MIT Master of Finance MFin program

MIT has a great reputation, but it seems like the school is trading on this reputation with the MFin program. The professors are solid but seem to have a lot going on outside of MIT - investment funds etc - so you end up getting to know the TAs a lot better. Not a huge deal but can be a problem if you ever need a reference. Program is pretty big too, hard to get to know everyone. Fun to take classes with students from other programs. Not as much recruiting as youd expect, especially compared to MBAs and MBAns. Hard to believe the Media Lab stayed involved with Epstein so long, pretty disappointing.

Pros:
- Good administrative support
- International students from everywhere in the world, mostly China though
- Good TA's
- Great city - Boston

Cons:
- Poor grading, ie grade deflation/poor curves if any, enough complaints can change grades
- Big program, pretty competitive - difficult to stand apart from the rest and excel
-Recruitng efforts not strong - seem to be more focused on MBAs
- Professors seem to be busy with other things, hard for them to know you
- Expensive city - Boston

Could, Should be better...

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

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.

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.

Something seems to be broken with the culture at MIT Sloan MFin. They push group assignments in almost all the courses, but don't seem to care if people are simply copying the answers from their group-mates. Faculty don't want to get involved with any discussions about cheating. It is a no win situation for them. Students who don't like their grades can simply keep arguing with the professor to get it changed. The admin people make sure to tell the professors what grade a student needs to avoid failing out - guess what happens then?

Finally, recent disclosures of MIT's connections with Jeffrey Epstein, particularly after his first conviction as a sex offender, point to something really missing from the schools value system.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-an-elite-university-research-center-concealed-its-relationship-with-jeffrey-epstein