MIT MFin vs. Columbia MFE vs. NYU MathFin

[Zhenghao Li]

I fail to understand why are people comparing starting salaries from MIT: it's a degree is Finance (I can't believe nobody picked that up);
against CMU, NYU, Baruch, Columbia which are all degrees in MATHEMATICAL FINANCE (Holy sh*t)
People who are admitted to MIT don't necessarily want to be "Quants" they don't have same salary expectations and career paths.
I'm certain there is way more job diversity inside the pool of MIT graduates, it's less specialized and offers much more flexibility: which is its appeal.

Answer is simple, if you think you want to do something else than Quant later on, and you want to prepare for that, you might want to consider MIT. hope this helps.

This doesn't apply to people with work experience:

Right now there's not a big difference between Finance and Mathematical Finance. Also, I'm not sure what kind of job you consider as "Quant". But the truth is a lot of students graduating from CMU, based on their reports, went to Sales & Trading or other front desk roles which you don't consider as "Quant". The recruiting process right now in many times don't distinguish between these two and a lot of MIT students will end up competing with these "MATHEMATICAL FINANCE" graduates for the same position. It's no longer like the old time, when "Quant" are only those working in middle/front office, only building their model and supporting others. (I interviewed with some BB S&T positions and I'm sure I've seen Statistics Masters, and other quantitative masters. The people who interviewed me have 3 majors in Math, Econ, and CS, which looks exactly like a financial engineer. I'm also having no trouble getting IB, Fundamental Analyst, and Consulting interviews)

Let's just consider how much you can learn then. Now we have a MFin student and some MFE student with Level 3 CFA. The Level 3 CFA alone would give you almost everything you can learn from any MFin programs. From a pure knowledge standpoint, it's always possible for MFE students to grasp Fundamental Analysis skills AND Technical skills while MFin students could ONLY get Fundamental Analysis skills (They may have better knowledge though, but don't tell me if you think a school could really teach you fundamental analysis). Unlike "Quant Invesment", Fundamental Investment is what everyone could pick up on his own. I've researched on every programs' course work (I've also taken LOTS of them in undergrad by taking graduate level courses) and it's always possible for good MFE students to join Consulting/IBD/PE/VC (how much PE/IBD people even have a finance degree anyway?) or whatever fundamental analysis roles you name, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

Just one simple question then: MEF students joining PE/VC and MFin students joining "Quant Jobs", which one do you think is easier? ( Remember, most people in these programs have NO Full Time experience anyway. Also, if you have no Full Time experience then it's hard to join IBD, which usually first hire target school juniors (I confirmed this from a J.P. Morgan MD) )

I'm sure both kinds of program have really impressive people, and I'm definitely sure MIT students are really smart and talented and I agree that starting salary doesn't mean too much. I'm just comparing the two programs. Your study doesn't end with your master so I think it's always nice to have a tougher package. You can check their employment report in detail. There's really not that big difference between the roles both program graduates took. The lower salary may also be a result of city or compensation structure difference. You never know.

 

[TehRaio]

so basically the MFE is the new MFIN.

 

[Zhenghao Li]

so basically the MFE is the new MFIN.

Yes, the World is changing. Now more than 50% trades on market is done by High Frequency Trading shops. Some trader positions even only consider MFE students (I know this for a HK company).

 

[TehRaio]

Yes, the World is changing. Now more than 50% trades on market is done by High Frequency Trading shops. Some trader positions even only consider MFE students (I know this for a HK company).

I actually thought the industry was moving in that direction but I didn't know it was already the case (I'm still a ugrad student)
I wonder if that's the case in Europe though, many of their top schools offer MFINs that are not quantitative like, at all. o_0
anyway I digress. Learned something today.

 

[mhy]

This doesn't apply to people with work experience:
it's always possible for good MFE students to join Consulting/IBD/PE/VC (how much PE/IBD people even have a finance degree anyway?) or whatever fundamental analysis roles you name, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

Agreed, but most MFE students aren't looking for consulting/IBD/PE/VC jobs.