Thank you!
COMPARE University of California, Berkeley MFE vs Columbia University MFE
- Thread starter Abi Tran
- Start date
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Rank
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Program
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Total Score
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Peer Score
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% Employed at Graduation
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% Employed at 3 months
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% Employed in the US
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Compensation
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Cohort Size
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Acceptance Rate
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Avg Undergrad GPA
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Tuition
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Rank
4
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University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720
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University of California, Berkeley
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88 | 3.6 | 79 | 92 | 83 | 168.2K | 86 | 17.96 | 82.90K | |
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Rank
6
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Columbia University
New York, NY 10027
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Columbia University
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85 | 3.6 | 37 | 100 | 56 | 152.1K | 123 | 10.52 | 93.02K | |
- Joined
- 3/2/19
- Messages
- 3
- Points
- 13
Hello, I am a fresh undergrad just as you and I've received a recommendation for admission last friday for UCB. I've chosen to go there and rank it above all other programs I was admitted to for 1000 reasons. Let me share to you how I considered every aspect. California is an amazing place to live and I have no doubt it is the reason why so many people stay there and don't go to cloudy NY. Plus, there is no other MFE placing 9 students out of 60 at Morgan Stanley for instance which is amazing. When it comes to numbers, there is no rivalry for UCB. In addition, Shaghai rankings, graduate school rankings, quantnet rankings (if they mean something) will confirm those numbers.
Other point that may interest you, I have a bunch of friends enrolled at Columbia MFE and the majority of them were not able to find summer internship in IB because they lack professional experience (0 internship btw). The fact that UCB MFE starts in march is outstanding, you can do a 6 month off-cycle internship and... have the time to learn Hull's book by heart.
The career services seem absolutely amazing. Long story short, I had an issue with my application (it was sent to the MBA division by mistake), I contacted them and the discussions (and refund!!) were very smooth and straighforward.
I think I would get the same "WOW" from my friends when I say I go to Berkeley or Columbia, but I'm confident to say I'll enroll UCB next year
Other point that may interest you, I have a bunch of friends enrolled at Columbia MFE and the majority of them were not able to find summer internship in IB because they lack professional experience (0 internship btw). The fact that UCB MFE starts in march is outstanding, you can do a 6 month off-cycle internship and... have the time to learn Hull's book by heart.
The career services seem absolutely amazing. Long story short, I had an issue with my application (it was sent to the MBA division by mistake), I contacted them and the discussions (and refund!!) were very smooth and straighforward.
I think I would get the same "WOW" from my friends when I say I go to Berkeley or Columbia, but I'm confident to say I'll enroll UCB next year
Hello!
I have an admission offer from Columbia Financial Engineering program at this moment and am waiting for the UCB to answer before the Columbia payment deadline. Considering that I, probably, won't have much time after I get the decision I would like to understand which program is better in my case.
I have bachelor's and master's degrees in Economics in a little country in Caucasus with GPAs 3.8-3.9. I also have three years of job experience as a Financial Broker(I am still 24 though ), 2 levels of CFA cleared. I have a decent knowledge and experience with Python and R(including also ML and DL ) and good knowledge of maths with up to Calc 3, Stochastic processes, Statistics, ODE.
If I understand right from previous threads that are pretty old, the main advantage of UCB was career placement. However, I'm afraid that with bigger cohort size in last years, there might be a downgrade in this process. While on the other side Columbia MFE has more rigorous and industry oriented curriculum with not bad at all career services.
Will appreciate any help, especially from current students and alumni of these programs.
I have an admission offer from Columbia Financial Engineering program at this moment and am waiting for the UCB to answer before the Columbia payment deadline. Considering that I, probably, won't have much time after I get the decision I would like to understand which program is better in my case.
I have bachelor's and master's degrees in Economics in a little country in Caucasus with GPAs 3.8-3.9. I also have three years of job experience as a Financial Broker(I am still 24 though ), 2 levels of CFA cleared. I have a decent knowledge and experience with Python and R(including also ML and DL ) and good knowledge of maths with up to Calc 3, Stochastic processes, Statistics, ODE.
If I understand right from previous threads that are pretty old, the main advantage of UCB was career placement. However, I'm afraid that with bigger cohort size in last years, there might be a downgrade in this process. While on the other side Columbia MFE has more rigorous and industry oriented curriculum with not bad at all career services.
Will appreciate any help, especially from current students and alumni of these programs.
Last edited:
- Joined
- 5/1/21
- Messages
- 55
- Points
- 28
Berkeley has a much better careers service (from what ive heard) and so placement and starting salaries are slightly better. Columbia benefits from being in NYC. Both are fantastic but I would go with Berkeley
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