COMPARE New York University - MS in Mathematics in Finance vs Carnegie Mellon University MSCF

[xzhong]

someone at the CMU program mentioned the curriculum at CMU are more structured than NYU's. They gradually lead to the complicated applications from math and fin foundation and put bigger emphasis on C++ and options. but i also heard from two current NYU students that they really love the program and enjoyed the math/finance courses. It seems they are putting more emphasis on the buy side with the market shifting that way.

Job placements are bad this year at both places. CMU claiming 80% of the Dec graduates are placed, and NYU 70%. Also <50% of their 09 class have internship offers by now.

This is a really tough decision for me. and kind of help/inputs are welcome

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Is it a surprise that students at either CMU or NYU told you they like their programs?
I don't think you will find someone with both first hand experience in both program so it would come down to your gut feeling.
Why not coming over to NYC and spend a day or two visiting the perspective campuses and talk to students, faculty. If you are going to spend 50K or 100K for each program, then a few hundred to make an informed decision would sound like a very smart investment to me.
Either program is a good one and don't expect anyone from Quantnet to tell you which one is better. You can head over to GD forum if you like to read similar discussions.

 

[xzhong]

thank you. I am actually visiting NYC this week.

will sit in on a class at both programs and have a chance to talk to some faculty/students there

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Be sure to let us know your impression upon visiting those programs.

 

[thatsku]

80% of dec 08 grads at CMU and 70% of dec 08 grads at NYU placed.... those stats are not bad considering all things...

 

[Stefan Zota]

80% of dec 08 grads at CMU and 70% of dec 08 grads at NYU placed.... those stats are not bad considering all things...

Stats are nice, but more important is the type of jobs available
At the moment, there is a higher chance of entry-level employment in pure development or actuarial position for example. So the question is how many of the jobs are quantitative ...

 

[buddyforall]

Stats are nice, but more important is the type of jobs available
At the moment, there is a higher chance of entry-level employment in pure development or actuarial position for example. So the question is how many of the jobs are quantitative ...

acturial jobs are not the worst given the unstable nature of the maket.

 

[Stefan Zota]

acturial jobs are not the worst given the unstable nature of the maket.

Fully agreed.
For people looking for jobs now, it may be a good idea to have a broad view. After all, things may change in a few years and better opportunities will appear.

 

[believeinmiracles]

So decision time after CMU decisions just came out

my own list of pros/cons (feel free to add your own input)

CMU (pitt campus):
pros
- really transparent about placement statistics, and they are very encouraging statistics (with nice salaries/bonuses =])
-program housed by 4 different schools/faculty from 4 different schools finance/math/stat/IT departments help each other out
- program has building/roots in NYC
- mini block schedules allows both students and teachers to really focus on the class (semester long classes you sometimes get lackadaisical towards the middle of the semester)
cons
- not in NY (but honestly with such good placement statistics it seems like they network sufficiently)

NYU:
pros
- just found out from director all but one student has gotten a job for Dec 2010 grads (all got internships last year)
- taught by financial professionals; helps networking even more
- obviously being in NYC helps networking/job search; however, I plan to visit the campus as I am not sure how I feel about living in NYC (honestly, whats the rush?...I'll probably be there the next ten years or so)
cons
- not transparent at all about placement statistics (no info about salaries etc and had to really dig to find what "nearly 100%" meant)

their curriculum seem about on par: CMU is 25 mini blocks and NYU is 12 courses (with a masters project)
cost of programs isn't much of an issue for me since with a 21k scholarship to CMU their tuitions are close

any advice/thoughts?

 

[iniesta]

personally i would go to nyu because i like math more than programming

 

[Penglu]

I would like to provide some information regarding the course schedule in NYU. Last time I visited NYU and talked to the admission coordinator. Apparently, its MF program holds classes two days a week, and usually are in the evening. Either from 5pm-7pm or 7pm to 9pm. Personally, I don like this kind of schedule.

 

[Ken Abbott]

Both are good programs. Making comp a criterion is short-sighted. Talk to the students. Talk to the faculty

 

[Joy Pathak]

I would have to agree with Ken. Comparing the schools based on first year compensation is not worth it at all as it will be peanuts compared to what you make 10 years down the line, or at least it should if you're good.

Both the schools are great. I have met a few profs at both schools and both the schools have their stars. Both the schools have great placements. You should make your choice based on fit. Talk to as many students as you can and ask relevant questions. Do the same with the faculty, and see how they interact with you.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

any advice/thoughts?

