COMPARE UCLA MFE vs NYU Tandon MFE

[pacific_butterdo]

Can someone help me choose between these two great courses? Money and RoI are significant factors for me so please take that into consideration. I was initially very confident about UCLA but seeing that it is literally across the continent from Wall Street, I am not so sure anymore. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Chilbal]

Only positive for ucla is its brand name.
everything else is a disadvantage
location disadvantage
weak curriculum (No depth at all) might as well call it ms in finance
15 months program
mandatory accounting course? common is ucla even putting effort
dropping quantnet rankings through the years now even rutgers seem better than ucla

No good placements and significant percentage of the graduates are going to data science roles and financial analyst riles rather than quant roles.
LA is expensive ontop of it


NYU is a 2 yr program with a deep curriculum
right beside manhattan
lot of concentrations and electives
good internships placements
NYU brand name is there
last but not least PETER CARR

is nyu perfect? maybe not
but if you are comparing it with UCLA I would pick rutgers over ucla let alone nyu tandon

 

[pacific_butterdo]

Only positive for ucla is its brand name.
everything else is a disadvantage
location disadvantage
weak curriculum (No depth at all) might as well call it ms in finance
15 months program
mandatory accounting course? common is ucla even putting effort
dropping quantnet rankings through the years now even rutgers seem better than ucla

No good placements and significant percentage of the graduates are going to data science roles and financial analyst riles rather than quant roles.
LA is expensive ontop of it


NYU is a 2 yr program with a deep curriculum
right beside manhattan
lot of concentrations and electives
good internships placements
NYU brand name is there
last but not least PETER CARR

is nyu perfect? maybe not
but if you are comparing it with UCLA I would pick rutgers over ucla let alone nyu tandon

Thanks for your inputs.

 

[Alex_NT]

Only positive for ucla is its brand name.
everything else is a disadvantage
location disadvantage
weak curriculum (No depth at all) might as well call it ms in finance
15 months program
mandatory accounting course? common is ucla even putting effort
dropping quantnet rankings through the years now even rutgers seem better than ucla

No good placements and significant percentage of the graduates are going to data science roles and financial analyst riles rather than quant roles.
LA is expensive ontop of it


NYU is a 2 yr program with a deep curriculum
right beside manhattan
lot of concentrations and electives
good internships placements
NYU brand name is there
last but not least PETER CARR

is nyu perfect? maybe not
but if you are comparing it with UCLA I would pick rutgers over ucla let alone nyu tandon

I even think brand name can't be an advantage of UCLA compared to NYU regarding anything related to finance lol.

 

[Karamvir]

Can someone please draw comparison in terms of faculty?

 

[Chilbal]

@Peter Carr can guide you with this
I think he did his phd at ucla and intimately knows the program
He can compare nyu and ucla perfectly
If he doesn't respond on quant net mail him in gmail

 

[ZFL]

To me, it is NYU no-brainer! Congrats.

 

[MariosMGE]

this is way too late , but man i hope u picked NYU

 

[pacific_butterdo]

this is way too late , but man i hope u picked NYU

Seriously on the fence here, although the general consensus seems to be pro-NYU. I'm just a bit worried about the pre-2016 reviews of NYU "Poly" as it was known, and how much can one man (i.e. Dr. Carr) change on his own. UCLA seems like a safe bet that way but not too sure.

 

[MariosMGE]

im gonna give u my opinion.I would consider NYU to be an equal brand name to UCLA if not better , but let's just say equal.NYU is in new york,and that's like the dream job landing place.NY is definitely the financial capital of the world.Now from what i've seen in quannet rankings and im sure u have seen as well,NYU MFE has better job placement , higher salary on avg after graduation,higher employment rate etc.In fact all the top MFE's in quantnet rankings have an employment rate of 90-100% , and UCLA is the only one with .... 69% lol.Plus there was a guy that made a post completely bashing UCLA's curriculum ,recent post , but i can't seem to find it.I'll post it here when i do

 

[MariosMGE]

ah here it is , read the 1st one UCLA Financial Engineering program

 

[pacific_butterdo]

im gonna give u my opinion.I would consider NYU to be an equal brand name to UCLA if not better , but let's just say equal.NYU is in new york,and that's like the dream job landing place.NY is definitely the financial capital of the world.Now from what i've seen in quannet rankings and im sure u have seen as well,NYU MFE has better job placement , higher salary on avg after graduation,higher employment rate etc.In fact all the top MFE's in quantnet rankings have an employment rate of 90-100% , and UCLA is the only one with .... 69% lol.Plus there was a guy that made a post completely bashing UCLA's curriculum ,recent post , but i can't seem to find it.I'll post it here when i do

Thanks for your analysis. Yup I read that review of UCLA and it certainly seems to be lacking in the "Pure Math" and "Computing" department, which, let's be honest, is like 90% of an MFE degree. To be honest, when I applied I had no idea about quantnet and NYU was my backup for UCLA haha, so it's a bit surprising to see the recent comments but I guess the stats don't lie. Hope I make the right decision! Thanks again!

 

[k_t]

Hi,

Please comment on which program would be better in terms of placements. Can provide a pros and cons list for both. Please do provide the reasons for your choice though.


Thanks.

 

[k_t]

Hi everyone!
To those voting, it'd be great if you could give me a short reason for your vote. Just to make sure there isn't some kind of Quantnet rank bias of sorts.

 

[elvisgonnarzy]

I personally would recommend UCLA if I were in your shoes since I've known a few friends who graduated from there, and they all ended up in good companies. On the other hand, I think NYU has a relatively lower placement rate, and ofc the tuition and living cost in NYC is the pain in the a**.

 

[k_t]

I personally would recommend UCLA if I were in your shoes since I've known a few friends who graduated from there, and they all ended up in good companies. On the other hand, I think NYU has a relatively lower placement rate, and ofc the tuition and living cost in NYC is the pain in the a**.

Thanks. Can others who voted also send in their reasons?

 

[ciciyang]

I voted for Tandon. As a person who constantly looked for internship on Wall St., I can tell you networking is the key and Tandon has all the all the resources you need.

 

[Kev-X]

UCLA is a great program. The program has a completely new administration and they have been revamping the program and you can see its working if you look at the jump in rankings the last two years. This is a growing program. They also have a full time career consultant based out of NYC who has great connections there if that is what you are looking for. If you like good weather, LA has a lot of opportunities especially in Asset Management in the LA and Orange County region. This decision I would say is more of a personal preference as to what you are looking for but the program will not disappoint you.

 

[k_t]

I voted for Tandon. As a person who constantly looked for internship on Wall St., I can tell you networking is the key and Tandon has all the all the resources you need.

You are also a student applying for Fall 2023 programmes right?

 

[k_t]

UCLA is a great program. The program has a completely new administration and they have been revamping the program and you can see its working if you look at the jump in rankings the last two years. This is a growing program. They also have a full time career consultant based out of NYC who has great connections there if that is what you are looking for. If you like good weather, LA has a lot of opportunities especially in Asset Management in the LA and Orange County region. This decision I would say is more of a personal preference as to what you are looking for but the program will not disappoint you.

How are the placements in NYC? Do many of them get placed in NYC or keep working in LA/ SF?