Baruch College - Master in Financial Engineering

I was admitted through the early admission round, where the process was highly selective and technically challenging. The decision was released in early November, giving me ample time to gain internship experience at quant funds and better prepare for the program. This early start is a major advantage compared to many other programs that release results in the spring.

Coming from a non-math and non-CS background, I found the curriculum extremely effective in building a solid foundation in mathematics, statistics, and programming. The courses are rigorous, well-structured, and closely aligned with industry needs and interview expectations. Many instructors are either leading practitioners or experienced academics, and they put remarkable effort into their teaching. Thanks to the small cohort size, students receive abundant attention and can learn directly from top professionals in quantitative finance.

The career service is by far the strongest part of the program. The program director and faculty genuinely care about every student’s progress, offering continuous guidance, one-on-one mentoring, and tailored advice for both internships and full-time placements. Their close connections with leading firms across the industry ensure that every student receives the exposure and support needed to succeed.

Finally, the Baruch MFE community is incredibly collaborative and tight-knit. Alumni - whether they graduated one year or ten years ago - are always willing to offer insights and advice. This strong, generous network makes the transition into the US quant industry much smoother.

Overall, Baruch MFE provides unparalleled career support, top-notch instruction, and a uniquely strong community culture. It is without doubt one of the best starting points for anyone aiming to launch a successful quant career.

Amazing program! I received so much help from Dan and all the alumni. They're a group of wonderful people that go to great lengths to help their students. I'm also impressed by how much help that alumni provide in my search for a full-time job, not just from Dan and faculty - whether it's advice for technical, soft skill, or referrals, they are always happy to talk things out!

Outstanding career support, strong connections with the industry and many interview opportunities in buy and sell side. This is in large part a consequence of the small class size, so that each student can be closely followed and assisted in the job search.

Course quality varies by class but most of them are very useful and some are just outstanding. I use a lot of things I learned there in my daily job. It is also good to have many instructors coming from the industry.

Very strong community and close relationships with alumni.

The perfect start point to enter the quant industry. The course materials are very useful and professors have a lot of insights.

My experience with Baruch MFE so far is amazing. This is a very friendly and supportive community where everyone helps each other. The students are incredibly smart, and I’ve learned so much not just from the courses, but also from my classmates. The career service is also outstanding — almost everyone lands a job, even during recent market turbulence. The program manager has excellent industry connections, which makes the job placement process much smoother and more successful.

Academically, the program is rigorous. Most courses are math-heavy and the assignments really push you to grow, improve your quantitative skills, and learn teamwork. You get to work on practical projects that are directly relevant to what the industry values.

The professors are knowledgeable and approachable. They genuinely care about your progress, answer your questions patiently, and support your interests. If you show initiative, you can make great friends, learn from top students, and gain both academic and professional insight into financial engineering — even though the program is only one and a half years long.

Overall, I highly recommend the Baruch MFE program for anyone interested in finance and quantitative methods. It offers strong career outcomes, a great learning community, and a solid academic foundation that prepares you for real-world challenges. I’m very grateful for this experience and excited for what’s ahead!

The Baruch MFE program was instrumental in helping me pivot into my quant finance career. The highly-engaged alumni network provided invaluable insights into the quant landscape, complemented by the program's long-standing relationships with many leading firms in the industry, facilitating QR/QT opportunities at top multi-strats, prop-shops, and investment banks. Dan Stefanica, our incredibly dedicated and genuine program director, was always there to personally guide each of us toward roles that best matched our aspirations. If you dedicate yourself fully and follow Dan's process, you will undoubtedly launch your quant finance career on the right path.

The hands-on, applied coursework allowed me to explore topics I was passionate about and showcase my research skills to potential employers. Additionally, our team's success in winning the Rotman International Trading Competition demonstrated to employers that we are competitive, driven, and high-achieving. I recommend anyone who's admitted to the program to take part of the team. Beyond professional growth, and perhaps most importantly, the friendships I formed at Baruch have become an irreplaceable part of my life, which I will be forever grateful for.

Attending this program has been one of the best decisions of my life. The cohort is small, with fewer than 30 people, allowing you to engage directly with brilliant professors. The alumni network is extremely supportive, and the career support is excellent!

Unparalleled career support compared to any other program I know. Students don't lack interview opportunities from top prop shops, hedge funds, to investment banks. Small class so everyone knows each other.
Some courses have high workloads and students need to balance themselves between coursework and interview preparation.

