COMPARE Columbia vs Minnesota

[KikiLuki]

The reason I am looking at these two programs is because both allow me to get a certificate first and continue to MFE later on. Both have distance learning options.

I am mid-career professional hoping to move from business valuation to financial engineering. I live in San Francisco and don't expect to move for the job. Therefore, it is likely that most of the job opportunities I will encounter will be relatively less competitive, i.e. risk management vs. trading for Goldman. With that, I want to rationalize my education cost and effort-wise.

Columbia appears to be $30k more expensive than Minnesota. While its brand and location is vastly superior, I am not sure it is worth the money if you are not gunning for Goldman or JP Morgan in NY.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

 

[alain]

...I am not sure it is worth the money if you are not gunning for Goldman or JP Morgan in NY.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

What are you gunning for?

 

[KikiLuki]

Generally, I do not have very aggressive career goals. I have dabbled with binomials, fixed income, derivative valuations enough to know that I love this stuff. Risk management in the bank or insurance company is one area of interest. Asset management or hedge fund would be good too. It is certainly not trading or some cutting age investment algorithm development (however, one never knows).

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Generally, I do not have very aggressive career goals

People may interpret that as a lack of focus. Finance is a huge industry and within each product, there are numerous positions that require different skillset.
You can't tailor your preparation and time spent on job search without narrowing it down.
A good idea would be to start reading on books in our reading list.

 

[KikiLuki]

Andy - I read the book and the question remains - does the high profile MFE degree worth it for mid-range careers? I will probably find myself in some regional bank or insurance company - no fancy trading, no big-bonus hedge fund. Columbia is still better, but is it $30k better than very solid Minnesota for what I am looking for? The book does not really answer that.

 

[bigbadwolf]

Columbia is still better, but is it $30k better than very solid Minnesota for what I am looking for? The book does not really answer that.

On what basis are you calling Minnesota "very solid?" Do you know the details of the program and their placement stats?

 

[mhy]

My friend is doing the Minnesota MFM program and told me placement is quite good (over 95% for the 2011 class). However the firms and locations in which graduates work are probably quite different from East Coast MFE programs.