University of Chicago - MS in Financial Mathematics

The University of Chicago’s Financial Mathematics (FinMath) program has been an exceptional experience. When I was applying to graduate programs two years ago, I had a clear idea of what I wanted, and UChicago FinMath delivered beyond my expectations. I apologize for the lengthy review– there is plenty to share!

Admissions:
The admissions process was refreshing and student-focused. Upon admission, program staff promptly engaged with us, addressing questions and providing guidance. The “Ask Me Anything” sessions for admitted students were particularly insightful, with both staff and current students offering valuable advice. Post-enrollment, we participated in interactive coursework on internship preparation and resume refinement, setting the tone for a professionally enriching experience.

Instruction Quality:
The quality of instruction is one of the program’s standout features. Faculty members, drawn from both academia and industry, share their unique expertise and insights. Each instructor excels at communicating complex topics in a way that is both engaging and accessible. This ensures a high-quality learning experience across the board. Utilize their expansive knowledge!

Courses:
I can say with certainty that I drew important skills and knowledge from each course I took. I will detail a few of my highlights below.

Computing for Finance in Python:
This course is taught by Sebastian Donadio was a great way to begin the program. Seb’s instruction is easy to digest and always opens the door to what comes next. Despite my limited coding experience, I found the course approachable and engaging. Even peers with advanced coding skills found valuable insights in the course. Seb is always willing to push you further! One unique challenge that came about with our cohort was ChatGPT. During exams, the emergence of paid ChatGPT subscriptions highlighted challenges in balancing AI usage with demonstrating personal mastery. Unfortunately, having access to the newest GPT model for either exam made a significant difference in performance. Even without them, I was still thrilled to have taken the course. I was able to transform my coding abilities over the course of a few months. I went from not writing functional code during online assessments to passing them with time to spare. I attribute this growth primarily to this course.

I would reassure students concerned by the prevalence of ChatGPT in academia that instructors are addressing the issue and are rapidly evolving coursework to reward students who can demonstrate knowledge without using ChatGPT as a crutch. Proper usage of AI is crucial in this day and age, but blind and heavy reliance on LLMs is only setting people up for failure. Instructors in this program and beyond are quickly finding ways to ensure students are best prepared for industry.

Option Pricing / Numerical Methods:
These two courses, taught by Roger Lee, are undoubtedly highlights of the program. Even with a background in financial mathematics from undergrad, I gained significant insights from these classes. Roger skillfully combines a rigorous, mathematics-based approach to options and derivatives with the practical intuition that industry practitioners rely on for efficiency. The homework and exams often feature problems that can be tackled using advanced, formal mathematics. However, Roger’s solution guides stand out for their elegant and concise methods, offering invaluable learning opportunities. I strongly recommend that students invest time in studying his solutions, as they reveal powerful techniques that streamline complex problems.

Any of Mark Hendricks’ Courses:
Mark Hendricks offers a number of courses including an introductory “Markets” section for incoming students, Portfolio and Risk Management, Fixed Income, and Fixed Income Derivatives. I took the three offered courses and made an effort to sit in on as many Markets lectures as possible. Another highlight of the program is the common 3-hour lecture style. For better or worse, it is the layout chosen to accommodate most schedules and allow for flexibility during the day. Mark’s lectures were all three hours, but felt as though I had sat down to watch a well-designed YouTube documentary. It is one of those presentation styles that is extremely engaging and enjoyable to sit through. We cover a number of topics that are highly technical requiring high level mathematics and coding, but he is able to synthesize it so that people of different academic backgrounds can understand it better.

Career Development Office:
The Career Development Office (CDO) is our office dedicated to helping connect students to the next phase of their career regardless of where you are coming from. They devise endless opportunities to sharpen your skills, meet new people, and interact with firms in the industry. Early in the program, the CDO provides workshops covering essential behavioral and technical interviewing skills in time for the internship search ramping up. These sessions continue to be available throughout the program. Simultaneously, they arrange for many employer events where students are able to hear from and interact with various companies and alumni. These sessions helped me discern the various career paths available to students upon graduation. Outside of these group events, CDO also works 1-on-1 to help each student navigate the career search. They are able to connect you with alumni at companies you are interested in working at, help you draft communications, and everything in between. Personally, CDO helped me navigate the negotiation process as well as helped me formulate requests for my full-time contract.

