Rutgers University - MS in Mathematical Finance

Can you tell us a bit about your background?
Graduate in Computer Science and Worked in Analytics for 2 yrs.
I studied full-time in the program from 9/2008-5/2010

Did you get admitted to other programs?
Yes

Why did you choose this program (over others, if applicable)?
Curriculum and proximity to NYC

What alternative sources of info you used to learn more about the program?
Spoke to people who were enrolled in this course, internet

Tell us about the application process at this program
Online, prompt and the office staff was quick at communicating and responding

Does this program offer refresher courses for incoming students? What do they offer and how much it costs?
Yes but I didn't take any

Tell us about the courses selection in this program. Any special courses you like?
Some electives were great. However making a choice of 3 out of 4 or 5 courses was as good as no flexibility at all.

Tell us about the quality of teaching
Average

Materials used in the program
Shreve 1& 2. Hull a couple of book for stats and a lot of research papers for the electives.

Programming component of the program
C++, VBA, MAtlab,R

Projects
Coding and Math intensive

Career service
Helpful

What do you like about the program?
This course is more math intensive than many other financial engineering or Quant courses.

What DON’T you like about the program?
lack of flexibility at least when I was in school. I hear a couple of things have changed.

Suggestions for the program to make it better
Mark it to the industry than to books.

What are your current job status? What are you looking for?
I am working.

Other comments?
Good school

Can you tell us a bit about your background?
I had just completed my undergraduate degree before starting this program with minimal experience in the field.
I studied full-time in the program from 9/2008-5/2010

Did you get admitted to other programs?
No

What alternative sources of info you used to learn more about the program?
Visited the director

Tell us about the application process at this program
Online system

Does this program offer refresher courses for incoming students? What do they offer and how much it costs?
Yes at tuition cost for undergraduates

Tell us about the courses selection in this program. Any special courses you like?
I thorougly enjoyed the elective courses I took because I felt they really gave me a well rounded picture to understanding the context fo all the theoretical math covered in the Math finance and Numerical courses. I would recommend students to take as many elective courses as they can afford because it helped me tremendously.

Tell us about the quality of teaching
The math finance courses are fine. However, the numerical courses require some improvement--the homework and applications of these courses should be geared towards using financial examples or using financial data in the least.

Materials used in the program
shreve volume I and II, hull

Programming component of the program
C++ for mathematical finance

Projects
Assigned a Master's research project with a ton of coding and a lot of homework assignments can be completed using different programming languages such as R and Matlab.

Career service
There is a full time career advisor with the program and there were efforts being made to bring different types of industry professionals in to speak about their experiences.

What do you like about the program?
I like the rigor of the curriculum and the fact that it was housed the math department allowed for some exposure to different fields in mathematics. I felt that the program was evolving quite a bit even during my time there so I feel that curriculum now is more conducive for a student wanting to learn how mathematics and finance relate.

What DON’T you like about the program?
I didn't like the fact the assignments were not varied year to year--this gave some students an unfair advantage over the others. Also, I think there a lot of events available through the business school and undergraduate program that would welcome students from our programs, but their events are not publicized enough.

Suggestions for the program to make it better
1) bring more relevant industry speakers in
2) Also have some professional building workshops for the students so we could get all of our mistakes with career fairs and interviewing out of the way before the real position was available.

What are your current job status? What are you looking for?
I am working.