COMPARE Columbia University MFE vs Cornell University MFE

[DMD]

Hypothetically:

Option 1:
-Begin Columbia MFE in July with no financial services experience.
-Start working on Wall St. full-time after spring semester of next year.

Option 2:
-Summer internship in trading in Toronto at non-BB firm..
-Cornell FE program in Ithica, September-April.
-Summer internship at (hopefully) BB firm in NYC.
-Final semester of Cornell FE program in NYC.
-In January 2014, Start full-time with firm on Wall St.

What do you think is the better choice? Columbia is the stronger program, but is it worth going to Cornell because I will get two internship opportunities before starting full time.

 

[heyoh]

Yeah, I could potentially face the same decision too. Some advice would be appreciated!

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Without advising you which school is better, a general suggestion I would give is to get some real world work experience under your belt before joining a graduate program. That would make you a more desirable candidate for schools or future employers. At the minimum, you can have a full grasp of what you want to learn to be able to select from the selective courses.

 

[MoLiu]

Without advising you which school is better, a general suggestion I would give is to get some real world work experience under your belt before joining a graduate program. That would make you a more desirable candidate for schools or future employers. At the minimum, you can have a full grasp of what you want to learn to be able to select from the selective courses.

Andy, I would love to hear your opinion on which school is better since I will probably face the same situation but won't get good amount of work experience before that.

 

[DMD]

I just had a very positive interview today for summer employment, which makes me lean towards the Cornell option. Although, I would appreciate some feedback from the community. How big of a difference in program reputation is there between Columbia and Cornell? To my understanding all the top BB firms recruit at both schools.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

How important is career service to you? Can you find a job through your own effort with the degree from either program?
Here is an interview we did with Mr. Derman of Columbia MFE. (They hired a career service person for the IEOR dept recently. I haven't talked to this person yet).

Banks traditionally don’t have a formal recruiting channel for MFE students as they do MBA or undergrads. How should this be addressed?
You put your finger on a really big problem for MSFE students. MBAs and undergrads have both organizational recruiting aimed at them land schools working at placing them. Masters students don’t. My dept tackles this with its own resources, but they are obviously inferior to those of a big business school. We hope that banks will get smarter at recruiting FEs by going directly to the sources, and we hope we will get more support for running our own placement.

 

[DMD]

Anyone else have any advice?

 

[Sherlock]

with 2 nice internships cornell

 

[ahe]

having interned in the industry i'd have to say 2 official internships, if you can manage to get them, is incredibly helpful. A degree at the end of the day is just a degree.

That said, at Columbia you could also do part-time internships, since it's in NYC. That also gives you a lot more opportunities to network, if that's a strong suit. If interning while you're at Columbia is an option, I think it's hard to say. If not, then I'd go with Cornell. Reputation wise, at least from what my friends in the industry tell me, Cornell is at least on par with Columbia, if not better.

 

[jianpu]

Columbia can also be 1.5 years

 

[DMX]

Knowing many people from both Cornell/Columbia MFE programs, I have to say that the calibres of students from the Columbia MFE program have been higher (based on my observations of course, so take it with a grain of salt).

However, I agree with Andy - having real-world experience will set you apart from many candidates. Why can't you do the summer internship and being Columbia's MFE program in September? Do you HAVE to start the Columbia program at July?

 

[jianpu]

Knowing many people from both Cornell/Columbia MFE programs, I have to say that the calibres of students from the Columbia MFE program have been higher (based on my observations of course, so take it with a grain of salt).

However, I agree with Andy - having real-world experience will set you apart from many candidates. Why can't you do the summer internship and being Columbia's MFE program in September? Do you HAVE to start the Columbia program at July?

yes, have to, but can do internship after 1 year i guess, if u extend the program to 1.5 year, which is possible now

 

[CharlesT]

Without advising you which school is better, a general suggestion I would give is to get some real world work experience under your belt before joining a graduate program. That would make you a more desirable candidate for schools or future employers. At the minimum, you can have a full grasp of what you want to learn to be able to select from the selective courses.

It really depends on what you want to do. A PhD can enter the industry without any precious work experience.

 

[CharlesT]

Without advising you which school is better, a general suggestion I would give is to get some real world work experience under your belt before joining a graduate program. That would make you a more desirable candidate for schools or future employers. At the minimum, you can have a full grasp of what you want to learn to be able to select from the selective courses.

A good trader is born to be a good trader. A bad trader is born to be a bad trader. It really doesn't matter how much experience he/she has...

 

[DMX]

yes, have to, but can do internship after 1 year i guess, if u extend the program to 1.5 year, which is possible now

in that case i would advise to go to Cornell. no amount of education will replace work experience.

 

[CharlesT]

in that case i would advise to go to Cornell. no amount of education will replace work experience.

Whic one is more important really depends on what you want to do.

 

[Vincent Yang]

Hi guys,

I am in a bit of dilemma of choosing between Columbia's MSFE and Cornell ORIE FE programs. I know both are great programs that offer solid education, but I was wondering which school has better reputation on the Wall Street. I have heard that Cornell is only a semi-targeted school and is considered as tier 1.5, whereas Columbia is a targeted school and is considered as top tier. Can anyone clear the rumor?

Here is a side-by-side comparison from my research.
Class size: Cornell - around 40, Columbia - around 80
Faculty: Cornell has Jarrow, Columbia has Derman and Glasserman
Program Length: Cornell - 1 .25 year, Columbia - 1 year
Location: Cornell - Ithaca(last term in NYC), Columbia - NYC

Advantages of going to Cornell:
-Small class and less competition within the school
-Longer curriculum schedule(allows students to take more courses)
Disadvantage:
-Not located in NYC(less chance to meet with practitioners)

Advantage of going to Columbia:
-Located in NYC (able to do part-time internship)
Disadvantage:
-Class size is way too large, plus MSFE students are also competing against MSIE MSOR and MAFN for internship opportunities.

Many thanks

 

[mhy]

I would do Columbia. Easier to network and also you can do it in 3 semesters.

 

[IntoDarkness]

cornell has absolutely NO advantage over columbia. not even on the same tier. too many trolls...

 

[RiskNeutral]

Columbia is 1.5 years. You need to complete 36 credits. You can try and do it in 1 sem but that will be just way too much course load. From what I know, bulk of the class will be doing it in 1.5 years this time. It was different before when the program started in summer (so unless they have changed back to the old system it will be a 1.5 year course).