Academic Services and Administration:
The Academic Services and Administration (ASA) team is essential to the smooth operation of the FinMath program. Their work can be categorized as both program-facing and student-facing. Behind the scenes, they coordinate employer events, office visits, interview labs, admissions, alumni engagement, and more. For students, ASA provides invaluable support, including course advice, visa assistance, and general guidance on any topic. I would argue that the “home base” of the FinMath program is in Meredith’s office. Before and after any lecture, event, exam, and sometimes just out of the blue, myself and many other students head to her office to hang out and talk with her. I sometimes feel bad talking with her while she works, but she has ELITE multitasking skills and is somehow able to do it all! Special shoutout to Meredith! She is so crucial to the program’s success. Overall, ASA is very necessary to the success of the program.

Unique Characteristics:
What truly sets FinMath apart, beyond its robust academics, is its unique culture. The program brings together students from diverse academic and professional backgrounds, fostering an environment of collaboration and mutual growth. This diversity creates opportunities for students to leverage their strengths while learning from one another. For example, I was able to share my insights in our math-intensive courses, while benefiting from peers with extensive coding expertise. When I was evaluating programs, I didn’t fully appreciate the importance of this collaborative culture. Reflecting now, I’m not sure such a dynamic environment could exist elsewhere to the same degree as it does at FinMath.

Outcomes:
Overall, I couldn’t be more satisfied with my decision to attend the University of Chicago’s Master’s in Financial Mathematics program. To provide some context, I studied mathematics as an undergraduate with a concentration in financial mathematics. While this gave me a solid mathematical foundation, I recognized the need to deepen my expertise in finance, programming, and machine learning to pursue a career as an industry quant. After researching several programs, I chose FinMath based on the strong endorsements from alumni and the comprehensive curriculum. Many of the positive experiences I had read about aligned closely with my own goals, making the decision an easy one.

Coming straight from undergrad with no industry experience, I initially worried about how I would bridge that gap. However, FinMath quickly put those concerns to rest. I enrolled in the Project Lab course, which allowed me to gain hands-on experience and bolster my resume with meaningful projects. Through the FinMath career fair, I connected with a company where I secured an internship, which later converted into a full-time role after graduation.

My last reflection on the program is that it has a component of self-direction where you may make of it what you wish. There are plenty of opportunities presented to you, and as a grad student, you have the OPTION to take advantage of them. Due to the flexibility the curriculum, students can challenge themselves (or not) as they see fit. I encourage future students to challenge themselves and make the most of the program’s valuable opportunities. Taking the challenging courses is how you grow and make the most of your time and money.

Feel free to message me on LinkedIn at William Bellinger if you have any questions about the program!

This program deserves only one star as they still have Roger Lee, otherwise it will be worth 0 star with no doubt. It’s not a rare or radical opinion – Many students hold the same view with me. Nor this is not a review from a biased bad student - I got job offers after graduation, and I have very decent grades in my undergrad.

Pro:

- The only Pro of this program is Professor Roger Lee - He is a master in the field of option pricing and his teaching is tremendously great. The course contents & lecture notes are well-designed, and he can explain complicated concepts in a very clear way. Homework and exams are also very properly designed such that they help you gain deeper insights in derivatives pricing.

- Some of my classmates also like Professor Lawler, but in my opinion his teaching is merely at or below the average quality of my undergraduate math courses. Probably you will have better experience if you are his PhD students.

Cons:

- Many useless courses wasting your tuition!!! Their curriculum titles seem fancy, but in reality many of them are either too basic (at or even below a college sophomore level) or instructors don’t care about it at all.
 Any courses related to programming and machine learning are extremely badly structured (e.g., Python programming, full stack tools for quant fin, machine learning for fin). Trust me, your undergraduate CS/Stats classes are way much better than these.
 You can also clearly tell that some instructors are just wasting time and teach something which probably a college sophomore already mastered, and assign some useless homework to keep you busy, but you wont learn anything from them.
 Basically you are paying over $90,000 tuition and won’t learn much things comparing to your undergrad education.

