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The Financial Engineering program at UCL, uniquely housed within the Computer Science department, emphasizes practical and career-focused quantitative finance, blending finance with cutting-edge computational skills. Taught by seasoned industry professionals, the program offers real-world expertise and technical rigor. While it may not yet match the career exposure of Oxford or Cambridge, UCL’s reputation is steadily growing to join the first tier league of world's MFE programs.

Program is decent but mostly on your own. I interviewed 30+ firms this cycle (JS, 2 Sigma, Citadel, DE Shaw, IMC, AQR, SIG, BH etc), and received 8 offers including two from top hedge funds mentioned above.

For the Summer of 2025, we have people recruiting for quant roles received offers from firms like Point72, Two Sigma, Citi, Goldman Sachs, BAML, DB, and top commodities trading houses like CCI and Gerald.

In my case, I was allocated two internal referrals for quant roles, and most people around me also received some resources such as exclusive 1-on-1 mock interviews, 1-1 coffee chats with senior member of the firm like the MD of citadel or jump, and internal referrals. All these are from the program’s dedicated career support.

I would say the support coming from the program is 35%, which is still quiet high, and the rest is on my own.

Curriculums:

4 required courses (ACCT, Investment, Corp Fin, ML). The ML course is pretty useful and cover basically all you need for QR interviews. It's taught by Dacheng Xiu, literally the best financial ML scholar today.

For electives, you can tailor your classes to fit any track you’re interested in. I'm for quant and all in PhD-level courses in statistics, finance, and OM, all of which are excellent. PhD Courses like Asset Pricing taught by LPH, Probability and stats, Stochastic Optimization, and Convex Optimization are particularly useful for interviews. They also leave some options for PhD, which is great.

Job Placement and support:

Program received $60M in funding from AQR, which provides some preferential opportunities for our students. also internal referrals from top mutual funds and Booth alumni hedge funds. However, beyond these , job support is fairly average. We dont have program career fairs but can only participate in the Uni-wise. Some info and network session though with Seniors from Citadel, GS, KKR, BX, AQR, NorthernTrust but still mostly will not have any meratialized benefits. Most students are on their own for the majority of the job search process.


Peers:

Overall great but with extremely high variance. Many classmates come from like Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia, Uchicago, and with impressive internships at BB Snt, BB QR, BB IBD, Top 3 PE etc. But there are also peers from relatively poor background who struggle to secure interviews and keep up with the coursework, which is common ofc.


Overall:

Booth has a wide alu base and great reputation in HF and mutual funds. That says, if you are good enough and have been trained rigorously during undergrad, you will get plenty of interviews for sure particularly from top HFs and a good chance of landing a position. Howe

The University of Chicago’s Financial Mathematics (FinMath) program has been an exceptional experience. When I was applying to graduate programs two years ago, I had a clear idea of what I wanted, and UChicago FinMath delivered beyond my expectations. I apologize for the lengthy review– there is plenty to share!

Admissions:
The admissions process was refreshing and student-focused. Upon admission, program staff promptly engaged with us, addressing questions and providing guidance. The “Ask Me Anything” sessions for admitted students were particularly insightful, with both staff and current students offering valuable advice. Post-enrollment, we participated in interactive coursework on internship preparation and resume refinement, setting the tone for a professionally enriching experience.

Instruction Quality:
The quality of instruction is one of the program’s standout features. Faculty members, drawn from both academia and industry, share their unique expertise and insights. Each instructor excels at communicating complex topics in a way that is both engaging and accessible. This ensures a high-quality learning experience across the board. Utilize their expansive knowledge!

Courses:
I can say with certainty that I drew important skills and knowledge from each course I took. I will detail a few of my highlights below.