Time for road trip, are we?
Make an appointment to visit both their campus, sit in the classroom, talk to students and try to get a vibe of the environment. Try to picture yourself in it. Ask the students how do they like it.
A lot of this line of work builds on a personal relation between you and your future classmates, teachers and people running the program so you need to feel comfortable.
Pictures can only do so much. You need to be on the ground to "feel" it.

 

[believeinmiracles]

Yeah, I'm planning to visit both campuses in the next couple of weeks.
There's a welcome weekend event for CMU on April 15-16th. Everyone admitted was linked to this page, but it seems as if its for MBA students. Anyone planning on attending/ know if its for MSCF students as well?

 

[Carlo]

I've been facing this dilemma for the past week, and so I've decided to hear what fellow QuantNet members have to say. This is a pretty common topic, so instead of regurgitating known facts about each program, I'll just give a bit of info about me, and hopefully those with some knowledge of each program can give me some advice as to what they think is a best fit.

Note: I'm not considering the NYC CMU campus – I don't find the idea of spending $50k+ for distance learning very good… Also, because of a scholarship, cost is almost identical for both schools

Some stuff about me:

• Just graduated from undergrad, Economics/O.R majors; Math/Finance minors

• No finance experience

• Have a fair amount of programming experience in C++/VBA

• Have a pretty balanced background of Math (Calc-based Prob & Stats, linear algebra) and finance (couple of classes in valuation and derivatives)

• Ideally I want to work in either quantitative portfolio/asset management or product structuring

• I'm fairly introverted

• I love city life, but I could live in Pitt for a few semesters

What I like/dislike about each program

•NYU

Like that its curriculum is well-structured, but you can still chose a few electives. Location is excellent, career placement has been good, weekly seminars and classes being taught by practitioners are good ways to network and get skin in the industry.

Don't like that compared to CMU, it looks like there is a smaller breadth of classes, it's only based in the Math Dept. and it can seem a tad bit too theoretical.They are not very clear about their placement statistics. Also heard some bad things about quality of teaching and availability of professors, as well as nonchalant T.A.'s

•CMU

Like that it has a wide curriculum with focus on applications, great placement, transparent about job statistics, nice campus, program is a cross of 4 schools yet classes are unique. Also seems more acclaimed than NYU, and has top-notch career services since it's in the B-School.

Don't like the location since it makes it seem like it'd be hard to network and might make it harder for me to get a job; the fact that professors are not current practitioners doesn't thrill me much either.

How important would you say location is for somebody like me? I've visited NYU already and will be visiting CMU next week, but in the meanwhile, I'd still love to hear everyone's thoughts Thanks guys!

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Note: I'm not considering the NYC CMU campus – I don't find the idea of spending $50k+ for distance learning very good
I've visited NYU already and will be visiting CMU next week

Do you know that the professors from Pittsburgh will travel to NYC to teach several times during the course so you will have your chance to watch telecast regardless of where you end up living.
When I visited the CMU NYC campus, I noticed that some students prefer watching recorded lectures later over attending telecast sessions, most often when the Pittsburgh professors are in town. Having access to recorded lectures is a great advantage but the downside is some people will have excuse not to go to class regularly.

Who have you met at NYU? Did you attend a class there and talk to few students?

 

[Carlo]

Thanks for the response Andy. I do know about the telecast from NYC to Pitt, but I still feel that being in an actual campus, where I have physical access to a professor, and more than one floor to study in, is a definite advantage I appreciate in the Pitt campus. I believe both campus' students have access to the recorded lectures, which is good.

As for NYU, I met with Robert Kohn, the Chair of MSMF, who gave me a tour of Courant and discussed the program with me; Melissa Kushner, the program administrator, who had a Q&A about placement, curriculum, life in NYC, etc. with me and another admit; and a couple of current students (both had internships secured in NYC) whose names escape me. I sat in Stochastic Calculus by A. Kuptsov, and found him to be a very thorough professor, although I don't know if I was just lucky, or (hopefully) everyone in the department is as good as he was that day.

Having gone through this, do you think being in NYC is a definite plus for someone with my background and goals?

 

[La_Fin]

Hi all,

I'm kinda torn between CMU and NYU now and reply deadline is approaching..

A little bit background of myself: graduated from one of top 15 US colleges, econ and math double major, one internship in an asset management firm and one internship at capital markets in a top BB, but no full-time working experience. I was hoping to work in algo trading or structuring after graduation.

I'm more concerned about placement. CMU seems to have very good placement record. But the class size of CMU is really big. They are launching a online program this year so I guess the class size will be even bigger. However, I can't find much information on NYU's placement so it's hard to compare.

Any advice would be most welcome!

La_Fin

 

[RedPanda]

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