COMPARE Columbia University MAFN vs NYU Tandon MFE

[Chr]

I got accepted this week (PT) to both schools. turnaround time was about 2 months for both.

for full disclosure, i applied to these NY programs because 1-i need to remain in NYC, 2-i need to enroll PT, 3-both schools/programs gave me a gre/gmat waiver...and of course that's why i didnt apply to some of the other programs.

my thoughts: i like the curriculum of nyu poly better because they teach math for the sake of understanding quant finance whereas cu mafn teaches math for the sake of math with some finance sprinkled in there......the columbia name remains slightly more prestigious than nyu poly and therefore may be more helpful when looking for a job or self promotion at my current employer.

would anyone like to chime in?

and good luck to those who are still waiting.

 

[Joy Pathak]

.the columbia name remains slightly more prestigious than nyu poly and therefore may be more helpful when looking for a job or self promotion at my current employer.


Lol, SLIGHTLY???

Are you thinking Nyu-Poly is same as going to NYU? That is not the case ALTHOUGH you can go take courses at NYU. . Search through the forums, and you will see the views of students on Nyu-Poly.

I would suggest picking Columbia given your situation. It will get you farther with your current employer and in general than the degree from NYU-Poly will. Since you're not looking entry level positions, you might as well pick Columbia.

You would have to pick though! I donot know enough about the curriculum of either program, but if you're solely picking on curriculum then I can see your justification. Otherwise, based on ALL classifications, Columbia MAFN or even their MSOR surpasses Nyu-poly MFE.

I have heard from a current student there(Nyu-poly) that they are improving the program.

 

[john k]

I have recently been accepted FT to both of these programs and although I am leaning towards Columbia, I was hoping to get some input before making a decision. I have been working as an actuary for over 3 years and am looking to eventually make the jump to a trading role after finishing my degree and getting some experience under my belt. As I understand it, the MAFN program is more theory focused while the NYU Poly program places a greater emphasis on practical implementation. NYU Poly's program is also significantly cheaper.

Anyone have any thoughts on which might be a better fit?

 

[Jedison]

Columbia by a long shot. Brand name, quality of courses/teaching, recruiting, alumni network...the list goes on

 

[CasanovaJ]

"NYU Poly places greater emphasis on practical application, and NYU Poly's program is significantly cheaper"

Where are you getting either of those?

 

[Jedison]

I wouldn't disagree with either of those purely on the basis that the MathFin curriculum is highly theoretical and Columbia's tuition is stupidly high. That being said, having a good practical skill set and saving some money on your education isn't worth much if you can't get a job. I think your background as an actuary will definitely help but breaking into Wall Street, particularly in those front office roles that pretty much everybody getting an MFE are looking for, is extremely difficult. The major IB's resume drops online are basically black holes. You might get some interviews from smaller firms or prop houses that way but the positions that most aspiring quants are looking for are hard to get if you're not going through campus recruiting. That's why I think it's worth overlooking the theoretical nature and the price tag that comes with the MathFin program.

 

[CasanovaJ]

OK, I looked this one up... looks like NYU Poly is about $45k, and Columbia is $57k-- point taken.

As far as "practical" goes, looking at the NYU Poly core curriculum--

"Financial Accounting--
This course provides a solid foundation in the construction and interpretation of financial statements. Topics include accounting terminology; financial statement preparation and analysis; liquidity and credit risk ratios; depreciation calculations; revenue recognition; and accrued liabilities and asset valuation. Also covered are the effects of equity transactions; cash flows; and various accounting methods on financial statements.

Economic Foundations in Finance--
This course studies the interactions between money, the financial system and the economy. Topics include supply and demand; consumer theory; theory of the firm; production costs and other subject areas such as interest rates and asset returns. This course summarizes key insights from financial economics as the methodological and conceptual basis of financial engineering.

