University of California, Los Angeles - Master of Financial Engineering

University of California, Los Angeles - Master of Financial Engineering

UCLA MFE is a 15-month, full-time program under UCLA Anderson School of Management
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Location
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Application deadline
Dec 31 (round 1), Mar 1 (round 2), Apr 30 (round 3)
Overview
The Master of Financial Engineering (MFE) Program at UCLA Anderson School of Management merges mathematical and statistical tools with finance theory to equip our students for highly rewarding careers in quantitative Finance. Graduates of the UCLA Anderson MFE Program apply these concepts to build models, solve problems and evaluate opportunities in areas such as risk management, asset management, derivatives trading, corporate finance and data analytics.


Academics
As a fully-integrated part of the UCLA Anderson School of Management, the MFE Program is based on the business school paradigm of merging theory and principle with up-to the-minute business practice. The UCLA Anderson finance faculty is among the best in the world. Consistently top-rated, they are leaders in cutting edge financial engineering research, as well as the practical implementation of current theory.

In 2017 UCLA Anderson revised and expanded the MFE curriculum. The full-time program now begins in September and lasts for 15 months (up from 13 months in 2016), with graduation in December of the following year. The newly revised and expanded curriculum integrates mathematical, statistical, and computer science tools with finance theory as applied in industry settings. The curriculum consists of 10 core courses, 4 electives (chosen out of 7 offerings), a corporate sponsored Applied Finance Project and a summer internship.


Admissions
MFE students have comparable levels of quantitative skills but varying professional and academic backgrounds. To connect with Admissions Ambassadors who can give a student's perspective, please click HERE.

Applications are available online, and the application period is divided into three rounds/deadlines. The application cycle begins in mid-September. To learn more about the admission requirements, please visit our Admissions Page.


Career Services
The UCLA Anderson MFE Program has a strong career support team solely dedicated to assisting MFE students with their career search, communication skills and resume development, as well as interviewing and negotiating skills.

Through “Conversations on Finance”, on-campus networking events, various workshops/seminars/panels, and a networking trip to Wall Street, San Francisco and Chicago with the Career Support team, MFE students have an opportunity to foster relationships with professionals in the field.

The MFE Program has been very successful in helping its graduates find summer internships and full-time positions with prominent financial services firms. The Class of 2020 was fully employed 6 months after graduation. 100% of the MFE students participate in a summer internship. Average total compensation is currently $112K.

View our Employment Report

Alumni

The UCLA Anderson network is one of the world’s largest and most renowned alumni networks with members in all 50 states and more than 100 countries. MFEs will become members of this network and have access to the alumni database. UCLA Anderson MFE alumni actively participate in academic seminars, speaker events, and host field study projects at their respective organizations. The MFE Program also has regional alumni chapters, through which graduates can expand personal and professional networks, meet with visiting faculty and connect with local business leaders.

Contact Information
For more details, visit the UCLA Anderson MFE website at www.anderson.ucla.edu/mfe. For answers to frequently asked questions please visit the Admissions FAQ page. You may also reach out to the MFE office via e-mail at mfe.admissions@anderson.ucla.edu.
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2025 Ranking Data
Rank
17
Total Score
61
Peer Score
3.1
Employed at Graduation (%)
48%
Employed at 3 months (%)
67%
Base salary
$110,054
Cohort Size
97 FT
Acceptance Rate (%)
32.9%
Tuition
$93,120
Views
87,173
First release
Last update

Ratings

4.26 star(s) 46 reviews 3.25 star(s) Students Quality 4.00 star(s) Courses/Instructors 2.75 star(s) Career Services
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Latest reviews
Headline
Great school, great people, don't come here though
Class of
2025
Graduating soon but I’m going to try to give an in-depth and honest review of the program for the incoming applicants. I am generally happy with my own outcome at UCLA and I emphasize this to point out my review is not an expression of personal frustration. I am appreciative of the program, so my hope is my feedback can be used by both future applicants and admin.

Student Quality:

Probably the worst part of this program. Around a quarter of the class admits to having zero prior programming knowledge and I overheard one student say they’ve never taken any calculus before. Also almost a quarter of the program has only a passing interest in quantitative finance and are immediately turned away when they realize the rigor and breadth of knowledge required, and instead pivot to targeting traditional finance roles. Few come into this program prepared with the baseline knowledge required for the coursework or about the industry.

But what’s the worst is the work ethic and culture. For the mandatory career prep coursework before the MFE started, only ~15% completed it by the deadline. The homework load is designed to be handled by a group of 4-5 randomly assigned, but every group I knew of was filled with freeloaders who did not contribute. Cheating on exams is rampant (hint to admin, nobody needs to go to the bathroom that often) and almost everyone’s assignment submissions are thoughtless ChatGPT copy/paste. Lectures are more than half empty and many TA sessions have zero attendance, yet they will complain about how hard the material is, how bad their grades are, and that the MFE didn’t help them find jobs. The department has an unofficial "no Fs" grading policy, which works in favor of many who would otherwise be flunked out.