We have amazing courses taught by excellent instructors. The smaller class size allows everyone to get to know each other. Alumni, faculty and staff are super helpful and caring.

Really like the Microstructure course taught by Prof Taiho Wong, learnt a lot from this and try to implement some ideas in the crypto market and it's no suprise that these ideas are working

We have faculties with rich experience in either the academia or the industry, successful and helpful alumni, and the most competitive students.
(Also the tuition is half of a certain comparable program.)

The most practical knowledge is being taught here, I still constantly review my school notes several years after I finished the program. Excellent career service! Very sweet and warm hearted community.

Amazing program. Smaller community makes everyone really close in the program. I can always get warm help from our alumni. The network is really strong. Well-designed and practical courses are truly useful for the future career. Dan and faculties genuinely try their best to help students.

Application process is fast. First from Wang and Second round from Dan go in less than a week.
Smaller group than other MFE program, which makes everyone know each other and 1.5yr time enough to help you make real new friends in Baruch. What's better, the alumni are really nice and helpful. I think it is also due to the small communities.
Cutting-edge and advanced courses. Sometimes you find you have known it in work before it is published. Also, this is highly-recommended when in the interview, the interviewers are also familiar with Baruch MFE. So, no worries about the “big name”.

One thing that Dr Dan Stefanica mentioned in the pre-MFE class is that the program is planning to launch a "accent reduction" program, since a great port of the student body is from non-English speaking countries. I can hardly imagine that any other program would even think about issues like this, and believe it or not, this might be surprisingly useful. And beyond that, only programs as caring as the one at Baruch would come up with ideas like this.

I think that among all the programs out there, Baruch has one of the strongest group of faculties. They are excellent on both academic and industrial side, and more importantly, they are extremely considerate.

The program which giving you full support and all you need for success:
Most devoted director + top tier faculty + strong and reachable alumni network + close connection to academic and industry + very high placement rate + part-time student friendly + affordable tuition

If you feel very lucky, do not take it for granted. The professors really did a lot of networking for you behind the scene.

If you feel unlucky, do not give up. Have faith in the Baruch MFE community and there will be a way out!

Baruch MFE is a small and highly demanding program. Its director Dan is extremely dedicated to the success of his students. He gives great support to all his students for them to be successful in their careers.

1. Dr. Stefanica, the program director is one of the most devoted and dedicated people I've met. He genuinely cares and helps the students to be successful.
2. The program provides a variety of opportunities ranging from specific opening to general professional development.
3. The alumni network is very strong with Dr. Stefanica being the central node.
4. I always received help whenever I reached out to my classmates.
One of the best decisions I've made in my life.

I joined Baruch straight out of Bachelor’s (Math/Finance). I had one finance internship prior to joining.

Baruch was the obvious choice over other programs for a variety of reasons: cost, close-knit classes, excellent professors, and exceptional job placement.

The refresher courses offered (mandatory) are essentially sped up pre-MFE courses. They are incredibly difficult with a class and homework every day of the week. But they really prepare everyone and put them in the right mindset for how difficult the actual courses are.

The course selection is truly amazing. There are classes for everyone from Market Microstructure to Risk Management. All courses are taught by real life practitioners which is very evident; you can almost smell their passion for the material they are teaching. Dan Stefanica himself teachers the two Numerical Method courses, and he is a fantastic teacher as well. Most of the professors are engaging and exciting. Homeworks are mostly completed in groups but that does not change how difficult they are. People with full time jobs should absolutely not do this program full time.

While the only requirement in joining is some C++ knowledge, students leave this programming knowing C++, VBA, Python, and R (at least). Since most of the teachers are practitioners they require that their homeworks be submitted in their native programming language. This leaves the students having exposure to a much wider variety of languages then is found elsewhere.

As far as job placement is concerned. It is not just that “Baruch has excellent placement”. It is that Baruch molds us all into “place-able students”. We are literally taught everything from what shoes to wear to how to conduct ourselves at interviews. While most programs focus 100% on course material, Baruch understands that no matter what job one is applying for there will always be a large soft-skills component. I can say firsthand that this feature alone has changed my life.

But perhaps everything aside what stands out more than anything in this program is how close all the students are with one another. Each student cares deeply about the wellbeing of the other (as does the Dean!). My friends not having an internship became my problem as well. When I was having difficulty with a particular programming project I had no less than five other students working with me for hours in order to ensure I submitted my project on time. I will most likely keep in touch with these guys for my entire career.