Corporate Finance--
The modern corporation, as issuer of financial securities and end-user of financial risk-management products, is a major participant in financial markets and the economic counterpart to investors and financial intermediaries. The mechanism of financial markets and the valuation of instruments are studied in further detail in other courses. However, this course applies the tools of the trade of financial economics and corporate finance to the financial decision-making process of firms. Upon successful completion of this course, students know how to contribute to optimal financial decisions in a corporation: valuation; capital budgeting; risk; capital structure; dividend policy; long-term financing; risk management; and mergers and acquisitions. Increasingly important international factors that affect corporate finance are stressed throughout."

You won't learn this stuff at Columbia, but if it's what you're looking for, I'd suggest just saving $40k and taking CFA Level 1... If the other argument is that "NYU Poly is heavier on programming," this may just be me but while I don't personally see it as an absolute deal-killer to be charged insane tuition to be taught graduate-level math (which I'm actually expecting to be legitimately tough), there's something that massively irks me about the idea of paying $5k/course to be taught something that I think any sharp ten year old could probably learn by downloading a copy of Visual Studio and googling "learn C++"... I'm not trying to trivialize the difficulty of programming, but plenty of people pull it off without paying an arm and a leg for it... MAFN focuses on the tough math, they do it well, and then they call it day.

 

[john k]

Thanks for the input. Seems like Columbia is the better choice given that I will have the option to take some electives outside of the math dept if I feel like I need to develop my programming/technical skills (I've picked up enough VBA, R and SQL to be effective at my last two jobs but I feel like some formal coursework would be nice as the competition in this area seems like it will be much tougher when I move to finance).

 

[ADT]

The major IB's resume drops online are basically black holes.

That was what I initially thought and believed, until I started work and saw otherwise. From anecdotal experience, resumes do get picked out from online resume dumps under two scenarios.

A) You have specific experience that they were looking for (e.g. a first year full-time analyst at a BB NYC in credit risk with no prior IBD experience got pulled into another BB in NYC for an IBD front-office role via online resume dump - why? Because this person had prior internship experience in equity research AND he was in credit risk covering Corporates, and that was useful for their FIG IBD group.)

B) Another situation but this time in Securities (i.e. S&T/Research) at another BB in NYC - summer analyst class was full of your target school/type-A/networking ninjas type candidates who probably networked like crazy and aced their interviews with ~3.5 and above GPAs. But there were a handful from non-target schools who got pulled from online resumes - why? Because of SKYHIGH GPAs, and by that I mean >3.95, basically acing every single class for ~5 semesters despite taking difficult/technical classes in math/econ/etc.

I guess the takeaway is, always try. You never know.

 

[nybound]

Hi, I just received two offers this month, one from Tandon MFE and another one from Columbia MAFN. The deposit ddl for Tandon MFE is Feb. 28, and I don't think there will be another result coming before this date. So I have to make a decision before that, yet it is kind of a hard decision to make. I did find a few posts about this comparison, but most of them are from about two years ago. Since it looks to me that Tandon MFE is on a fast-growing phase, I am looking for some suggestions as of 2021.

Here's a little bit about myself: I'm a Math and Econ undergrad from a US college. I took some finance and accounting courses during undergrad, and I also took intro to CS and data structure. I don't have full time work experience and only a couple of 2-month internships, one of which is relative to quant.

Things I learned from my research of the two programs:

Tandon MFE: Dr. Carr and Sara are definitely improving the program year by year, especially in terms of career training. I fully understand the outcome of my job hunting is mostly about my own efforts instead of others, but as an international student with not many work or internship experience, the potential help from these two experienced people is really appealing to me. And I think the average class size of 15 people is also a plus. Also, their tuition is cheeper and they gave me an 8k scholarship. However, I am a little bit concerned about the big cohort size that is around 150 students, especially about whether the placement director can take good care of so many students.

Columbia MAFN: They have a more rigorous math curriculum. I am actually not sure if this is a pro or a con, since to me, I feel like a rigorous math foundation is quite important for a quant researcher, which is my career goal, and I am interested in rigorous math courses. But I've also seen people saying they are "too rigorous" and not useful at work or for interviews. Another good thing is the name "Columbia" might be better outside of the US, which I think I also need to take a little bit into consideration as I'm an international student. A big problem I saw people saying about this program is their "minimal" or "nonexistent" career service. I've seen people saying that this program is better for students with previous work experience who doesn't need that much career help, but for someone like me, it might not be that good.

