COMPARE please help: UChicago finmath/UCBerkeley mfe/Columbia mfe/Cornell mfe

[danb]

hi everybody.. i have been accepted to uchicago fin math, ucberkeley mfe, columbia mfe and cornell mfe. i am having a hard time deciding which place is the right place for me. i would be super grateful for any comments.

i have a very strong math background (mediocre comp sci background). i worked at a ibank for 3+ yrs. i think i am interested in pursuing a career in structured finance.

i read a lot that columbia mfe has a locational advantage. while i like working in new york, i am pretty open minded in terms of location.

i read a lot that ucberkeley mfe has a great career service.

some of the people i kno in the industry have told me basically opposite things..
that berkeley is better than columbia. vice versa.

i kno uchicago has stellar math and econ departments.. but i kno very little about their fin math program (other than what i read online).

is there really such a thing as brand recognition? (i actually heard of cornell mfe before any other programs)

i am not sure i should go by brand name recognition though. for undergrad, i basically chose a wrong school for myself, just because the school had a super fancy name. while i def think i met a lot of smart people, the prestige factor personally has not helped me much. to sound corny, i think i want a program that really "cares" about their students. a lot of hand holding i guess. haha. it sounds silly, but it's true. 1-2 years quite short to find job, learn a lot, etc... i'm sure a lot of hand holding makes that process less painful.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

hi everybody.. i have been accepted to uchicago fin math, ucberkeley mfe, columbia mfe and cornell mfe. i am having a hard time deciding which place is the right place for me. i would be super grateful for any comments.

I would be super grateful if you can help me fill the Tracker with your application timelines and profile.
With your prior experience with brand name, prestige, you should have better focus on what is important to you. You need a program that prepares you for the job market.
These programs all come from better-known universities so take a look at the curriculum, their faculty and staff, their student body, their career services.
Take a road trip and visit each program, sit in the class, talk to their students and alum. I promise you at the end of your trip, your list will be very short.

 

[MRoss]

What he said.

Don't listen to people. Make your own choice.

 

[danb]

dear andy,

i "super" appreciate your advice. haha yeah.. it's tough to visit schools when you work, but i'm gonna try.. i have a more specific question. i at least visited columbia univ, and i would say columbia mfe is definitely one of my top choices in terms of curriculum and faculty. i am just concerned, because the very few students i could get hold of warned me that their career service isn't all that great. i don't know whether i should believe them, since clearly columbia mfe seems to be regarded pretty well, and it seems odd that they wouldn't have a great career service. they are even supposed to have a dedicated msfe career placement officer. the students even told me to go to nyu instead haha (i haven't heard from nyu yet). maybe they are just a few disgruntled students? any comment on columbia mfe's career service from you would be helpful.. (i will update tracker in a bit)

thank you,
dan

 

[Jayanthan]

danb, would you mind to share with your background? like undergraduate? how u broke into IB? How IBs been treating you so far? Why r u trying to jump into quant (glorified IT job) ? I would be super grateful to you.

 

[DevinT]

share the same thoughts as Jayanthan...

 

[danb]

haha jayanthan.. i graduated from top 5 undergrad (according to usnews ranking now). i got my job through the school career service. i actually randomly got to work for a boss with a quant background. so i guess i saw a more nerdy side of finance which i loved... bc i am a super nerd you gotta sorta love what you do... bc you work 24 7 haha

 

[Jayanthan]

you graduated from top 5 ( refuse to disclose the school name). what was your major in school?

 

[danb]

haha it's not that i have anything to hide.. but i was explicitly told that the admission people check this website.. so i'm trying to be careful... i don't mind sharing my info more openly once my whole admission process is over. my major is unusual... not engineering

 

[Jayanthan]

haha it's not that i have anything to hide.. but i was explicitly told that the admission people check this website.. so i'm trying to be careful... i don't mind sharing my info more openly once my whole admission process is over. my major is unusual... not engineering

ok. thank you. make you stay in touch with quantnet even if you get done your application process

 

[Andy Nguyen]

i am just concerned, because the very few students i could get hold of warned me that their career service isn't all that great. i don't know whether i should believe them, since clearly columbia mfe seems to be regarded pretty well, and it seems odd that they wouldn't have a great career service. they are even supposed to have a dedicated msfe career placement officer. the students even told me to go to nyu instead haha (i haven't heard from nyu yet). maybe they are just a few disgruntled students? any comment on columbia mfe's career service from you would be helpful.

Have you seen https://www.quantnet.com/review/
Don't make your decision based on a small number of positive/negative reviews. We need a bigger review sample size to make this more helpful.

 

[danb]

ok. thank you. make you stay in touch with quantnet even if you get done your application process

sure jayanthan. i assume you are thinking of applying?

 

[Jayanthan]

sure jayanthan. i assume you are thinking of applying?

ya. I just graduated with Aerospace engineering degree trying to break in to IB before spend money on quant or other business degree. I am sure that you might be right person to ans all of my questions.

 

[danb]

ya. I just graduated with Aerospace engineering degree trying to break in to IB before spend money on quant or other business degree. I am sure that you might be right person to ans all of my questions.

feel free to ask me questions.. as long as it's not about my specific background (that you should wait till the end of may). though i doubt i can answer all of your questions.. haha i mean picking a career is a highly individual process.. but if you want to hear my (however limited) opinion.

i myself was hoping to hear from people.. "i'd go here bc of bla"... type of responses.. just to hear other people's opinions... of course i will make up my own mind at the end, but i don't see any harm in seeing other people's perspectives.

 

[Jayanthan]

thanx mate. What if you email me jayanthanuom@gmail.com, since you are not comfortable discussing about it here.

 

[danb]

Have you seen https://www.quantnet.com/review/
Don't make your decision based on a small number of positive/negative reviews. We need a bigger review sample size to make this more helpful.

thanks andy... those reviews were quite helpful.. i certainly intend to write one when i graduate...
was anybody else in my shoes before? i mean.. comparing columbia mfe to ucberkeley mfe or other?

 

[mfegrad]

in my not so humble opinion, one of those choices is head and shoulders above the rest.

this is a terminal degree. you care about placements with a terminal degree. i will leave it at that.

 

[danb]

in my not so humble opinion, one of those choices is head and shoulders above the rest.

this is a terminal degree. you care about placements with a terminal degree. i will leave it at that.

thanks for your comment. i just wanted to know what other people thought.. CMU is a great school.. wish i could have gotten in.

 

[mfegrad]

thanks, and, yes, it, like one of the ones you're trying to decide between, is one of the handful of schools worth attending.

 

[snipez]

haha it's not that i have anything to hide.. ... my major is unusual... not engineering

... UChicago?

Come to NYU, it's cheaper. On a more serious note Columbia has the advantage of starting during the summer (I think, never applied) so you have access to OCR recruiting in the fall.

If you're the rare MFE student that can actually network (personally I'm terrible at it, but most people I know don't try (or rather don't understand recruiting culture here)), then given your background it probably doesn't matter where you go.