Despite this, there are many standout individuals who are extremely intelligent and hardworking. The range of quality in this program is shocking, you have professionals with strong international experience somehow in the same cohort as fresh grads who are scared of a matrix and need AI to debug a print statement.

Sadly, behind the scenes the admin has acknowledged that most students here do not have what it takes to work in the quant industry. Admissions should tighten up standards to improve program outcomes, but it’s a chicken and egg problem. Why would good applicants want to join a program with a poor ranking, but the program will continue to have a poor ranking until good applicants join.

Courses/Instructors:

Decent range of electives with generally good quality and depth (the MBA electives are a waste of time and it’s a shame they’re offered, if you want MBA level coursework you shouldn’t be in an MFE) but I’ll focus on the mandatory courses:

Quarter 1:

Investments: The class is a little too basic, spending weeks going over how simple cash flow discounting works, but it picks up faster near the end and gets the job done. Chernov is a knowledgeable and pleasant instructor, but does not come across as very involved. Usually fair assignments and exams.

Financial Accounting: Easily the worst class in the entire curriculum. Accounting being a core class in an MFE is a questionable decision, and while Dill is a pleasant person that responds to feedback, the material is taught poorly and he is also arguably not best suited to teach this course. Individuals from traditional finance backgrounds were getting confused by in this accounting class. This class should be compressed into a 2-week crash course before program starts and replaced with another; dedicating a quarter of the most important semester in the internship search to accounting is a terrible decision. Fair assignments and exams, despite having to pay to do weekly assignments on an online textbook.

Stochastic Calculus: On the opposite side of Accounting, this class is amazing. Panageas is a passionate instructor and this material is challenging but the class is designed for you to pass. His explanations and derivations in class are phenomenal at presenting complicated concepts in simple terms. Challenging assignments but very fair exams.

Econometrics: Another good stand out in the first quarter. Despite Yavorsky coming from a marketing background, he is exceptionally knowledgeable and skilled at presenting econometrics concepts at a technical level. He will not rest until you truly have learned the material, and you will learn a lot of material. Only downside to this class is it is taught in R (including a 1-week R bootcamp before class), let’s let that language die already. Relatively easier assignments but harder yet still fair exams.

Quarter 2:

Derivative Markets: The highlight (or lowlight depending on what kind of student you are) of the entire MFE program. This class is no longer the cake walk described in earlier reviews, it is extremely rigorous and technical and builds on Stochastic Calculus. Reiner is a passionate instructor who knows almost everything there is to know about derivatives, although sometimes he has trouble communicating it to us who are seeing most of this for the first time. It also feels like we are trying to learn too much in too little time or not spending our time on some material wisely. The TA sessions for this class are also a standout in terms of expertise and difficulty, one of the very few TA sessions attended by most students. The assignments are usually very hard and lengthy, as well as the exams. Students perform so poorly, a 0 on his midterm got you a B+ after the curve this year.

Empirical Methods: An extension of Econometrics which is taught by Lochstoer who again is very knowledgeable and pleasant individual. Useful material, but the class doesn’t stand out either positively or negatively. Maybe a little bit too much time spent on old topics like Fama-Macbeth but otherwise a good class. The assignments and exams are of medium difficulty.

Fixed Income Markets: Picks up where Investments finishes off. While it starts again quite slow, it goes into great technical depth of fixed income pricing. Longstaff is an expert, and his strength comes in explaining these hard concepts in layman’s terms during the lecture, then having us go on to implement these ideas in more technical ways during assignments. His assignments vary from easy to hard (but always fair) and his exams were on the harder side.

Trading, Market Frictions, and FinTech: This is an MBA level course that doesn’t go beyond the surface level of a variety of topics and was considered a running joke amongst the entire cohort. Zhang is again friendly and approachable, but her demeanor doesn’t compensate for bad material. I understand the intention behind a class like this, but it needs to be revamped and increased in depth to bring it to the level of quantitative finance. Extremely easy assignments and exams, just forget this class exists.

Quarter 3:

Risk Management: A useful course taught by Haddad. Haddad has an important quality of being able to explain why this material matters and will schedule extra time out of his day to help the class succeed. The main criticism is that it feels like the whole class is just spent talking about different variations of VaR which gets quite repetitive. Medium difficulty assignments and exams.

Data Analytics & ML: A continuation of Empirical Methods taught again by Lochstoer. More interesting but still relatively foundational topics discussed such as non-linear models, otherwise runs exactly like Empirical Methods. This was recently made a mandatory course, which I believe is a positive step for the program. Same difficulty as Empirical Methods.