So I will really appreciate some suggestions from you guys. Thanks in advance!

 

[Qui-Gon]

What is your programming background like aside from completing the QuantNet C++ course? I would potentially lean towards Tandon if you feel like you need to beef up your programming skills, otherwise, I think it is a toss-up and that you really can't go wrong with either. If you're planning on living close to campus, perhaps look at surrounding neighborhoods of both and see what you feel fits your preferences better. If I had to choose myself, I would go for MAFN because of the small cohort size and faculty. To be fair though, I haven't looked at Tandon's program closely enough.

I think to really make a decision that you will be satisfied with, you have to approach it systematically. I would get two pieces of paper, make two columns on each -- one +'s and one -'s -- and simply go through and write down as many things as you can for both programs. Congratulations, and good luck with your decision!

 

[nybound]

What is your programming background like aside from completing the QuantNet C++ course? I would potentially lean towards Tandon if you feel like you need to beef up your programming skills, otherwise, I think it is a toss-up and that you really can't go wrong with either. If you're planning on living close to campus, perhaps look at surrounding neighborhoods of both and see what you feel fits your preferences better. If I had to choose myself, I would go for MAFN because of the small cohort size and faculty. To be fair though, I haven't looked at Tandon's program closely enough.

I think to really make a decision that you will be satisfied with, you have to approach it systematically. I would get two pieces of paper, make two columns on each -- one +'s and one -'s -- and simply go through and write down as many things as you can for both programs. Congratulations, and good luck with your decision!

Aside from the C++ course, I took the following courses from school: an intro to programming course that basically teaches a little bit of basic Python, an intro to CS course that is basically "intro to OOP," and a data structure course. So I'll say I only have very basic programming skills and certainly needs more rigorous trainings. If taking this into account, Tandon gets another pro since MAFN has really few programming courses.

Thanks a lot for the suggestion and your nice words!

 

[Marcus Love Quant]

Definitely go for NYU's MFE. Columbia's reputation has been plummeted for years internationally, especially around the APAC region (since you know, most Columbia graduates were from programs like SPS or Stat...It's just every role at every firm will have someone graduated from Columbia). If you got into either the MFE at Engineering or MSFE at CBS, then I'll vote for Columbia, but not for the rest programs.

It's really sad to see that this school is turning education for money for years, do they really need this amount of tuition after all? (at the expense of bad reputation...)

 

[taicon]

Some information from current Tandon MFE student

COMPARE - Columbia MFE vs. NYU Tandon MFE

Hi all, The title pretty much says it all, I need advice on deciding which is better. I recently got admitted in both Columbia and NYU MFE program and both the universities have a pretty small window to reply and accept / reject the offers. So any help in this matter would be useful. I would...

quantnet.com

 

[nybound]

Definitely go for NYU's MFE. Columbia's reputation has been plummeted for years internationally, especially around the APAC region (since you know, most Columbia graduates were from programs like SPS or Stat...It's just every role at every firm will have someone graduated from Columbia). If you got into either the MFE at Engineering or MSFE at CBS, then I'll vote for Columbia, but not for the rest programs.

It's really sad to see that this school is turning education for money for years, do they really need this amount of tuition after all? (at the expense of bad reputation...)

Yea, I'm actually also leaning toward Tandon at this point. It's true that Columbia's master programs' reputation has gone down a lot and they are more expensive than Tandon. Thanks a lot for your advice!

 

[Yevgeniy]

Tandon is in Brooklyn. Enuf said.

 

[Chacinluis]

Yea, I'm actually also leaning toward Tandon at this point. It's true that Columbia's master programs' reputation has gone down a lot and they are more expensive than Tandon. Thanks a lot for your advice!

Hey. Congrats on those two acceptances last year. Which program did you end up deciding on, and do you feel you made the right choice?