Computing for Finance in Python:
This course is taught by Sebastian Donadio was a great way to begin the program. Seb’s instruction is easy to digest and always opens the door to what comes next. Despite my limited coding experience, I found the course approachable and engaging. Even peers with advanced coding skills found valuable insights in the course. Seb is always willing to push you further! One unique challenge that came about with our cohort was ChatGPT. During exams, the emergence of paid ChatGPT subscriptions highlighted challenges in balancing AI usage with demonstrating personal mastery. Unfortunately, having access to the newest GPT model for either exam made a significant difference in performance. Even without them, I was still thrilled to have taken the course. I was able to transform my coding abilities over the course of a few months. I went from not writing functional code during online assessments to passing them with time to spare. I attribute this growth primarily to this course.

I would reassure students concerned by the prevalence of ChatGPT in academia that instructors are addressing the issue and are rapidly evolving coursework to reward students who can demonstrate knowledge without using ChatGPT as a crutch. Proper usage of AI is crucial in this day and age, but blind and heavy reliance on LLMs is only setting people up for failure. Instructors in this program and beyond are quickly finding ways to ensure students are best prepared for industry.

Option Pricing / Numerical Methods:
These two courses, taught by Roger Lee, are undoubtedly highlights of the program. Even with a background in financial mathematics from undergrad, I gained significant insights from these classes. Roger skillfully combines a rigorous, mathematics-based approach to options and derivatives with the practical intuition that industry practitioners rely on for efficiency. The homework and exams often feature problems that can be tackled using advanced, formal mathematics. However, Roger’s solution guides stand out for their elegant and concise methods, offering invaluable learning opportunities. I strongly recommend that students invest time in studying his solutions, as they reveal powerful techniques that streamline complex problems.

Any of Mark Hendricks’ Courses:
Mark Hendricks offers a number of courses including an introductory “Markets” section for incoming students, Portfolio and Risk Management, Fixed Income, and Fixed Income Derivatives. I took the three offered courses and made an effort to sit in on as many Markets lectures as possible. Another highlight of the program is the common 3-hour lecture style. For better or worse, it is the layout chosen to accommodate most schedules and allow for flexibility during the day. Mark’s lectures were all three hours, but felt as though I had sat down to watch a well-designed YouTube documentary. It is one of those presentation styles that is extremely engaging and enjoyable to sit through. We cover a number of topics that are highly technical requiring high level mathematics and coding, but he is able to synthesize it so that people of different academic backgrounds can understand it better.

Career Development Office:
The Career Development Office (CDO) is our office dedicated to helping connect students to the next phase of their career regardless of where you are coming from. They devise endless opportunities to sharpen your skills, meet new people, and interact with firms in the industry. Early in the program, the CDO provides workshops covering essential behavioral and technical interviewing skills in time for the internship search ramping up. These sessions continue to be available throughout the program. Simultaneously, they arrange for many employer events where students are able to hear from and interact with various companies and alumni. These sessions helped me discern the various career paths available to students upon graduation. Outside of these group events, CDO also works 1-on-1 to help each student navigate the career search. They are able to connect you with alumni at companies you are interested in working at, help you draft communications, and everything in between. Personally, CDO helped me navigate the negotiation process as well as helped me formulate requests for my full-time contract.

Academic Services and Administration:
The Academic Services and Administration (ASA) team is essential to the smooth operation of the FinMath program. Their work can be categorized as both program-facing and student-facing. Behind the scenes, they coordinate employer events, office visits, interview labs, admissions, alumni engagement, and more. For students, ASA provides invaluable support, including course advice, visa assistance, and general guidance on any topic. I would argue that the “home base” of the FinMath program is in Meredith’s office. Before and after any lecture, event, exam, and sometimes just out of the blue, myself and many other students head to her office to hang out and talk with her. I sometimes feel bad talking with her while she works, but she has ELITE multitasking skills and is somehow able to do it all! Special shoutout to Meredith! She is so crucial to the program’s success. Overall, ASA is very necessary to the success of the program.

