# UC Berkeley Master of Financial Engineering Program

Established
2001
Type
Full-time
Tuition
$68, 725 (Spring 2017 start) Application deadline Four rounds, generally January, March, June, and October Location Berkeley, CA Your entire Berkeley MFE experience is designed to give you the knowledge, experience, and connections you'll need to immediately launch a successful career in finance. The Berkeley MFE Program at the Haas School of Business provides a depth of study in finance that reaches beyond basic business concepts to teach you how to combine modern portfolio theory with computational methods. Through the coursework, financial practice seminars, and tailored industry projects, you'll have many opportunities to learn firsthand how to apply these theories and methods to real-world situations. You will also benefit from the quality of students, breadth of activities, and network of impressive alumni contacts inherent to a top-ranked business school and a world-class university. Careers (for more information, visit our placement page). 2016 Average Compensation: Average First Year Total Compensation:$155,514
Median First Year Total Compensation: $141,000 Average First Year Base Salary:$106,874
Median First Year Base Salary: \$100,000

Applicants should possess:

• A valid degree from an accredited institution, comparable to the 4-year Bachelor's Degree from UC Berkeley
• Recommended post-university work experience. Preferred but not required. The MFE also admits undergraduate students with strong academic background with little to no experience
• Prior exposure in computer programming (C++, Python) and familiarity with computers as a computational and management tool
• Experience with statistical and econometric applications, especially R
• A strong quantitative background including linear algebra, multivariate calculus, partial differential equations, numerical analysis and advanced statistics and probability (see our prerequisite course chart)
• Experience with mathematical tools (Examples: MatLab, Mathematica, or MathCad)
• Excellent writing, speaking, and presentation skills (in English)
Application Requirements (for more information, see our application requirements page and our prerequisite course chart)
• GRE or GMAT are required unless the candidate holds a Ph.D. degree.
• No preference for GRE vs. GMAT; you can take either exam
• Two letters of recommendation are required
• Online Application
• Number of enrolled students: 69
• Educational background of students prior to joining the MFE:
• Bachelor's degree: 46%
• Master's degree: 38%
• Ph.D.: 16%
• Engineering: 28%
• Mathematics/Statistics: 33%
• Economics: 13%
• Natural Sciences: 10%
• Computer Science: 4%
Meet Our Current Students
Berkeley MFE Admissions advisors are available to schedule a time to talk 1:1 about your background and how you can prepare to apply to the Berkeley MFE program.

JAP and tussharr
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### Latest reviews

I am the current student at the Berkeley MFE program (class of 2019). This program is great! Linda Kreitzman, the director of our program, is extremely helpful and dedicated, knowing everyone on the wall street. The program is intense, fast-paced, offering state of the art skillsets both in buy-side and sell-side.
I graduated from this program and found it to be outstanding. Linda Kreitzman, the director of the program, is extremely dedicated and her outstanding effort to place students is truly remarkable. The program provides a foundation for careers on the buy side and sell side and several students have gone on to work as data scientists at technology firms. The program is extremely intense and fast-paced, so be ready. The only weakness of the program is that it is relatively far from NYC, although places just as well as other programs there and is well recognized in international financial centers (London, HK, etc.).
I was graduated from this program in 2013. I think It is a great program offered me with systematical training in Quantitative methods, financial knowledge, analytical skills and market intuitions. The career service is helpful to ensure everyone's internship and full time placement.
I am a graduate of this program (class of 2015). This program is outstanding. The faculty are excellent, and the dedication of the program office to the students is inspiring. My background before the MFE was in analysis of PDE, and I came to the program to build that skill set into one that is applicable in a wide variety of settings in the financial services industry.
I am a current student at the Berkeley MFE program. Joining this program has been one of the best decisions in my life so far. This program brings excellent professors, courses, students under one roof in a intensely packed program. The three terms I have taken till now have brought out the best in me (and has made me so tired as well). I did not know I could do so much. I have learnt a lot and feel confident that with a brand like Berkeley Haas MFE, the amazing learning opportunities, the efforts that I have put in and with the career service that one gets here - I will get job offers that I would like to take up. Most people in my batch do feel this way. Having said that its important to stress that this is a very very intense program and apart from technical abilities and intelligence having the right attitude is also very important to do well in the program. Its very easy to get demotivated because you are tested day in and day out ( whether its assignments, exams or interviews) and its not possible for somebody to do well in everything at all point in time. Accepting the fact that its ok to do average or less than average in some or multiple facets is a fact that many students here feel difficult to deal with.The program is competitive but not as much as I thought before joining. Classmates are very helpful. Further though one competes with classmates for jobs one competes with only a subsection for a particular job because people bring different skills are of varied experience and age in here.
I attended the program in 2014. The curriculum structure is amazing. Great balance between academic vs profesional courses. You get chance to meet and taught be some of the reverred name from industry and academia.
Support from MFE office is very helpful. They keep in touch even after you graduate and make sure that you are happy with your current job. They provide us with feedback on our interview skills and resume even before we reach Berkeley. From day one we get seminars from different organizations telling us what they do.
Other than MFE life at Berkeley in general is awesome, and I am very happy that I decided to do MFE from Berkeley.
Excellent professors, career services and alumni network. First and foremost, the alumni network is incredible, and this leads to better collaboration and better job opportunities. I've had countless cases where alumni of the program from prior years (who I don't even know) have taken the time to discuss their positions with me and assist me with potential job opportunities. There is a dense group of alums at the highest tier IBs in NYC, which makes it far more likely that job applications will be well received. In general, career services are top notch, and Linda's team work late into the evenings and weekends to make things happen for you when it comes to internships as well as full time positions. Finally, the caliber of professors is very high, with many being influential practitioners in their fields or famous academics who basically invented whole areas of the quant discipline. You feel like you're in good hands, and you are.
This is a great program. The program director is awesome; she puts in 200% for the students. The placement record is great. The class is great mix of fresh graduates, PhDs and experienced professionals. There is huge learning from great professors and fellow classmates.
Joining this program was honestly the best decision I've ever made. People ask me all the time what sets it apart. First and foremost, the job placement is unmatched thanks to the program director who apparently never sleeps. She's the kind of person who knows your strengths better than you do, and knows how to sell you to your employer while pushing you in the exact direction you need to be truly prepared. And obviously, it never hurts to also have the extensive alumni network that the Berkeley MFE has built over years and years being one of the first programs.

Beyond that, the program really crams your brain with experience, and not just via the internship (which boasted 100% placement when I was there). Most of the curriculum is group work, and you really learn how to work with people, and more specifically, with the types of people you'll be working with in quant finance or data science.

It's not an easy program. It's really geared for those that are thirsting for the challenge of their lives, but it's a challenge that will transform you. Any Berkeley student will tell you a different way their life was changed. For me, beyond all the skills, it was really understanding my strengths-- how I stood out in the context of all these brilliant minds, both in the program and during the internship.

Overall, it's the program that will test your limits, raise them, and set the course for rest of your life.
Amazing program that will change your life. You might not get much sleep during the quick one year duration of the program but the benefits are worth it. Subjects are taught by great, world class pioneers in the field. Everything is taught from a very practical perspective.
Last but definitely not least, my hat's off to Linda for being the best at what she does. Because of her my class has reached 100% placement before our internship period started.