Columbia MFE Columbia MFE Admission Discussion

[pmartin]

I was admitted last year, currently in my second semester. Hard to say how useful the courses are, first semester was mostly about the fundamental maths (stochastic, time series, convex opt), which could be boring for those with prior experience.

In terms of job opportunities, I know a couple of my classmates have secured their summer internships but I only regularly keep in touch with a few (hard to chat with 60+ people only relying on zoom/discord). I'd say from the ones I know of, it was a 3:1 split between banks and buy-side.

Maybe you can help me with a curiosity I am having. I posted this on a forum a few days ago:

“Hi everyone, I got accepted recently to the Cornell MFE Program and am still waiting to hear from Columbia. I have seen many people on other threads compare the two programs and, for the most part, award Columbia as the favorite. It seems that the two biggest biggest reasons for this is the reputation of Columbia's program and its superior location in NYC. I see how Cornell's location in Ithaca is problematic, but shouldn't this disadvantage be somewhat mitigated with the semester at CFEM? This would seem to allow for ample networking opportunities as one works with practitioners coupled with the excellent career services Cornell has that could be comparable to the advantage of Columbia's location. Why does their location and overall program excellence clearly exceed that of Cornell's even with the semester at CFEM? Anyone with a more informed perspective able to share some insights would be very helpful (fingers crossed I even get into Columbia).

I am also specifically leaning towards a career in quant research so if either program stands out as a better option given that, please let me know. Thank you guys!”

Maybe you have a better understanding of the two programs and can shed some light.

 

[raptormath]

I was admitted last year, currently in my second semester. Hard to say how useful the courses are, first semester was mostly about the fundamental maths (stochastic, time series, convex opt), which could be boring for those with prior experience.

In terms of job opportunities, I know a couple of my classmates have secured their summer internships but I only regularly keep in touch with a few (hard to chat with 60+ people only relying on zoom/discord). I'd say from the ones I know of, it was a 3:1 split between banks and buy-side.

Oh thats good to know, what I have observed from most universities latest admission q and a replies was they are trying to move thier program more toward data science and ml degree. Also most placements are offered for risk , data sci roles in colleges like ncsu, gatech etc. Wanted to know if columbia's program is rigorous for traning a student to make a career as quant researcher or analyst

 

[raptormath]

I was admitted last year, currently in my second semester. Hard to say how useful the courses are, first semester was mostly about the fundamental maths (stochastic, time series, convex opt), which could be boring for those with prior experience.

In terms of job opportunities, I know a couple of my classmates have secured their summer internships but I only regularly keep in touch with a few (hard to chat with 60+ people only relying on zoom/discord). I'd say from the ones I know of, it was a 3:1 split between banks and buy-side.

Oh thats good to know, what I have observed from most universities latest admission q and a replies was they are trying to move thier program more toward data science and ml degree. Also most placements are offered for risk , data sci roles in colleges like ncsu, gatech etc. Wanted to know if columbia's program is rigorous for traning a student to make a career as quant researcher or analyst

 

[noether-skolem]

Maybe you can help me with a curiosity I am having. I posted this on a forum a few days ago:

“Hi everyone, I got accepted recently to the Cornell MFE Program and am still waiting to hear from Columbia. I have seen many people on other threads compare the two programs and, for the most part, award Columbia as the favorite. It seems that the two biggest biggest reasons for this is the reputation of Columbia's program and its superior location in NYC. I see how Cornell's location in Ithaca is problematic, but shouldn't this disadvantage be somewhat mitigated with the semester at CFEM? This would seem to allow for ample networking opportunities as one works with practitioners coupled with the excellent career services Cornell has that could be comparable to the advantage of Columbia's location. Why does their location and overall program excellence clearly exceed that of Cornell's even with the semester at CFEM? Anyone with a more informed perspective able to share some insights would be very helpful (fingers crossed I even get into Columbia).

I am also specifically leaning towards a career in quant research so if either program stands out as a better option given that, please let me know. Thank you guys!”

Maybe you have a better understanding of the two programs and can shed some light.

I also got admitted into Cornell and UChicago aside from Columbia, but personally I don't consider those two to be on the same tier as Columbia (which I'd place alongside Princeton/Baruch/CMU/Berkeley as "tier 1" quant programs). I'm sure others will disagree with it, but that was (is) my stance.

Location-wise I don't think it's a super big deal, especially post-covid most, if not all of the big firms (banks/funds/prop) would have developed systems to interview/test applicants remotely, and by the time you recruit, it'd be their third time around (first was for Summer 20, then now Summer 21) so they should be more comfortable and prepared. I'm probably having a very skewed perception of the "NYC location" factor since I haven't really had many chances to go to campus or meet my classmates, let alone use the location advantage to network with people in the industry, maybe I'll have a different perspective after the vaccines are rolled out and we can go back to socializing, maybe not. Try to reach out to some Cornell MFE students or alumni, see whether they see the location as a disadvantage in their career development.

