Review of Rutgers Master of Quantitative Finance Program

[Guest]

I'm currently a second year student in this program and would rate the quality of teaching lower. Out of the 16 classes i've taken only half were taught by exceptional professors. Having come from a top ranked undergrad school I feel I'm in a second rate program if only half of the classes are worth attending. Bring in more professors from the industry who know what they are talking about and can provide real world problems to work on. I also recently sat in on a first year class which has about 60 asian students and felt like I was in mainland China.

 

[Anthony Maylath]

I am finishing my first year of the Rutgers MQF program now, and I have to say that I like it for the most part. The administration is very nice and effective. Moreover, Dr. Wu allows you to substitute both core courses and electives with similar courses in the New Brunswick programs. I will admit, while many of our courses are very good, some of the MQF courses could be a little more rigorous. However, since students can easily swap some of the weaker MQF courses with more rigorous courses in NB, many students still come out of the program with all the coursework necessary succeed in the job market.

By the way, I know that our program is only awarding about half the admission offers in 2013 compared to 2012 so I would expect the class size to be considerably smaller.

Another thing worth noting is that the placement this year is mediocre, mostly due to a sharp increase in the student body and some unlucky breaks with company relations. However, we do have a very dedicated director of career services that provides us with good opportunities at target companies. Also, the smaller class size next year will help incoming students obtain jobs. Therefore, I would expect placement to be much better next year.


Hope this helps guys!

 

[ckhcornell]

What is the average GMAT scores people have to get into the quant fin program at Rutgers?

 

[Meghana]

I got admitted to Rutgers MQF program.
Can you please provide following information
1. What are the pros and cons of this program
2. Which campus are the classes held
3. How good are the placements as I cant find any placement statistics either on Schools website or on Quantnet

 

[richard yang]

I'm currently a second year student in this program and would rate the quality of teaching lower. Out of the 16 classes i've taken only half were taught by exceptional professors. Having come from a top ranked undergrad school I feel I'm in a second rate program if only half of the classes are worth attending. Bring in more professors from the industry who know what they are talking about and can provide real world problems to work on. I also recently sat in on a first year class which has about 60 asian students and felt like I was in mainland China.

Considering the current industrial population, I am not surprised... quant has always been three majority groups, asians, indians and russians, always have been always will be =D

 

[kevin zhang]

Some classes are taught by High profile financial professional, for example the ETF classes by the Dow Jones' MD and ED and the Numerical analysis course. They can be a very good source toward the front line. When picking classes, be mindful of them.

 

[sunshine]

I am an alumni from Rutgers MQF and really like this program for the following reasons:
1. Good location provides students with better chances to look for jobs.
2. The program has a very professional career service director to help students get get interview opportunities.
3. Some courses are tough but very useful, especially financial modeling I&II, time series, economics, risk management and C++...
4. It's easy for students to swap some courses with more rigorous courses in NB campus.

 

[New Yorker]

I am finishing my first year of the Rutgers MQF program now, and I have to say that I like it for the most part. The administration is very nice and effective. Moreover, Dr. Wu allows you to substitute both core courses and electives with similar courses in the New Brunswick programs. I will admit, while many of our courses are very good, some of the MQF courses could be a little more rigorous. However, since students can easily swap some of the weaker MQF courses with more rigorous courses in NB, many students still come out of the program with all the coursework necessary succeed in the job market.

By the way, I know that our program is only awarding about half the admission offers in 2013 compared to 2012 so I would expect the class size to be considerably smaller.

Another thing worth noting is that the placement this year is mediocre, mostly due to a sharp increase in the student body and some unlucky breaks with company relations. However, we do have a very dedicated director of career services that provides us with good opportunities at target companies. Also, the smaller class size next year will help incoming students obtain jobs. Therefore, I would expect placement to be much better next year.


Hope this helps guys!

Wow, one could never imagine that a real first-year student would know so much about the program, including the program's admission plan. Impressive.

 

[New Yorker]

I am an alumni from Rutgers MQF and really like this program for the following reasons:
1. Good location provides students with better chances to look for jobs.
2. The program has a very professional career service director to help students get get interview opportunities.
3. Some courses are tough but very useful, especially financial modeling I&II, time series, economics, risk management and C++...
4. It's easy for students to swap some courses with more rigorous courses in NB campus.

1. New Brunswick is a great location, esp. compared to NYC where there're a number of programs.
2. you can get interview opportunities by yourself, the career person's job is to get you a job.
3. name any other programs that do not offer these courses.
4. I guess you're suggesting that the courses offered by the program are not sufficiently rigorous?