COMPARE Columbia University MFE vs NYU Tandon MFE

[hopefulapplicant]

Hey, For the IEOR dept. offered MFE program, the application deadline was 5th January I believe. Are you talking about the same program?

Whoops. I applied December 31st, not January 31st.

 

[Michsund]

I received an email that the admissions committee made their decision.

You said that you applied on January 31st but the deadline was Jan 5th is it the financial engineering program or another one at Columbia?

 

[hopefulapplicant]

You said that you applied on January 31st but the deadline was Jan 5th is it the financial engineering program or another one at Columbia?

It was a mistake. I submitted my application December 31st.

 

[hopefulapplicant]

Wait when you say MFE do you mean the one in the IEOR department - Financial Engineering ? Or the one in the Business School - Financial Economics

IEOR

 

[OriginalThinker]

were you able to decide where do you want to go? even i am facing the same issue and confused between NYU Tandon and Columbia MFE. How much is the approx cost of Columbia MFE program ?

 

[hopefulapplicant]

were you able to decide where do you want to go? even i am facing the same issue and confused between NYU Tandon and Columbia MFE. How much is the approx cost of Columbia MFE program ?

I decided on Columbia. The tuition cost is about on par (70k for NYU and 72k for Columbia). I received a partial scholarship from NYU which made a difference in tuition cost. However, Columbia's program is a semester shorter than NYU, so that extra couple months of working will cover the money I would have saved at NYU. Best of luck!

 

[namangoyal]

I decided on Columbia. The tuition cost is about on par (70k for NYU and 72k for Columbia). I received a partial scholarship from NYU which made a difference in tuition cost. However, Columbia's program is a semester shorter than NYU, so that extra couple months of working will cover the money I would have saved at NYU. Best of luck!

what is the duration for NYU tandon MFE, is it a 2 year program?

 

[Michsund]

what is the duration for NYU tandon MFE, is it a 2 year program?

Just google it

 

[Alex_NT]

I decided on Columbia. The tuition cost is about on par (70k for NYU and 72k for Columbia). I received a partial scholarship from NYU which made a difference in tuition cost. However, Columbia's program is a semester shorter than NYU, so that extra couple months of working will cover the money I would have saved at NYU. Best of luck!

Hi! Can I ask what's the deposit deadline of Columbia MFE in 2019? Thanks!!

 

[Alex_NT]

were you able to decide where do you want to go? even i am facing the same issue and confused between NYU Tandon and Columbia MFE. How much is the approx cost of Columbia MFE program ?

Hi! Can I ask what's the deposit deadline of Columbia MFE in 2019? Is there only one single deposit deadline in 2019? Thanks!!

 

[agrthr]

If you have money go for Columbia no doubts in that, if you have a budget issue tandon isnt a bad shout. I am going to tandon too. It has been risking in rankings and is on right track under Peter Carr.

 

[supersonic]

If you have money go for Columbia no doubts in that, if you have a budget issue tandon isnt a bad shout. I am going to random too. It has been risking in rankings and is on right track under Peter Carr.

Yeah I agree. Tandon is such a risk.

 

[supersonic]

If you have money go for Columbia no doubts in that, if you have a budget issue tandon isnt a bad shout. I am going to random too. It has been risking in rankings and is on right track under Peter Carr.

I think the ROI if one goes to CU is much greater. There are fewer pure quant roles coming out of Tandon. The programs are inherently different and I think they shouldn't be compared. I mean, I get what you are saying, that you would take Columbia anyday. Am emphasizing on that and believe that the environment and the access to alumni that CU offers is unparalleled. So no, it's not about the money here. I think it's best if we choose the right school in terms of fit and in terms of curriculum. Please tell us how you chose Tandon? And congratulations on getting into Columbia and Tandon! Must have been a tough choice to choose between the two.

 

[agrthr]

I think the ROI if one goes to CU is much greater. There are fewer pure quant roles coming out of Tandon. The programs are inherently different and I think they shouldn't be compared. I mean, I get what you are saying, that you would take Columbia anyday. Am emphasizing on that and believe that the environment and the access to alumni that CU offers is unparalleled. So no, it's not about the money here. I think it's best if we choose the right school in terms of fit and in terms of curriculum. Please tell us how you chose Tandon? And congratulations on getting into Columbia and Tandon! Must have been a tough choice to choose between the two.

I didnt get/ even apply to columbia as at that tome I thought I dont belong to the league. I do accept columbia is a much better school than NYU but nyu is the best I had. Lets not compare these two but as I said Tandon isnt a bad shout much better than most non ivy mfe courses.

 

[kollav]

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 like to know the pros and cons of both the programs, to help me decide which one would suit me better. Fellow applicants, current students and alumni please share your views on both schools and your perspectives.

Thanks in advance!

 

[raptormath]

In a single line, if you have the extra money go for columbia. Pros and cons as per my research
Columbia:
Pros: Good curriculum with strong core quant training.
Great placement record for placing students into quant roles.
Well reputed university and Well respected program in the quant community.