Unique Characteristics:
What truly sets FinMath apart, beyond its robust academics, is its unique culture. The program brings together students from diverse academic and professional backgrounds, fostering an environment of collaboration and mutual growth. This diversity creates opportunities for students to leverage their strengths while learning from one another. For example, I was able to share my insights in our math-intensive courses, while benefiting from peers with extensive coding expertise. When I was evaluating programs, I didn’t fully appreciate the importance of this collaborative culture. Reflecting now, I’m not sure such a dynamic environment could exist elsewhere to the same degree as it does at FinMath.

Outcomes:
Overall, I couldn’t be more satisfied with my decision to attend the University of Chicago’s Master’s in Financial Mathematics program. To provide some context, I studied mathematics as an undergraduate with a concentration in financial mathematics. While this gave me a solid mathematical foundation, I recognized the need to deepen my expertise in finance, programming, and machine learning to pursue a career as an industry quant. After researching several programs, I chose FinMath based on the strong endorsements from alumni and the comprehensive curriculum. Many of the positive experiences I had read about aligned closely with my own goals, making the decision an easy one.

Coming straight from undergrad with no industry experience, I initially worried about how I would bridge that gap. However, FinMath quickly put those concerns to rest. I enrolled in the Project Lab course, which allowed me to gain hands-on experience and bolster my resume with meaningful projects. Through the FinMath career fair, I connected with a company where I secured an internship, which later converted into a full-time role after graduation.

My last reflection on the program is that it has a component of self-direction where you may make of it what you wish. There are plenty of opportunities presented to you, and as a grad student, you have the OPTION to take advantage of them. Due to the flexibility the curriculum, students can challenge themselves (or not) as they see fit. I encourage future students to challenge themselves and make the most of the program’s valuable opportunities. Taking the challenging courses is how you grow and make the most of your time and money.

Feel free to message me on LinkedIn at William Bellinger if you have any questions about the program!

This program deserves only one star as they still have Roger Lee, otherwise it will be worth 0 star with no doubt. It’s not a rare or radical opinion – Many students hold the same view with me. Nor this is not a review from a biased bad student - I got job offers after graduation, and I have very decent grades in my undergrad.

Pro:

- The only Pro of this program is Professor Roger Lee - He is a master in the field of option pricing and his teaching is tremendously great. The course contents & lecture notes are well-designed, and he can explain complicated concepts in a very clear way. Homework and exams are also very properly designed such that they help you gain deeper insights in derivatives pricing.

- Some of my classmates also like Professor Lawler, but in my opinion his teaching is merely at or below the average quality of my undergraduate math courses. Probably you will have better experience if you are his PhD students.

Cons:

- Many useless courses wasting your tuition!!! Their curriculum titles seem fancy, but in reality many of them are either too basic (at or even below a college sophomore level) or instructors don’t care about it at all.
 Any courses related to programming and machine learning are extremely badly structured (e.g., Python programming, full stack tools for quant fin, machine learning for fin). Trust me, your undergraduate CS/Stats classes are way much better than these.
 You can also clearly tell that some instructors are just wasting time and teach something which probably a college sophomore already mastered, and assign some useless homework to keep you busy, but you wont learn anything from them.
 Basically you are paying over $90,000 tuition and won’t learn much things comparing to your undergrad education.

- Career services is just a joke. Those staffs do not even have a real career themselves, how come they are capable in advising you to get a six-figure job?

- Don’t be deceived by the job placement rate they reported to QuantNet. The statistics look better only because they admit more students with full-time work experience than other programs with similar QuantNet ranking. But if you are a student go straight from college, you will struggle with finding a decent job whichever program you go to.

- Some of their staffs act like toxic parents - They want to control everything over you. If you let them know you get an offer, they will keep harassing you to withdraw your other job applications/interviews in order to let other students potentially have interview opportunities. I mean, seriously?

- Btw I can’t believe a professor can have romantic relationship with students. If it’s in my undergraduate university, the professor will be fired immediately without any doubt.


So unless you are very determined to work in a derivatives pricing related job after graduation, otherwise I don’t recommend this program at all.

