University of California, Berkeley - Master of Financial Engineering

Although there was a little bit of turmoil going around the staffing issue, I still find the MFE program at Berkeley amazing. Fiona and the MFE office still maintained the connections with the top companies, and that definitely helped me land a decent job. As long as you keep working on honing your interview skills, you'll be successful.

I truly believe Berkeley MFE is one of the top quant finance programs. It will help you launch a career in this highly competitive field. No program is perfect, but I believe Berkeley MFE comes very close.

Coursework:
Quant Finance is huge and it is impossible to teach everything. The coursework does a nice job of helping students build the ABC of quant finance and then tries to supplement it with more specialized courses. The coursework did an exceptional job at laying down a strong base (empirical finance/stochastic calc), which didn’t just help with interviews, but is absolutely necessary if you are going to work in a top QR/QT role. It did a good job of covering specific asset classes and advanced topics (Fixed Income/HFT/Active Portfolio Management). I would love to see more options in advanced coursework.

Students:
I loved being part of a diverse and talented cohort. The fact that most people enter the program with existing work experience makes getting to know everyone and working alongside a diverse skillset highly rewarding. Most people in the program were exceptionally talented and I made amazing friends here. You do compete with some of the best people in this field for a whole year, but you will appreciate the outcome.

Career Services:
The program office does everything under its control, to ensure you get the possible interns and full-time placements. They are proactive in interacting with the students, figuring out what is in their best interest, and reaching out to employers with the best opportunities. The job market wasn’t in the best shape in 2023-24, but the program office didn’t give up and did vastly better than most of the other programs. There were some changes in the team towards the end of 2024, but their dedication to the students didn’t change.

My verdict:
This program is no golden bullet for a best-of-the-best quant finance role. It gives you the right tools and support, to be able to shape your career trajectory. If you believe you are talented and ready to work hard, Berkeley MFE should be one of your top choices.

This is a great program as much in terms of curriculum, quality of teaching, and career support. I started the program with limited financial experience and developed a deep knowledge of various asset classes and some of the most complex topics such as Derivatives and High Frequency Trading, both of which are electives that you can take during the program.
Put in the good work, be humble, and use the many opportunities to learn. The career service is always available and you can book a time slot on their calendar. They post frequent job postings, monitor every student’s interview status, and leverage a large Alumni base and connections with recurrent employers, among which are the biggest names in the Banking, Asset Management, and Hedge fund space.
The program provides opportunities to gain experience, from academic and industry projects to multiple events and competitions throughout the year to help students stand out. You can also enjoy UC Berkeley’s resources, including in-person forums, and take classes from different departments (like DeFi, an EECS course organized by Christine Parlour), you simply have to be curious and proactive.
The classes are varied and cover different topics, from more math-oriented courses (Empirical Methods and Stochastic Calculus) to financial assets (Equities, Currencies, and Fixed Income) and Machine Learning. There are some extremely bright, motivated students with whom to do group projects, and the teachers are always happy to discuss course content and the industry in general. The grading is very fair.
Overall, it was an amazing experience, a career boost offering professional opportunities I would never have had otherwise, I learned enormously even on topics in which I already had experience, and on top of that it was a unique opportunity to make great memories and create long-lasting relationships.

The UCB Haas MFE program was the perfect preparation for my quant career. Although very intense, the program is equally rewarding.

One of the things I enjoyed was the breadth of electives, allowing you to tailor the program to your needs. This included both new topics such as DeFi and deep topics such as High Frequency Finance. We also got the opportunity to work on real problems early on in the program through industry projects.

Beyond from the content, the program boasts a great faculty. The nice blend of reputable academics and seasoned professionals ensures that the coursework was not only academically sound, but also practically relevant.

In my experience, the career service and program team, both old and new, did an excellent job. It's then also disappointing to see the negative reviews targeted towards them.

It's widely known that 2024 was a not so nice year to find a job in the quant world, but this did not change the relentless effort that the MFE team put into supporting us.

