Help needed: Unsure about what Quantitative Finance Program to choose

[jonathank]

I just recently graduated college with high grades (a high first class honours) in a mathematics undergraduate degree and I have an offer for a Quant Finance masters in Erasmus University Rotterdam. The program is well respected in the Netherlands however I've set the goal in London as a quant. My professors told me that my overall grades this year are strong enough for applying to Imperial, Oxford and other highly regarded universities next year (despite the fact that I will be graduated from college for a year).

My question is the following: should I just go for the masters in the Netherlands or should I wait a year and reapply for programs (for the 2025/26 academic year)? Or would it be worthwhile waiting a year, find a yearlong internship (in fintech or trading if possible) and reapply?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Amsterdam is #3 hub for finance job in Europe after London and Paris so it's not that bad as a place to do your MSc.
If you are set for London then it may make sense to use this extra year to learn C++ and Python, strengthen your application and apply to the top UK programs next year.
A lot of UK programs have a flexible curriculum where it opens opportunities in data science, machine learning.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

@Christian just moved to Amsterdam so see if you can get some market perspective from him.

 

[joeharristhethird]

I just recently graduated college with high grades (a high first class honours) in a mathematics undergraduate degree and I have an offer for a Quant Finance masters in Erasmus University Rotterdam. The program is well respected in the Netherlands however I've set the goal in London as a quant. My professors told me that my overall grades this year are strong enough for applying to Imperial, Oxford and other highly regarded universities next year (despite the fact that I will be graduated from college for a year).

My question is the following: should I just go for the masters in the Netherlands or should I wait a year and reapply for programs (for the 2025/26 academic year)? Or would it be worthwhile waiting a year, find a yearlong internship (in fintech or trading if possible) and reapply?

I am currently a BSc student studying econometrics and Erasmus, I want to say it might not have the same "prestige" as the other unis, which is important, but in terms of resources and what you'll learn it is excellent. Econometrics (basically broad quant...) was founded in Erasmus back in 1956, and 2 years ago we had an Erasmus student win the Economics Nobel Prize. It's a very intense course, and you will not get bored. I've heard only 20% or even some crazy 16% complete the course in 1 year, its extremely rare to do so, just because of how packed it is with material. So as a course it's fantastic. But like I said earlier it just doesn't have that prestige on an international scale. From what I've heard from a friend who interned at Lazard, and another friend at a Dutch bank, basically everyone there both in IB and Quant are Erasmus graduates, for the NL it's a "target" uni. I definitely recommend the course and the uni, the reason why you might have to think twice about this course is 1) Rotterdam is an ugly city, IMO 2) the pressures of living in a country like NL (kind of low pay for how expensive everything is). But course wise it's excellent, the issue is more with the city and the Netherlands, it's not impossible to go to the UK after getting your degree but you'll likely stay in NL and personally having lived here for 6 years now I don't want to stay here. Just because it feels so robotic and bureaucratic.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Very helpful insight on Erasmus university and Rotterdam. Thanks @joeharristhethird .

 

[jonathank]

Hi,

Thanks for much for your responses! I really appreciate all the info.

@joeharristhethird with regards to the bureaucracy, would you know if the main challenge to getting into London is visa related? I'm an Irish citizen so I don't need a visa to work in the UK. And when you say 16-20% of students complete the course in 1 year, I assume you're referring to the QF masters?

@Andy Nguyen with regards to strengthening my application, would you recommend the online courses offered by QuantNet, such as the C++? Or should I pursure a personal project and learn C++/Python that way? I'm currently working in an internship and I am worried that I won't have the time to invest into the course.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

I would learn QN C++.

AFAIK Erasmus would not a very quanty university in the US sense. But check it out. NL tends to focus on the econometrics side of things.
Utrecht uni and CWI have research quant students, but that's another story.

In the old days, Nirvana was: work in R'dam, live in the Hague and after ski in A'dam.

The salaries are an order of magnitude lower than in US.

 

[joeharristhethird]

Hi,

Thanks for much for your responses! I really appreciate all the info.

@joeharristhethird with regards to the bureaucracy, would you know if the main challenge to getting into London is visa related? I'm an Irish citizen so I don't need a visa to work in the UK. And when you say 16-20% of students complete the course in 1 year, I assume you're referring to the QF masters?

@Andy Nguyen with regards to strengthening my application, would you recommend the online courses offered by QuantNet, such as the C++? Or should I pursure a personal project and learn C++/Python that way? I'm currently working in an internship and I am worried that I won't have the time to invest into the course.

So I'm not exactly sure, but yeah I assume visa-related, companies won't want to deal with the hassle, but I don't have enough information about this. I've not met enough people who have tried to give you a solid answer. It's uncommon to end up in London if you did your Masters in Rotterdam. And the 16-20% glad that you asked cause I just realised, that a professor told us 16% when he was referring to the Econometrics Masters. So sorry about that, that's specifically the econometrics Masters. There was an open day for the Quant Masters this week but they didn't mention how many finish in 1 year. I'm assuming it won't be too different considering that a lot of courses overlap, but possibly a bit higher.

 

[joeharristhethird]

I would learn QN C++.

AFAIK Erasmus would not a very quanty university in the US sense. But check it out. NL tends to focus on the econometrics side of things.
Utrecht uni and CWI have research quant students, but that's another story.

In the old days, Nirvana was: work in R'dam, live in the Hague and after ski in A'dam.

The salaries are an order of magnitude lower than in US.

I second the last statement @jonathank. You will NOT be seeing the 100k starting salaries that I've heard some earn straight out of uni in the US. 100K for seniors in the Netherlands. Either way, money shouldn't be the focus of choosing Quant Finance, but if you want to go to a country where they pay quants generously don't go to the Netherlands.

sidenote: Did you ever think of Switzerland? Sharing this really goes against my agenda cause I will be applying next year so more competition for me, but there quants and finance graduates get paid more generously, relative to living costs, than in NL. The university is free (50 euros a year or something, ridiculously low). Zurich is probably the best uni for quants in Europe.