Quarter 4:

Applied Finance Project (AFP): AFP can be hit or miss depending on the firm you are anonymously selected by and the work group you have formed. This isn’t a class in the traditional sense.

Career Services:
Antoine runs the career team with Jeremy assisting on the administrative front. Both are extremely approachable for help or advice, and Antoine’s strengths lie in creating and rebuilding the alumni networks (alongside Leanna in the admin). There is an annual NY career trip that has been moved to October, to be more in line with recruiting timelines. They also have a resume book and occasionally invite industry speakers, but the career impact of these efforts is not very strong.

Unfortunately, that’s where the positives of the career team end. Nobody has any first-hand experience with quantitative finance, and at times their efforts may even be detrimental. This cohort was forced to attend 9 hours of mandatory MBA coaching on “how to build a story in your interview”, something that would probably get you laughed out of a quant interview if you couldn’t pass the technicals. They do organize technical sessions (QIPS) but these are infrequent, loosely structured, and don’t fulfill the technical preparation needs. Targeted technical preparation is the key to passing quant interviews, and there isn’t anywhere near enough emphasis put on it.

The people in the career team are amazing individuals, but they need a hands-on expert who knows what they’re doing in this industry. Don’t rely on the them to be anything other than a supportive shoulder to cry on. Career outcomes are weak and have been getting worse over time, most graduates don’t go on to work in quantitative finance at all.

Overall:

UCLA’s MFE ranking is deflated by the poor admit quality and career outcomes, but the program instruction is still relatively competitive (top 10 QN peer score, actually above MIT and NYU Tandon). Admin is composed of great people, acknowledges most of its weaknesses, and are attempting to make some changes, but it’s not enough. It also seems like they’re hampered a lot by the department, maybe this is the business school (dis)advantage they always advertise. At the end of the day, this is just another cash cow program targeting internationals just like almost every other MFE out there. Potential applicants, keep in mind what’s hidden in these rankings is there is a selection bias; having met individuals in all MFE programs, it’s not as if Baruch or Berkeley will transform you into expert quants after a year of coursework, they simply tend to admit only those that have the highest probability to succeed in the industry in the first place.

If you are an international applicant, are passionate about breaking into the US quant finance industry, are willing to put in a lot of work inside and outside the classroom, and are able to pay one of the highest tuition fees (and worst scholarships) amongst MFE programs, UCLA’s MFE will get your foot through the door. If you do not tick all these boxes, do not go here.

This last piece of advice applies not just to UCLA MFE applicants but all MFE applicants, perhaps consider a technical non-MFE graduate degree instead (CS, Stats, OR, etc.); something you won’t be told a lot is that all MFE programs are blacklisted at many top quant firms.
Recommend
No, I would not recommend this program
Students Quality
1.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
4.00 star(s)
Career Services
2.00 star(s)
Upvote 4 Downvote
Headline
UCLA MFE Class 2024 Feedback
Class of
2024
One thing that really frustrates me about UCLA MFE Class of 2024 is the obsession with GPA. People spend so much time grinding through course materials—even when they’re not relevant to job interviews or real-world skills. The second quarter is already intense, with everything graded on a curve, but the focus feels completely misplaced.

If you’re serious about landing a full-time job in the U.S., GPA is not the key. What really matters is U.S. internship experience, technical skills, and networking(feedback and referral). I’ve spoken with many industry professionals—some UCLA alums, some complete strangers—and the advice is always consistent: invest your time in gaining experience and preparing for interviews. No one cares about your GPA as long as you don’t fail. You don't need to include your GPA on resume.

Don’t count on career services to carry you. You have to take initiative—network actively, get feedback from people in the industry, and do mock interviews with peers (which is surprisingly hard to arrange because everyone’s busy studying) and experienced mentors.

Honestly, this GPA obsession is exactly why our class has such a low placement rate. People are optimizing for the wrong metric.
Recommend
No, I would not recommend this program
Students Quality
2.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
3.00 star(s)
Career Services
4.00 star(s)
Upvote 0 Downvote
  • Anonymous
  • 2.00 star(s)
Headline
Great Professor, Smart peers, trash Career Service
Class of
2024
Although we had great professors and excellent classmates, there was no 6-month AFP (Graduate Project) and no help from summer interns. We only had one week of AFP, which was the week before graduation. Employment is extremely bad as you might see from the official website. As long as you are accepted by the school from the east coast, do not consider UCLA MFE.
Recommend
No, I would not recommend this program
Students Quality
5.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
5.00 star(s)
Career Services
1.00 star(s)
Upvote 0 Downvote
  • Anonymous
  • 5.00 star(s)
Headline
Decent program covers everything you should know
Just graduated last December, working in asset management now. UCLA MFE is definitely a good program. The courses covers everything you should know for quantitative finance. Definitely comprehensive knowledge and top-class professors! The only downside might be the homework, which make my life during job search a bit more stressful (because need to take care of both side). Career service is nice, I always learn sth from my conversation with Amber. Resume book sending out to employers is very helpful, I actually got my internship through resume book. Alums are helpful and nice, most of them are willing to connect and share their experiences! Our opportunities is not limited to west coast, there are a bunch of people from my class working in NY or Chicago as well.
Recommend
Yes, I would recommend this program
Students Quality
5.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
4.00 star(s)
Career Services
4.00 star(s)
Upvote 0 Downvote
As a nerd focusing on techniques and taking courses, UCLA's MFE brings me a different experience, reshaping my mind. Students in this program usually come from very different backgrounds. And we are required to finish almost all the coursework as a study group. In the process, I realized my advantages and learned how to work with people from different backgrounds. Such practice is helpful since it simulates the real working environment in financial institutions.