- Career services is just a joke. Those staffs do not even have a real career themselves, how come they are capable in advising you to get a six-figure job?

- Don’t be deceived by the job placement rate they reported to QuantNet. The statistics look better only because they admit more students with full-time work experience than other programs with similar QuantNet ranking. But if you are a student go straight from college, you will struggle with finding a decent job whichever program you go to.

- Some of their staffs act like toxic parents - They want to control everything over you. If you let them know you get an offer, they will keep harassing you to withdraw your other job applications/interviews in order to let other students potentially have interview opportunities. I mean, seriously?

- Btw I can’t believe a professor can have romantic relationship with students. If it’s in my undergraduate university, the professor will be fired immediately without any doubt.


So unless you are very determined to work in a derivatives pricing related job after graduation, otherwise I don’t recommend this program at all.

I graduated from the program in December 2024 and can unequivocally say that it was a brilliant experience. My undergrad was in mathematics research and I had a couple of years of work experience in risk management before joining the program. I moved to Chicago from India to attend the program, and it was a big decision for me.
The academics, projects, career support, and peer group are top-notch, as described by my fellow cohort and alum in other reviews on this page. I shall share my experience from the lens of an international student (as a significant number of applicants are international) and how the program helped in specific areas.

1) Networking and How to Go About It
The career office and everyone in the program encouraged the students to network as much as possible with alumni, industry professionals visiting the program, and company representatives during career events. A number of events were organized which provide you with many opportunities to network. Like many of my cohort, I too secured my internship through a connection I made during one of the career events organized by the program. The program organizes “how to network” workshops too, which can be very helpful for students not used to the idea of networking events.

2) Setting Expectations of Rigorous Work and Application Rejections
The university follows a quarter system, which is quite rigorous compared to the semester system that I was used to and most other students might be more familiar with. The admin team (Meredith, Dylan, and Eliza) were super helpful in sharing insights about how to deal with academics, course selection, and expected workloads. We were told right from the get-go that the first quarter was going to be super hectic with coursework, career events, and applications. The goal of the program is to get into the quant finance industry after graduation, so the program encourages more focus on the internship/full-time process during peak hiring cycles, which is practical. Most courses and professors are okay with extending deadlines if you have an interview that you are preparing for.
The number of internship applications by many students exceeds 100, and this was shocking for me initially. The CDO ingrained the mantra of "apply apply apply" and encourages you to keep applying. Internship/full-time applications are like an additional course, and the program remarked on the time-consuming aspect of applications. We had alumni share candid experiences of rejections after gruelling rounds of interviews and superdays. Simply put, everyone in the program painted a realistic picture of what we were getting into. This trained us mentally to be prepared for straight-up rejections (some companies automatically reject based on what you might have filled in your application), ignored emails, and crushing final-round rejections.

3) CDO Support in Communications
As a student with prior work experience in India, I was conscious of the fact that “work communication” might be different. Phrasing emails to recruiters, interviewers, and potential contacts with the right tone was important. The CDO would help out in those as well. They offer to review your emails to ensure that they come across with the right intention. Some of my friends who were not too confident in English were also helped by the CDO in responding to recruiters and HR.

4) Peer Group and Alumni Network
This is the strongest aspect of the program in my opinion. I got to meet so many people from different professional backgrounds loosely connected to finance and learn about their journeys and bond over shared experiences. The best part of the program was that everyone struggled together—whether it was the Python assignments, QTS homework, or internship applications, it was a team effort, and we supported each other throughout.
The alumni connect was extremely helpful in discussing interview prep, courses to select, full-time search strategy, and even sensitive topics like negotiating compensation and benefits. The CDO helps you in reaching out to alumni and organizes multiple events to facilitate meeting alum from different areas in quant finance. Some of the alumni who were themselves, international students, shared candid feedback on the work sponsorship process and tips to filter for companies that provide sponsorship while applying.