Oh thats good to know, what I have observed from most universities latest admission q and a replies was they are trying to move thier program more toward data science and ml degree. Also most placements are offered for risk , data sci roles in colleges like ncsu, gatech etc. Wanted to know if columbia's program is rigorous for traning a student to make a career as quant researcher or analyst

There are ML courses too (intro ML, deep learning, reinforcement learning, and possibly some others I haven't had the chance to look at), but the core courses are pretty vanilla (basic math finance intro, convex opt, stochastic, time series, continuous time models, monte carlo). Previously they were offered 3-3 in the first two semesters, so you take 3 cores + 1 elective in each semester, but this time around we had to do 4 of them in Fall and 2 in Spring possibly to accommodate those who joined in Fall B or Spring semesters (previously Columbia only admits people for Fall start).

Regarding my classmates' placement at banks, I think it's a pretty close breakdown between quant analytics and quant risk management roles, and a few of them got quant trading roles. Take this with a grain of salt, I didn't survey the entire class, these are only based on the few of them I'm close enough to discuss job offers with.

 

[raptormath]

I also got admitted into Cornell and UChicago aside from Columbia, but personally I don't consider those two to be on the same tier as Columbia (which I'd place alongside Princeton/Baruch/CMU/Berkeley as "tier 1" quant programs). I'm sure others will disagree with it, but that was (is) my stance.

Location-wise I don't think it's a super big deal, especially post-covid most, if not all of the big firms (banks/funds/prop) would have developed systems to interview/test applicants remotely, and by the time you recruit, it'd be their third time around (first was for Summer 20, then now Summer 21) so they should be more comfortable and prepared. I'm probably having a very skewed perception of the "NYC location" factor since I haven't really had many chances to go to campus or meet my classmates, let alone use the location advantage to network with people in the industry, maybe I'll have a different perspective after the vaccines are rolled out and we can go back to socializing, maybe not. Try to reach out to some Cornell MFE students or alumni, see whether they see the location as a disadvantage in their career development.


There are ML courses too (intro ML, deep learning, reinforcement learning, and possibly some others I haven't had the chance to look at), but the core courses are pretty vanilla (basic math finance intro, convex opt, stochastic, time series, continuous time models, monte carlo). Previously they were offered 3-3 in the first two semesters, so you take 3 cores + 1 elective in each semester, but this time around we had to do 4 of them in Fall and 2 in Spring possibly to accommodate those who joined in Fall B or Spring semesters (previously Columbia only admits people for Fall start).

Regarding my classmates' placement at banks, I think it's a pretty close breakdown between quant analytics and quant risk management roles, and a few of them got quant trading roles. Take this with a grain of salt, I didn't survey the entire class, these are only based on the few of them I'm close enough to discuss job offers with.

Got it thanks for the answer!.

 

[MFIN]

Anyone heard anything from Columbia yet?

 

[pmartin]

Anyone heard anything from Columbia yet?

No not yet. I’d imagine first batch will be sometime in the next 2 week. I’m not sure exactly when it was last year.

 

[Qui-Gon]

Seems like last year a few people heard back on February 3rd and then a sizable amount on February 10th. According to the tracker at least.

 

[another]

Seems like last year a few people heard back on February 3rd and then a sizable amount on February 10th. According to the tracker at least.

By saying "hear back" do you mean interview invite or admission decision?

 

[Qui-Gon]

By saying "hear back" do you mean interview invite or admission decision?

Admission decision. The 3rd, 10th, and 26th seem to be the 3 dates in February that the majority of those who got a decision in February received a response.

 

[Zoz]

Admission decision. The 3rd, 10th, and 26th seem to be the 3 dates in February that the majority of those who got a decision in February received a response.

Do they send out such decisions based on the time of application submission? Any idea?

 

[Qui-Gon]

Do they send out such decisions based on the time of application submission? Any idea?

No idea. I think the only way to answer that question is to reach out to admissions because I doubt anyone here will know the specifics. That said, I would advise against contacting them for something like this. I wouldn't worry yourself about whether submitting your app closer to the deadline means a result coming later. I know it's hard not to be curious, but the time will pass.

 

[Zoz]

No idea. I think the only way to answer that question is to reach out to admissions because I doubt anyone here will know the specifics. That said, I would advise against contacting them for something like this. I wouldn't worry yourself about whether submitting your app closer to the deadline means a result coming later. I know it's hard not to be curious, but the time will pass.

Sure. Thanks!

 

[MFIN]

Does anyone hear anything from Columbia MFE?

 

[pmartin]

Does anyone hear anything from Columbia MFE?

I have not yet. I haven’t heard of anyone else that has received a decision yet either. I speculate that the first batch of decisions will be sent out this week, possibly next week.

 

[ljsid]

Just received my admit. Check your inboxes!!

 

[Qui-Gon]

Just received my admit. Check your inboxes!!

Got mine as well! Time to celebrate!

 

[EverythingPOINT]

Just received my admit. Check your inboxes!!

Congrats guys. Received mine as well. Cheers!

 

[bosbop]

Yes, I am glad for the admission. The dinger is to accept/deny by 23rd, with $4K deposit. I am not sure about such an aggressive timeline.
Any comments?

 

[raptormath]

Hi congratulations for all the students who got admits from Columbia today, just wanted to know when is the deposit deadline for you guys.