I graduated from the program in December 2024 and can unequivocally say that it was a brilliant experience. My undergrad was in mathematics research and I had a couple of years of work experience in risk management before joining the program. I moved to Chicago from India to attend the program, and it was a big decision for me.
The academics, projects, career support, and peer group are top-notch, as described by my fellow cohort and alum in other reviews on this page. I shall share my experience from the lens of an international student (as a significant number of applicants are international) and how the program helped in specific areas.

1) Networking and How to Go About It
The career office and everyone in the program encouraged the students to network as much as possible with alumni, industry professionals visiting the program, and company representatives during career events. A number of events were organized which provide you with many opportunities to network. Like many of my cohort, I too secured my internship through a connection I made during one of the career events organized by the program. The program organizes “how to network” workshops too, which can be very helpful for students not used to the idea of networking events.

2) Setting Expectations of Rigorous Work and Application Rejections
The university follows a quarter system, which is quite rigorous compared to the semester system that I was used to and most other students might be more familiar with. The admin team (Meredith, Dylan, and Eliza) were super helpful in sharing insights about how to deal with academics, course selection, and expected workloads. We were told right from the get-go that the first quarter was going to be super hectic with coursework, career events, and applications. The goal of the program is to get into the quant finance industry after graduation, so the program encourages more focus on the internship/full-time process during peak hiring cycles, which is practical. Most courses and professors are okay with extending deadlines if you have an interview that you are preparing for.
The number of internship applications by many students exceeds 100, and this was shocking for me initially. The CDO ingrained the mantra of "apply apply apply" and encourages you to keep applying. Internship/full-time applications are like an additional course, and the program remarked on the time-consuming aspect of applications. We had alumni share candid experiences of rejections after gruelling rounds of interviews and superdays. Simply put, everyone in the program painted a realistic picture of what we were getting into. This trained us mentally to be prepared for straight-up rejections (some companies automatically reject based on what you might have filled in your application), ignored emails, and crushing final-round rejections.

3) CDO Support in Communications
As a student with prior work experience in India, I was conscious of the fact that “work communication” might be different. Phrasing emails to recruiters, interviewers, and potential contacts with the right tone was important. The CDO would help out in those as well. They offer to review your emails to ensure that they come across with the right intention. Some of my friends who were not too confident in English were also helped by the CDO in responding to recruiters and HR.

4) Peer Group and Alumni Network
This is the strongest aspect of the program in my opinion. I got to meet so many people from different professional backgrounds loosely connected to finance and learn about their journeys and bond over shared experiences. The best part of the program was that everyone struggled together—whether it was the Python assignments, QTS homework, or internship applications, it was a team effort, and we supported each other throughout.
The alumni connect was extremely helpful in discussing interview prep, courses to select, full-time search strategy, and even sensitive topics like negotiating compensation and benefits. The CDO helps you in reaching out to alumni and organizes multiple events to facilitate meeting alum from different areas in quant finance. Some of the alumni who were themselves, international students, shared candid feedback on the work sponsorship process and tips to filter for companies that provide sponsorship while applying.


Overall, I believe the program is thoughtfully designed, with particular attention given to addressing the unique needs and nuances of supporting international students.

After the former executive director abruptly left the program without any notice or explanation in the middle of the academic year (I believe she worked in the program for less than four months), the program hired someone with no background in the financial industry. This person made fundamental errors in finance, repeatedly misspelled the names of well-known companies, and provided little to no career resources. Instead, all she did was encourage students to "network." I don’t understand why our tuition was spent this way.

Piece of two-cents from the slide for MFE students:

Exploratory and Learning Outreach: based on reading you’ve done about the industry, finding people: SWE’s, recruiters (industry experts) to learn more about their background, gain industry insight, etc.
Proactive Target Company Outreach: after research, reach out to SWEs and recruiters at companies that excite / interest you to ask them about the company, the hiring process, how to prepare, etc.
Recruiter Follow Up Outreach: after you apply for a job, you message SWEs and Recruiters to talk about the specific role you applied for and insight about the company

We are not targeting SWE at all!!!!!!!!

