Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Master of Finance

Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Master of Finance

Global. Rigorous. Adaptive. A Finance Education Engineered for You

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Location
Cambridge, MA 02139
Application deadline
January 3, 2025
For discerning students looking for a rewarding career in finance, the MIT Sloan Master of Finance Program carries with it a legendary reputation, world renowned faculty and innovative, hands-on learning experiences in a top-ranked, early-stage finance degree. An MFin degree is a smart investment in your future, generating returns throughout your lifetime.
Distinctive Value

Academic Excellence: MFin students are high achievers from around the world who selected our world-class STEM program — emphasizing a foundation in how markets work, and a rigorous curriculum engineered around the most advanced financial theories, quantitative models and industry practices — and are tailoring it to meet their specific career requirements.

World Renowned Faculty and Hands-on Action Learning: Students learn from recognized finance authorities who paved the way for modern finance and continue to influence global policies and practices — a hallmark of MIT — and collaborate with industry practitioners in high-impact action learning assignments.

Rewarding Careers and the MIT Experience: Students benefit from a program designed to prepare students to make a difference, with personalized guidance targeting premier careers among highly sought-after established financial firms, public institutions, and leading-edge organizations. Students access an ecosystem of finance resources and alumni, and join an inspiring community of innovators, carrying MIT’s reputation with them throughout their careers. Highlights of our graduates Employment and the latest Employment Report can be found here.

Meet Our Students: What is it like to be an MFin student here? Our students are unique, representing a diverse range of backgrounds. They experience MIT Sloan in their own way yet create a cohesive community. Here is a link to their profiles.

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2025 Ranking Data
Rank
5
Total Score
86
Peer Score
3.0
% Employed at Graduation
76%
% Employed at 3 months
97%
% Employed in the US
66%
Compensation
$154,909
Cohort Size
118 FT
Acceptance Rate
8.7%
Yield Rate
70.2%
Tuition
$125,484

Views
43,556
First release
Last update

Ratings

3.77 star(s) 26 reviews 5.00 star(s) Students Quality 4.20 star(s) Courses/Instructors 5.00 star(s) Career Services
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Latest reviews
Headline
Great program, great network, great people
Class of
2025
I had my apprehensions going into this program due to its high tuition, but I believed that the school name was worth the premium.
This program has exceeded my expectations, and I'm glad I chose to be an MIT MFin.

I genuinely underestimated the flexibility of this program even after hearing tons about it. You can literally design this degree in a way that suits you.

Wanna learn financial mathematics? Wanna learn macroeconomics? Wanna learn M&A? You can take all of these courses at Sloan.

Wanna improve your CS or math skills? You can take courses in the CS or math department at MIT. And all of these would probably count towards your degree requirements, so you would not have to do 'unnecessary' courses that you find redundant for your career needs.

The courses are HARD, though. Whether you're doing a more quant-y course or a more corporate finance course, you should expect that it will be rigorous and challenging, but you'd have ample resources and support. The professors are top-notch, highly revered in their fields, but also extremely approachable.

I did not have a lot of expectations with the Career Development Office, but I can safely say that I've found it to be very useful. You do have to do your due diligence and work hard on applications (you're an adult and the job market is tough) but the CDO team will get you any resource they could possibly help you with. There will be so many networking events and opportunities to make use of (you'll literally be having lunch with MDs of a division), thanks to the CDO, provided you show up and market yourself to the company speakers.

Lastly, the Sloan network is priceless. You'll not only get to connect easily with Sloan alumni who are leading quant firms in the country, but also an amazing student group at the school, including MBAs and PhDs. Your classes will consist of people vying for various career paths, from quant to macroeconomic research to private equity. While it is great to have a good network of people in the quant industry, it's just as important to connect with people in other sectors of finance.

TL;DR: MIT MFin does a great job of letting you identify what career path you want to take and provides you with all the resources to excel in it, from academics to networks to career opportunities.
Recommend
Yes, I would recommend this program
Students Quality
5.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
5.00 star(s)
Career Services
5.00 star(s)
Upvote 3 Downvote
Headline
My Thoughts on MIT Mfin
Class of
2023
Just wanted to share some insights on the MIT Master of Finance program .

What really stands out about the program is its flexibility. The ability to tailor your coursework and explore a wide range of subjects is a significant plus, especially in such a dynamic field as finance. This flexibility extends to taking classes at Harvard, which is a unique opportunity in itself. The program is known for its strong quantitative focus, offering a deep dive into financial theory and practice.

Another major highlight is the quality of peers you'll be studying with. The student body is not only academically impressive but also diverse in experiences and backgrounds, offering a rich learning environment. There’s a lot to learn from classmates, and the networking opportunities are tremendous.