I still use what I learned in the program on a daily basis in my current job. I can only recommend this program to anyone who wants to break into the quant world.

Just graduated from UC Berkeley. It was certainly one of the most fruitful experiences of my life. Excellent professors who are industry experts, brilliant peers and amazing career service. Jacob and the career team were available 24 hours a day to help students get their preferred internships/jobs in reputed firms in the industry. Their guidance on networking and handling different situations was a great learning curve over what is taught in classrooms. The program encouraged a lot of teamwork and that set the tone for our personal development as well. The only part where the program could improve is the duration of the program. Longer duration would help students absorb the topics better and help them work on more projects though graduating in 1 year has its perks.
For people interested in quant roles this is definitely the right place to be.

This program is perfectly suited for students that want to start their quant career without necessarily having lots of experience.
Compared to other MFEs I heard about (Columbia MFE, MIT MFinance, …), the career service has an impressive number of companies that directly reach out if they are interested in Interns / Full Time graduate students. This makes this MFE so special, - even if there had been some problems recently with the director leaving during the year - most of MFE students across the country have to apply by themselves and hence struggle more to get resume screenings.
Concerning classes, the quantity of the courses is heavy, so students that are tired of enjoying the sunny weather in California shouldn’t worry.

Berkeley MFE is a perfect program for students who are going to pursue a job in the financial engineering industry. The curriculum design, the career support, and the reputation of this top MFE program are quite impressive.

I believe the program is quite effective for those who have clear goals in terms of the Asset class they want to work in or the kind of strategies they would want to implement. It's a rigorous program and not a place where you can throw everything on the wall to see what sticks. Regarding the Director's departure, it's actually beneficial for the program, as it was struggling under his inexperienced leadership. Although placements have been challenging this year for everyone, securing a job is much more comfortable with this program as compared to other MFE's.

The MFE is one of the top financial engineering programs and has been since it was started by quant finance legend Mark Rubinstein. The program has maintained its pedigree by employing world class faculty and updating its curriculum to keep up with rapid innovation in the industry. In addition to its traditional quant classes, the MFE has expanded its course catalog to incorporate deep learning, AI, and even a crypto class that straddles the boundary between finance and tech. Due to its location and course catalog, the MFE is well equipped to provide various skill sets depending on each individuals career interests. Between the world class faculty and my diverse cohort of students attracted to the MFE, I had countless opportunities to learn from both my professors and my classmates. The program is incredibly well designed to encourage as much collaboration as possible to encourage you to get to know your classmates and to replicate the experience of working in a professional environment.

The only part of the program that I found less than ideal was that the timeline was a bit awkward. The program starts in March and ends in March with a winter internship period which is fairly atypical. I arrived the first week and found myself immediately applying for internships over the summer and during our winter internship period before I had covered any of the coursework. Despite this, the career advisers have managed to convince firms to create winter internships cycles specifically for this program. It’s not as robust as the traditional summer timeline but it does mitigate some of the opportunities missed from the misaligned timeline. That being said, this timeline isn’t without its perks; it’s only one year long and limits the opportunity cost of spending time in school in lieu of earning a salary and therefore makes it financially more reasonable in the long run than some of the alternatives.

All in all I was extremely thrilled with my experience (despite the whole COVID restrictions and limitations while I was in school) and would strongly recommend to any potential applicant.

Just graduated from UC Berkeley. Excellent professors, seamless exposure to industry gaints, abundant career resources make it one of the wisest decisions for me to choose Berkeley MFE program.

Joining and completing the MFE at UC Berkeley is a challenging and greatly rewarding experience. The program will give students all the tools they need in order to succeed in the quantitative/data industry in a short, intense time. Career services make themselves available at all times and provide valuable advice and great interview opportunities.

I have just graduated from Berkeley's MFE and I can honestly say it has been one of the best decisions of my life.
The teachers are great, the students are competitive and the MFE office is always there for you.
Jacob Gallice, who replaced Linda Kreitzman last year, is extremely efficient to help you find a job and makes every effort possible to find you a job that suits you.

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.