The primary reason I chose this advanced C++ course is to further enhance my proficiency in C++ programming. As I am transitioning from mid-to-low-frequency factor investing to high-frequency factor investing, a high-performance programming language will become a crucial tool for my future research.

Additionally, I am currently applying for 2025 Fall MFE program. This course will not only help me improve my technical skills but also add value to my application profile.

In 2023, I completed the C++ Programming for Financial Engineering course on QuantNet, and the high-quality teaching and practicality of that course greatly benefited me. Therefore, when I decided to further advance my C++ skills, this course is my first choice. As it turns out, this course has also maintained a high standard of teaching content!

I took this course primarily for two reasons: to enrich my understanding of programming and computer science as well as qualify for Baruch’s MFE program. I had some previous exposure to Python in my algorithmic trading class and intro to python class and wanted to learn a new language, especially one that HFT firms use to develop their algorithms. Naturally so, I took the course knowing that the reviews revered the quality of the course and that it would fulfill the requirement for the program. I can say that I immensely enjoyed learning from the material and applying it through the exercises and final project. The use of the forums were useful as well, especially towards the final project. Overall, the course has given me invaluable exposure that I cherish and wish to continue to build on in graduate school.

My experience with this course is great. I found the course from QuantNet and the Baruch Financial Engineering program. The reason I am taking this course is to learn C++ systematically and understand its usage in financial engineering.

This review was completed by me alone and I was not incentivized in any way by QuantNet or UChicago.

I am a recent graduate from the Class of 2024, and I could not be happier with my choice choosing UChicago for my Master’s program. Back in 2022 and 2023, I was deciding between UChicago, Cornell MFE, Columbia MFE, NC State, receiving large amounts of academic aid from UChicago, NC State, and Cornell MFE. I remember the days scouring QuantNet from multiple accounts trying to make the ‘right choice’. Aside from wanting to leave the NY area and explore a new program/city, I chose UChicago for the many reasons listed in depth below. I have seen/heard of a few suspect comments and reviews that I believe represents a 1% minority of the program, and I encourage those authors to reveal their names to promote better discussions.
1) Individual Attention to Students: No student is simply ‘a number on a paper’ like the impression some other programs gave off. From the start, Meredith, CDO, and the rest of the administration proactively connected with students the summer leading up to entrance in the Fall quarter. No matter the size of the class – whether its 30 students or 150 students, the Professors know most students by name and there are plenty of opportunities to connect on a personal level with faculty and staff. Any struggles the student has whether it be academically or personally, the program staff is here to help.

2) Career Development Office: Possibly the biggest differentiating factor of UChicago compared to the other programs I was contemplating. There is a dedicated career office SOLELY for Financial Math. The Director, Sue Clark, takes her job extremely seriously and is diligent at assisting students in their full time/internship search. She is very good at what she does, as is the rest of the CDO team! It behooves the student to use the CDO office at the very least as a North Star— there were times CDO put me in contact with direct recruiters that I would not been able to contact on my own. CDO begins reaching out to you in the May leading up to Fall semester – very proactive and early! The internship and full-time placement for Class of 2024 was extremely high – put in the effort, take CDO advice, you will not be disappointed. I got my summer internship at a proprietary trading firm in downtown Chicago as a direct result of the FinMath Career Fair during September Launch – yes, a career fair SOLELY for FinMath students.

2 continued) IPR – Industry Professional Residents: There is a select group (5 or so) alumni each quarter that serve as ‘advisors’ to students. They’re here to help: mock interviews, industry/technical topic advice, and overall networking. Use them – I wish I had used them more – they are here for you. The Alumni base is incredibly strong in this program.