The career prospects post-graduation are another strong point. Many students have had great success during the summer recruiting season, landing roles in prestigious firms across various sectors of finance. The program’s reputation and MIT's strong industry connections play a crucial role here.

However, it’s not all smooth sailing. The program does have its challenges. One of the most frequently mentioned is the large class size, which could potentially impact the level of individual attention and support you might receive. The cost of the program is another significant consideration – it's quite steep, but that's expected from a program of this caliber.

The academic rigor is another factor to be prepared for. The coursework is demanding, and the program's pace can be intense, especially during the summer term. This intensity, while a challenge, is also part of what makes the program so robust and rewarding.

In conclusion, while the MIT MFin program comes with its set of challenges, such as the class size, cost, and intense workload, its strengths in providing a flexible, diverse, and rigorous educational experience, combined with excellent career opportunities, make it a compelling choice. If you're someone who thrives in a challenging and dynamic academic environment and are looking for a program that can provide a strong launchpad into the finance industry, this could be a great fit.
Recommend
Yes, I would recommend this program
Students Quality
5.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
4.00 star(s)
Career Services
5.00 star(s)
Upvote 1 Downvote
Headline
The new trier 0 program
Pros:
1. Great flexibility in terms of course. You can take basically any courses you like from the entire MIT course catalog and also cross reg at Harvard. Many people from FE track took courses like PHD level Machine Learning, High-dim Stats, Times Series and Econometrics.
2. Classmates are solid for sure
3. Great track record for summer recruiting: Constant inflow into Citadel, Jump, BAM and most of the IB in Quant, IB and Trading divisions.

Cons:
1. Class Size was too large
2. Expensive Tuition Fees
Recommend
Yes, I would recommend this program
Students Quality
5.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
5.00 star(s)
Career Services
5.00 star(s)
Upvote 2 Downvote
Headline
Quick Review
Pros:

Reputation: It's MIT.
Customizable: You can tweak the program based on what you're into, which is super cool.
Job Opportunities: career fairs and good support from CDO
Real-World Learning: Fin-lab/proseminars and other hands-on projects

Cons:
Heavy Workload in the Summer
Tuition Costs, etc.
Recommend
Yes, I would recommend this program
Students Quality
5.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
4.00 star(s)
Career Services
5.00 star(s)
Upvote 2 Downvote
Headline
come on it's MIT
I honestly think they should get rid of Corporate Finance track and combine MFE and Capital Market into 1 thing. Classes are too big and not super concentrated. Don't see much synergy in mixing the bankers/consultant with quant/coders. MIT is by its core an engineering school so stay focused at what it's good at. From the school's perspective, Accounting/ M&A/ corporate finance related courses basically overlap with the MBA ones and doesn't add to its course offering. From the students' perspective, 1. US IB don't really recruit from Mfin 2. why not find an OK job first then do MBA from Sloan?
Overall good experience and decent career planning. kinda wished classes were smaller.
Recommend
Yes, I would recommend this program
Students Quality
5.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
3.00 star(s)
Career Services
5.00 star(s)
Upvote 2 Downvote
I feel really disappointed about the classmates that I had. Cheating/teaming up during online exams, Free riding during group projects, breaking COVID protocols just to throw a party aren't things that you would expect from MIT graduate students, but they occur more than you imagine, and it is unfair for us that always followed the rules. I certainly expected that I would learn more from my classmates

Sometimes I felt that some people were admitted in the program just because they come from a rich family, even though it was clear that they weren't qualified to be admitted in the program . MIT should be a meritocracy, and this program is not a meritocracy.

I would urge the MFin admissions commitee to not base their admissions desicions only on the likeness that a possible candidate can donate money to the endownment in the future or whether the candidate has a brandname on their resume. There are other things that also matter: Personality, Willigness to have an impact in society, coming from a background of adversity and managing to succeed, being a decent human being, having manners, among others. Life is more than bradnames and money and I believe that most people in the program are focused only on that. The MFin program is contributing to the continuing of the stigma that people have of the finance industry: an industry full of people that only care about making money, without having any decency as human beings. By giving a prestigious degree, you're inflating the egos of already egocentric and self entitled people, and that is a disservice to society.