The career office provides guidelines for job searches and many networking events. They hold workshops regularly to give suggestions based on students' personal experiences in job searching. They also build a brand in the financial industry, which enables me to find my internship and current job. Although they don't appear in the referral directly, I can feel the connection during the interviews.

To be honest, without much finance background, it's hard for me to maintain GPA in a fast-paced program, search for internships/full-time jobs, and participate in many networking events at the same time. In the short 15 months, I made many mistakes and wanted to give up switching to the financial industry. However, gradually, I am more confident to face the difficulty. I owned it to my friends in the class and the good suggestions from them, alumni, and the career office. Compared with before, I already became a person with the confidence to solve all kinds of problems at work. In the end, I want to say, even though the whole process is somewhat suffering, you can gain what you want.
Upvote 1 Downvote
Some background: I just graduated in December, I had no finance background before the MFE program, and I’m a social person.

UCLA’s MFE program was my first choice when I was filling out applications and I’m convinced it’s still the best spot for quantitative people who also understand that having fun outside of class is important. My classmates were so much fun and are super smart. We had parties every week and became great friends. I doubt you’ll see the same level camaraderie at Berkeley, and I’ll bet anything you won’t see it at Baruch.

The program takes you from 0 to 100, giving you everything you need to enter the finance industry with a solid job. I just signed my full time offer letter and will be making 3x what I was making 18 months ago. The MFE staff/team is very responsive and they put in a lot of effort. Most of them have been there only a couple of years and have made great changes to the program (e.g. moving away from R to exclusively Python, getting more interaction with other programs in the business school, etc.).

You’re not going to leave this program an expert in any one field, nor should you expect to. Instead, you will leave with foundational knowledge in many fields that quants are typically interested in (ABS, equities, options, risk mgmt, ABS, data science, etc.). If you can handle a tough workload, learn fast, and work well with others, it doesn’t get much better than this. And when you’re done with class, you walk onto one of the most beautiful college campuses in the world with a bright, sunny day.

Good luck!
Upvote 1 Downvote
Reviewed by Verified Member
Class of 2023.

It seems like a money grab by the business school. Tuition too high for what we are getting.

Professors are just here to to the minimum work.

Forget about any support if you go to their cabin with any doubts after class.

Some are so stupid that don't even record the session that is on zoom. Eg QIPS. Cheating on exams is rampant.

Admin is so happy with the substandard ranking and will boast about it everywhere.
Upvote 0 Downvote
Attending the UCLA MFE program was one of the best decisions I’ve made.

In terms of academics, you'll be learning from highly regarded professors: Rossi, Longstaff, Chernov, Lochstoer (just to name a few), who are top-notch in industry and research.

In terms of structure: the 10-week quarters go by very quickly. Classes start with the basics, but pick up fast. I recommend getting good at R as you'll be doing a lot of your HW with it.

Career services: you'll receive regular emails for internships/jobs and you'll meet with the MFE career services staff to go over interview topics/questions you may have. Leanna, Olga, and Amber are a delight to work with!

Overall, it’s a great program. The coursework can get heavy at times. But the professors and staff are invested in their students’ success and want to see them succeed. And the weather in LA isn’t too bad either!
Upvote 0 Downvote
A great program, especially for someone without a rich quantitative background. I had a traditional finance background (wealth management) and gained many quantitative skills throughout the program (although it was a challenging program given my lack of quantitative skills). Had a challenging time finding a summer internship due to my lack of quantitative experience. However, I was able to land a quantitative job upon graduation. Most alumni I reached out to through LinkedIn were very friendly and helpful and some of them even offered to refer me to their company.
Upvote 0 Downvote
2014 Graduate.
Easily the most valuable year+ of my life.
Professors and coursework align on learning skills that can be applied directly to the industry. Support staff is incredible, with a strong focus on ensuring you will have multiple job offers by the end of the program. Peers in the program are talented and driven. I still stay in close contact with several people from my cohort. Highly recommended!
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