Cons: Like any other program, your degree is what you make of it. The univ's program can only get you till the door after that its pretty much how you perform.
Less support from program's placement wing in comparison to CMU,NYU, GaTech etc.
Less chance for scholarship and assistantship
The program cost would be around 100K (85K - tuition, 15K living) minimum.

NYU:
Pros: 70K tuition and easy to get a assistantship in comparison to other top programs like CMU, Columbia
Diverse curriculum, could be safe even if you are looking to shift to a data science role.
Good support for placements from college. Especially for fall 2021 its worth going as they are very selective, 120 students from fall 2020 have deferred their admits.
Large cohort size, can be helpful in getting diverse connections.
This is a safe bet for lesser degree cost and good placement chance.

Cons: Its more suited for "Risk" related roles and less for actual quant research, trader, analyst roles.
Diverse electives might not help in actually strengthening the core quant skills which would negatively effect the students caliber especially in comparison to a CMU, Columbia student with more confined rigorous curriculum
Still not a completely established quant program due to the -ve reviews in quant net and other mediums.

But its very important to understand that, a program is what you make of it and if you are honest with your intent and preparation you can crack any interview given both program are in the financial capital of USA. So a lot depends on you, but if you are willing to spare the extra money, Columbia is the best bet in this case.

 

[kollav]

In a single line, if you have the extra money go for columbia. Pros and cons as per my research
Columbia:
Pros: Good curriculum with strong core quant training.
Great placement record for placing students into quant roles.
Well reputed university and Well respected program in the quant community.

Cons: Like any other program, your degree is what you make of it. The univ's program can only get you till the door after that its pretty much how you perform.
Less support from program's placement wing in comparison to CMU,NYU, GaTech etc.
Less chance for scholarship and assistantship
The program cost would be around 100K (85K - tuition, 15K living) minimum.

NYU:
Pros: 70K tuition and easy to get a assistantship in comparison to other top programs like CMU, Columbia
Diverse curriculum, could be safe even if you are looking to shift to a data science role.
Good support for placements from college. Especially for fall 2021 its worth going as they are very selective, 120 students from fall 2020 have deferred their admits.
Large cohort size, can be helpful in getting diverse connections.
This is a safe bet for lesser degree cost and good placement chance.

Cons: Its more suited for "Risk" related roles and less for actual quant research, trader, analyst roles.
Diverse electives might not help in actually strengthening the core quant skills which would negatively effect the students caliber especially in comparison to a CMU, Columbia student with more confined rigorous curriculum
Still not a completely established quant program due to the -ve reviews in quant net and other mediums.

But its very important to understand that, a program is what you make of it and if you are honest with your intent and preparation you can crack any interview given both program are in the financial capital of USA. So a lot depends on you, but if you are willing to spare the extra money, Columbia is the best bet in this case.

Thanks for such a detailed answer. I graduated with a major in mathematics and am currently working on the sell side at a large IB and looking / preparing for buy side portfolio strategist role.

I am not too concerned about the money aspect. I dont want to bias my decision based on differences between the fees of program ( assuming it won’t impact me negatively in the long run )... please correct me if i am being wrong here.

Can anyone shed some light on how easy / practical is it to take courses from other departments at both Colombia and NYU i.e. business schools / courant / cs dept.
I think apart from getting world class quant, business understanding and networks through cross dept. interaction will be v valuable as well? What do others think? Should I factor in this while making decisions?

 

[raptormath]

Thanks for such a detailed answer. I graduated with a major in mathematics and am currently working on the sell side at a large IB and looking / preparing for buy side portfolio strategist role.

I am not too concerned about the money aspect. I dont want to bias my decision based on differences between the fees of program ( assuming it won’t impact me negatively in the long run )... please correct me if i am being wrong here.

Can anyone shed some light on how easy / practical is it to take courses from other departments at both Colombia and NYU i.e. business schools / courant / cs dept.
I think apart from getting world class quant, business understanding and networks through cross dept. interaction will be v valuable as well? What do others think? Should I factor in this while making decisions?

Yes, money is not a factor if you can afford it so striking it off. Columbia would be the better of the two.

 

[P. Carr]

I am the chair of the dept that offers NYU Tandon's MFE program. I can assure you that we do allow our MSFE students to take courses from Courant's MF program. Likewise, Courant MF masters students take courses from us. If you need more factual help with your decision, email me on pc73@nyu.edu.

 

[taicon]

I am a student of NYU Tandon's MFE program aiming for trading and data science roles. We can select a large number of courses from other departments. Some of my friends are taking MATH-GA 2708.001-Algorithmic Trading & Quantitative Strategies, MATH-GA.2798-001 Interest Rate & Fx Models from Courant's MF program. We could also take courses from Data Science Center.
Actually, Tandon MFE program already provides courses such as Machine Learning in Finance, Advanced Machine Learning in Finance, Big Data, NLP and the Investment Process which are more practical for MFE students than general data science courses.

Besides that, I find it useful that Tandon also offers LeetCode Bootcamp and Data Analytics Bootcamp each semester to help students find jobs.