There wasn't any diversity in the class. About 94 out of 136 people where from one nationality, while most of the others were from Europe. I was one of the very few that wasn't in none of these groups, and honestly, there wasn't any openess of them for me to hang out with them. People in the program seclude themselves in groups by nationality/ethnicity, which is really disappointing. I understand the program can't do much about that, but at least they could try and make the class more diverse. It would make the experience better for everyone.
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  • Anonymous
  • 2.00 star(s)
Was hoping for a better experience. Students bunch into country groups pretty fast. Learned less than I thought I would from them. Good name brand but MIT Sloan seems more set up for MBAs, especially recruiting.12 month program feels jammed, no internship - but 18 month program costs a lot. BIG program - hard to get to know profs.
Upvote -2 Downvote
The good: Brand name, Faculty, Curriculum
- MIT reputation and brand name
- Access to main campus classes (if you're interested in CS/Math) and HBS
- Best diversity of students amongst other financial engineering programs (with the possible exception of Princeton), even with the large Chinese population, there's amazing people from all over the world here.
- Very flexible curriculum (if 18 month) and great choices of classes, with stellar faculty who are the most accomplished in finance

The bad: OCR & Accessibility to Prof's
- On campus recruiting is a goddamn mess, nobody seems interested in MFins, few to none dedicated setup of coffee chats with companies tailored to resume/backgrounds. For the amount this program costs, Emily and Laura (CDO advisors) should personally take my resume and hand it to companies that are a tailored fit to my background (See Linda Kreitzman, Berkeley).
- Professors are hard to know outside of class- they're always busy with PhD students/projects, most interactions out of classroom with TA only. Office hours are mostly with TA's.
- Scholarships/Fellowships seem to be awarded really weirdly/randomly, it's supposedly based on "diversity" but I know a lot of really accomplished and smart individuals who add so much diversity to the program yet never got a single $.

The ugly: Class Size and Sloan Brand Dilution
- I believe the new class size is as large as >140, which is a 25% increase from the previous class size of 116, which by itself was massive. The way the adcoms are diluting the class sizes is tanking the program's reputation and ratings.
- Recruiting is an awful slobbery mess, and the dilution of Sloan's brand and introduction of a new micromasters program makes the whole thing NPV negative. Honestly, there's little to suggest this program is anything but a cash cow if it weren't for the stellar faculty and piggybacking on MIT's reputation.
Upvote 0 Downvote
The Positives:
- The curriculum is extremely flexible, you can gear your academic experience as you see fit, much more than other programs out there. It gives you a space to take on risks academically.
- Access to MIT's engineering school, Harvard's Law and Business Schools, MIT PhD level electives, you will not run out of challenges.
- The faculty is superb. It feels like they're a little unavailable in the sense of being extremely busy with their PhD students, outside projects, etc. But if you show interest, go to their office hours and engage you'll tap into that amazing resource. You have to go for it though.
- Fellow classmates are beyond bright, oftentimes intimidating. From an academic standpoint there's a lot to be learned from sharing. Every TA, PhD student, Sloan Fellow or MBA you interact with is bathed in a culture of integrity and excellence that it just pours into everything. I think MIT benefits greatly from attracting exceptional people.
- The networking opportunities, companies visiting the campus, MIT connections & alumni network (which is extremely helpful), career events and resources are just vast and constantly available. There's something going on every day. Skipping class can be the best choice any given day with all that's goin on all of the time. You must prioritize and you must dedicate yourself to career activities as it is not going to be just handed out in a silver plate.


The Negatives:
- Career Office works extremely hard but has gone through many changes in the past few years and it feels like they're still finding their direction. Expect to put on a little extra work in preparing for finding a job.
- As a pre-work experience degree, there's diverse range of backgrounds but not a diverse range of profiles. Most students are 22 y/olds with little to contribute to a classroom experience.
- Students are (almost naturally) secluded into groups (mostly by geography) and you don't get to see much openness to mixing within. The class is also large and even with different cohorts the bonding experience is nowhere near like the MBAs
- The 12 month version is way too tight and packed to benefit from the flexibility of the curriculum and the opportunity to take electives. Requirements are the same between 12 and 18 month programs so you can enjoy all of this in the 18 month version.
- It is a pricey degree, specially for a pre-experience degree that aims to insert one to the highly competitive financial labor market. The cost is steep and from what I believe, not a lot of aid is handed out.

Overall the experience was amazing to me. I was able to enjoy all of the gifts and opportunities the program had to offer.
Upvote 3 Downvote
  • Anonymous
  • 2.00 star(s)
The good:
smart fellow students from all around the world (w China /ABC concentration)
Dedicated TAs
Cambridge / Boston =Great college town
It's MIT!!!

The bad:
v large program, hard to stand out compared to other students, hard to get to know profs
Profs could be a lot more dynamic
Very little on-campus recruiting, interviewing etc - recruiters seem way more interested in MBAs
Cambridge Boston = expensive
Program costs a lot for what you get

The ugly:
Major cultural problems persist at the school
New Micromasters...kinda makes it even harder to justify >$100k tuition
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