3) Project Lab - An Unparalleled Opportunity for Industry Experience: Every quarter, students have the option to enroll in an 8–10-week project ranging from ~15 employers. Indeed, in your first few months of the program, you will be placed in an ‘academic internship’. Out of the possible 4 quarters to take advantage of, personally, I completed 3 projects with two very prominent asset managers, and another with an options regulation firm. This experience was extremely useful for internship/full time interviews, presentation skills (you gotta get out of your shell!), networking with future (?) employers, in addition to understanding my personal interests. Though it is not the primary goal, many project lab sponsors take a few students for internships each year.

4) Curriculum and Curriculum Flexibility: There is a month before the academic year starts - September Launch- where students are exposed to the foundations needed for quantitative finance – Stochastic Processes, Markets (this precedes Portfolio Management), and the Python class begins. The administration understands students come from a wide range of backgrounds. September Launch is a particularly stressful time because there are numerous recruiting events while enrolled in these ‘mini’ courses. This month is essential for putting everyone on the same playing field.
The program allows for much elective flexibility. Take advantage of this. Personally, I took electives from the Statistics Department including Time Series Analysis, Monte Carlo Simulation, and Multivariate Stat Analysis. The caliber of the professors, whether it be FinMath classes or other departments is extremely sharp – then again, its UChicago.

A few smaller comments:
a) I see some concerns re: safety of the University area – welcome to a major city in the US. New York is not any different, and I can promise that.
b) Some say on this forum – “Chicago is only good if you want to work in Chicago post-graduation, its hard to get to New York, etc.”. This is simply false. Many students (possibly even most (?)) each summer go to New York and other major cities for internships. This is same for full time offers. I was presented with a few full-time opportunities post-graduation, and I ultimately chose to work on a model building and research team for a large bank not located in Chicago.
I have no doubt in my mind that UChicago will continue climbing the ranks on the QuantNet ranking guide.
To all prospective students, good luck with your decisions and feel free to reach out to me for any more questions, comments, or concerns on LinkedIn at Jesse Freitag.

I’m a FinMath fresh grad student who has just graduated last December. And will start as a quant in a bank this year.

My background when I applied for the program: CS and math majors with a high G plus two quant-related interns plus one IBD-related intern. Got waitlists after applying on January and finally got accepted on late March (last one who got accepted). Have to say the bar of the program admission is rising in a horrible way these years because of not only the bad job market after the COVID but the tough hiring criteria in the most of the finance industry (it’s not easy as 10 years before anymore), given the situation that we have to compete with other competitive programs around the world and also some of PhD’s joined the industry for higher income. So we have to assume that you are going to have more competitive background than mine to apply to expect the offer.

When you received the offer, GOOD, but that is only your step zero point zero. Known that our program is job oriented: “If you are going to pursuing for a PhD, then you come for a wrong program”, cited from Mark who is the program director saying in the first day of the program orientation meeting. If you are aiming to find a job, then you should realize that most of the efforts should come from you by leveraging the program resources as many as you can to achieve success. Based on this, let me let you know what kind of resources or spirits that you can utilize to support you through the entire job-search process:

1’ Courses: some of the courses are useful to learn especially the first three courses from the first quarter. Then you are free to choose the courses that you’d love to take to achieve the minimum units to graduate. The workload in this program is medium to me so that it’s convenient for me to spend enough time to prepare for job searching when taking care of the coursework each semester. The program is updating every single year to adjust the fast-paced quant industry. The 4 tracks, are now updated in 2024, which makes more sense to me compared to the old one. Most of the course materials are moderately reformulated each quarter as well by instructors to adjust the current industry as well. So this relieves me and gives me a feeling that the program is not old at all but still intake and gives back students from the current industry, which I really appreciate.

