Columbia University - MA in Mathematics of Finance

Things worth mentioning:
- Lars Nelson is the new director of the MAFN program
- Application process has been changed
- MAFN website has been updated
- Employment statistics are now being collected


Can you tell us a bit about your background?
Worked in Risk Management for 3 years at an international investment bank in NYC.
Studied Business Administration at a US university.
GRE: 167 quant, 160 verbal
I studied full-time in the MAFN program from 9/2012 to 5/2013
I studied full-time in the QSF (Quantitative Studies for Finance) program from 9/2010 to 5/2012


Did you get admitted to other programs?
Yes


Why did you choose this program (over others, if applicable)?
Location, brand recognition, familiarity with campus


What alternative sources of info you used to learn more about the program?
Quantnet, Columbia MAFN website


Tell us about the application process at this program
Usually find out very late into the year.


Tell us about the courses selection in this program. Any special courses you like?
Fall semester:
MATH G4077 - COMPUTATIONAL FINANCE – not typically offered, but definitely worth taking if it is offered. You will learn about Monte Carlo simulations and how to implement them (you will get very familiar with c++ and object oriented programming)
MATH W4071 - INTRO TO THE MATH OF FINA
STAT G6503 - STAT INF/TIME-SERIES MODE
STAT G6501 - STOCHASTC PROCSSES-APPLIC
STAT W4315 - LINEAR REGRESSION MODELS

Spring semester:
STAT W4249 - APPLIED DATA SCIENCE – new course, I thought this class was awesome. You will learn how to use linux, how to code in python, what github, natural language text processing, and L1/L2 regularization is, and more.
IEOR E4718 - INTRO-IMPLIED VOLATILTY – a good course on equity derivatives, the Black Scholes model and the extensions of the Black Scholes model that account for the volatility smile.
MATH G6071 - NUMERICAL METHODS IN FINA – a nice course focused on interpolation techniques, root solving methods, and finite differences. You will get lots of practice using Excel/VBA. Professor Fung is a practitioner (senior manager at Misys) and has useful real-world knowledge (compared to some of the other professors who have been out of the industry for quite some time).
STAT G6505 - STOCHASTIC METHODS IN FIN
MATH G8210 - MATH FINANCE PRACTITIONER
HRMG B8412 - Managerial Negotiations


Tell us about the quality of teaching
Depends on the professor. Some of the core classes only have one professor.


Materials used in the program
For most classes, the professor will provide lecture notes/slides.
John.C Hull - Options, Futures, Derivs (Intro to the Math of Fin.)
Shreve – Stochastic Calculus for Finance


Projects
Trading Strategies (Intro to the Math of Fin.)


Career service
Columbia’s career service is solid: resume help, mock interviews, career fairs, employer presentation sessions, networking/social events, and Lionshare (job website).

The MAFN program does help out with job placement as the program has a strong alumni network. They will email you about openings and job leads but make no mistake, this is the Columbia math department and not the Columbia Business School.


What do you like about the program?
The MAFN covers all the important topics: stochastic processes, time series, numerical techniques, Monte Carlo simulation, option valuation, and etc.
At Columbia, you have the opportunity to meet a lot of smart and motivated people (including undergrads and phds) and interact with top notch faculty.
You are minutes away from the top financial companies of the world.
Tons of resources at Columbia University.
Extensive alumni network.


What DON’T you like about the program?
The only knock on the MAFN program is that it doesn't have a huge selection of elective courses and there are limitations on taking courses with the business school and engineering department. You are allowed to take one MBA course per semester and one IEOR elective course in the spring semester. Otherwise, you must be affiliated with IEOR or CBS in order to take their courses.
It would be nice to have an in-house programming/database class and an exotic products (MBS, CDO, etc.) class. But it would make so much more sense if MAFN students were allowed to take FE and business school electives instead of duplicating courses across departments.



My personal remarks:
- Calibrate your expectations.
- You must take at least 5 courses per semester and a few of the course classes are phd level. The phd level courses are very theoretical so know what you are getting into. The MAFN program is very intense and you will have to manage your time very well if you want to attempt to secure a job offer before graduation.
- The MAFN career service will not be able to place everyone. Just because you get into Columbia MAFN doesn’t make you instantly smart and you sure aren't guaranteed a job. You have to work and hustle to get a job just like everyone else.
- There are so many programs at Columbia that teach more or less the same things: Stats, FE, OR, Applied Mathematics, Management Science and Engineering >> and that’s just the master programs!!! So don’t rely on just Lionshare to find jobs. Use linkedin, monster.com, etc. And of course, network.
- In my opinion, everything comes down to the individual. It’s not so much which program you are in but your knowledge, skills, and ability. I know a student who is just brilliant. He had multiple offers, ranging from AQR, SIG, CS Quantitative Strategies, and MS Strats & Modeling. It didn’t matter which program he was in because he was just that smart. You could put him in any of the lower ranked programs and he would still get job offers because he understood everything inside out. Find out which area you are weakest at (math/finance/programming/communication) and get better at it.
- Columbia has tons of resources >> use them. For example, you need a subscription to view articles on InstitutionalInvestor.com but when you are on campus using the wifi, you can view articles for free. The same goes for many journals and publications.

Flexible, cheap and very effective

What do you think is unique about this program?
I don't think there is anything unique in the program as most of the MFE and Math Finance Programs are pretty much identical. The best part though is its flexibility. You can take the best courses in MAFN and in MFE and pay substantially less than what columbia MFEs pay.You can learn a lot in this program by taking good courses or you can just take fraudulent courses under industry practitioners and learn nothing.

What are the weakest points about this program?
There are absolutely no electives offered by the department in the 2nd semester. Its not easy to get registered into the MFE courses but if you go to their classes in the first couple of weeks and talk to the professor, you can eventually get registered into the course.

Career services
Career services in general suck at Columbia

Student body
Chinese French US Russian and Indians

A very intense phd level Math-Stat Program with concentration in finance

What do you think is unique about this program?
To this question - I don't know how it is in other programs. But I certainly felt very motivated may be coz of that calmness inside the campus and huge amount of energy right outside the gates to broadway. It is definitely unique. Curriculum, it is very demanding, get the heck outta u. One administrator in Kent hall told me it is The most intensive program in the university. Course wise, Whatever course offered are really good and professors are top notch, but when it comes to electives, i see that there is no preference for math fin students when apply for courses in other departments.

What are the weakest points about this program?
Electives in Finance courses, I don't know whether it is that much a hassle to tie with B School or IEOR to intake good amount math fin students for just 2 courses. Secondly career service.

Career services
University career service - Lion Share but again it is meant for ALL Columbia students and Alumni - We have to compete with MFE & BSchool (who also has separate career services) + MA Stat, MSOR, MA Econ, Bachelors in Business/finance etc. So at the end, to get a call for interview from Lion share is like "-------" . I still hope it works.

Student body
I see many students founds jobs in their own countries like Russia, HK, Thailand, Toronto and the like. I know only a couple who got jobs in USA. I think the time is really really bad.

Excellent brand, smart people and in NYC.

People say the careers service isnt good but actually found it helpful and got a number of offers through them. I think the problem is people are too late. If you want a full time position then you start interviewing on campus from the first week you arrive and positions are taken by Christmas. Then you are on your own, but even that is okay being in NYC is very easy to go for interviews and networking things.

Other than that I think the program is tough, the people are smart and it has a good brand name.

My background:
1st Class (Honors) Math undergrad in the UK. Internship at Goldman Sachs. 800 on math GRE.
Now working as a currency options trader.