COMPARE Columbia University MFE vs NYU Tandon MFE

[NYY]

I know this is about Columbia MFE and Tandon MFE, but anyone got any advice between Tandon MFE and Columbia MAFN?

 

[aleewdewx]

Given all that has been written on QuantNet on both programs over the last several years, I don’t really think I need to. Do a deep dive here and I think you’ll understand that as far as the MFEs are concerned, Columbia is in a different league than NYU. Tandon’s program has steadily been improving it seems, however, it is not yet at the level where I think it’s competitive relative to Columbia’s program. For the record if it were between Courant, Tandon, Columbia MFE and Columbia MAFN, I would go with Courant—so, it is not simply that I prefer Columbia to NYU.

and how would you rank/rate columbia MAFN ?

 

[Qui-Gon]

I hope my posts aren’t being misinterpreted as I think program x is objectively superior to program y where x and y are any top ~10 programs. This is not what I’m saying. All of these programs are fantastic, and aside from Princeton/CMU/Baruch/Berkeley, I think it becomes incredibly difficult to separate the remaining top ~10 programs. My posts on threads like this are just to provide subjective points that I would consider if I was wearing the shoes of the person making the decision.

All of that said, I, subjectively, put Courant right below the 4 I mentioned above, then Columbia MAFN/Columbia MFE/MIT/Cornell MFE more or less on par with one another, then Tandon/Chicago.

 

[joekalon]

Hi y’all I recently got admitted several MFE offers, was able to narrow down to these last two options. Already did some research and relatively know some pros and cons (but they are not updated & not directly compared to each other) so still want to hear about everyone’s thoughts and inputs!

Personal goal: quant finance industry, HFT, etc.

 

[Qui-Gon]

While the gap between the two is narrowing, I would go with Columbia because it is historically the stronger of the two programs and thus you would benefit from a stronger alumni network. That said, I personally like Tandon’s coursework a bit more.