2‘ Career Services: Led by the Deputy Director Emily and CDO director Susan, the entire career service is above expectation. Starting from August review, they will ask students to submit the resume again for review and give insights for the logistics, timelines, and resources on September Launch. A program-specific job application interface is provided to students so that they can easily filter out unrelated jobs and applied for them. Based in Chicago, we are able to be exposed to some of the trading companies in person (trek): Geneva, Akuna, CTC, etc. Also we are prepared by the CDO lots of company career talks, IPR meetings, and interview preparations throughout each quarter. The project labs in each semester is the Special for FinMath UChicago I think, and the overall quality is high if you choose the project that is most matching with you, but at the same time the company would choose you as well. The CDO invite 3 new but experienced folks to the team recently, and I think they will lead the entire program to achieve a better milestone in the future.

3’ Infrastructure & Environment: FinMath program has a big house at 5727 (3 levels and 1 basement) so most of the courses will be held there. The Study lounge is located on the 3rd floor and a bunch of terminals with Bloomberg access as well! All of the faculties are working there and you are always welcome to bother them if you have any questions. It’s also located at the center of the school, the library, the school buffet & cafe, and the bus station. The study and passionate environment, and those aspiring folks in the program push me to hard work every day and finally secure a job, which I appreciate really much! And this spirit cannot be obtained in any other same-level program, I think, to some extent.

Hope this post can benefit you in some aspects. And good luck on your study and career. Hope to see you guys in the industry some days;)

My manager recommended this course to me to help me take on more dev side work. The course has concepts that are relevant to pricing libraries. Studying, debugging and using code at work has become easier now.

I want to apply MFE just like everybody does so I want to learn c++. And I heard this from a lot of people including seniors and some graduates from my university. Actually I have c++ course in my school but after I check out the content of this course, I found it full of useful topics compared to other courses teaching c++ in quantitative finance and that's why I choose to take this course.

I couldn’t be happier with my experience. The professors here are fantastic—truly top-notch experts who are passionate about what they teach. Their dedication made classes engaging and inspiring, and they were always willing to help outside of lectures.

The program strikes an excellent balance between theory and practice, which prepared me well for the job market. It’s clear that the curriculum is designed to ensure that graduates are not only knowledgeable but also highly employable.

One of the biggest advantages of studying FinMath at UChicago is the academic flexibility. We are able to take classes in the departments of Mathematics and Statistics, deepening our theoretical understand of machine learning and predictive analysis. This allowed me to explore my interests in greater depth, something that’s hard to find in other financial engineering programs across the US, since they do not have flexible curriculums (maybe one or two electives in most?). The university’s reputation for academic rigor really shows, and the ability to customize my education made a huge difference.

Additionally, the administrative support within the Financial Mathematics program is outstanding. Meredith, Eliza, and Dylan are incredibly helpful, always going above and beyond to ensure that students have everything they need to succeed. They create a welcoming environment where you feel comfortable reaching out with any questions or concerns. The Career Development Officer (CDO) team is equally impressive, providing great support with interview preparation, job market navigation, and career advice.

Overall, UChicago stands out as an exceptional place to study financial mathematics, offering resources and opportunities that set it apart from other programs.

The program offers a well-balanced curriculum that includes both rigorous classical theories and practical applications. Faculty members come from both academic and industry backgrounds, so students can build a strong theoretical foundation and also get valuable real-world insights.

Before the first semester begins, students will participate in a preparatory training session designed to review key mathematical concepts and introduce Python programming, ensuring all participants feel confident with the essential skills needed for the program. Midway through the program, a bootcamp focused on quantitative interview questions prepares students for commonly encountered questions during job interviews.

Students in the program come from diverse academic backgrounds, including finance, statistics, mathematics, computer science, engineering and etc. While the coursework is rigorous, students without prior experience in finance or advanced mathematics should find it manageable with dedication and hard work.

Strong industry connections enable the program to offer some summer internship opportunities through partnerships with various institutions. The alumni network is very active—many alumni working in the field directly request the program’s resume book, opening up even more opportunities for students. Additionally, the program’s flexible structure allows students to graduate after either three or four semesters, depending on their goals and circumstances.

If you’re a student seeking rigorous academic training in mathematical finance while also gaining practical industry insights, I believe this program would be a good match for your interests.