU. Because there is a $30,000 difference in just the first year, and this difference is compounded and widened every year if you can work in NYC, the financial capital of the world.

- Quality of Education
Regarding cohort size, CMU is 101 (NUC: 53, PGH 48) and Chicago is 153; CMU is more likely to have a higher quality education with closer distance to professors. Financial engineering professors are usually well-known practitioners in the industry, so connections with them are very important. Actually my friend I mentioned got a summer internship (and was subsequently hired) at HF in NY through a professor's referral and recommendation.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Hey everyone! I was fortunate enough to be accepted into both these prestigious programs and want to decide between these two universities. After comparing final costs (includes living costs + tuition - scholarship) UChicago would be cheaper by about 25-30k for me. I wanted to gather input on whether it is worth picking CMU over UChicago and what factors lead to the differentiation between the two. For context: I am okay with the Chicago weather (used to the weather) and I will not be taking any loans to fund my masters (however, the 25-30k will be a bit of a strain on my finances). I appreciate your input! I would love to hear any nuanced opinion as I have done my preliminary search online and talked to a few students from both the universities. Thank you in advance!

Looks like you picked CMU based on the advice from the other members.