Overall, I believe the program is thoughtfully designed, with particular attention given to addressing the unique needs and nuances of supporting international students.

This review was completed by me alone and I was not incentivized in any way by QuantNet or UChicago.

I am a recent graduate from the Class of 2024, and I could not be happier with my choice choosing UChicago for my Master’s program. Back in 2022 and 2023, I was deciding between UChicago, Cornell MFE, Columbia MFE, NC State, receiving large amounts of academic aid from UChicago, NC State, and Cornell MFE. I remember the days scouring QuantNet from multiple accounts trying to make the ‘right choice’. Aside from wanting to leave the NY area and explore a new program/city, I chose UChicago for the many reasons listed in depth below. I have seen/heard of a few suspect comments and reviews that I believe represents a 1% minority of the program, and I encourage those authors to reveal their names to promote better discussions.
1) Individual Attention to Students: No student is simply ‘a number on a paper’ like the impression some other programs gave off. From the start, Meredith, CDO, and the rest of the administration proactively connected with students the summer leading up to entrance in the Fall quarter. No matter the size of the class – whether its 30 students or 150 students, the Professors know most students by name and there are plenty of opportunities to connect on a personal level with faculty and staff. Any struggles the student has whether it be academically or personally, the program staff is here to help.

2) Career Development Office: Possibly the biggest differentiating factor of UChicago compared to the other programs I was contemplating. There is a dedicated career office SOLELY for Financial Math. The Director, Sue Clark, takes her job extremely seriously and is diligent at assisting students in their full time/internship search. She is very good at what she does, as is the rest of the CDO team! It behooves the student to use the CDO office at the very least as a North Star— there were times CDO put me in contact with direct recruiters that I would not been able to contact on my own. CDO begins reaching out to you in the May leading up to Fall semester – very proactive and early! The internship and full-time placement for Class of 2024 was extremely high – put in the effort, take CDO advice, you will not be disappointed. I got my summer internship at a proprietary trading firm in downtown Chicago as a direct result of the FinMath Career Fair during September Launch – yes, a career fair SOLELY for FinMath students.

2 continued) IPR – Industry Professional Residents: There is a select group (5 or so) alumni each quarter that serve as ‘advisors’ to students. They’re here to help: mock interviews, industry/technical topic advice, and overall networking. Use them – I wish I had used them more – they are here for you. The Alumni base is incredibly strong in this program.

3) Project Lab - An Unparalleled Opportunity for Industry Experience: Every quarter, students have the option to enroll in an 8–10-week project ranging from ~15 employers. Indeed, in your first few months of the program, you will be placed in an ‘academic internship’. Out of the possible 4 quarters to take advantage of, personally, I completed 3 projects with two very prominent asset managers, and another with an options regulation firm. This experience was extremely useful for internship/full time interviews, presentation skills (you gotta get out of your shell!), networking with future (?) employers, in addition to understanding my personal interests. Though it is not the primary goal, many project lab sponsors take a few students for internships each year.

4) Curriculum and Curriculum Flexibility: There is a month before the academic year starts - September Launch- where students are exposed to the foundations needed for quantitative finance – Stochastic Processes, Markets (this precedes Portfolio Management), and the Python class begins. The administration understands students come from a wide range of backgrounds. September Launch is a particularly stressful time because there are numerous recruiting events while enrolled in these ‘mini’ courses. This month is essential for putting everyone on the same playing field.
The program allows for much elective flexibility. Take advantage of this. Personally, I took electives from the Statistics Department including Time Series Analysis, Monte Carlo Simulation, and Multivariate Stat Analysis. The caliber of the professors, whether it be FinMath classes or other departments is extremely sharp – then again, its UChicago.

A few smaller comments:
a) I see some concerns re: safety of the University area – welcome to a major city in the US. New York is not any different, and I can promise that.
b) Some say on this forum – “Chicago is only good if you want to work in Chicago post-graduation, its hard to get to New York, etc.”. This is simply false. Many students (possibly even most (?)) each summer go to New York and other major cities for internships. This is same for full time offers. I was presented with a few full-time opportunities post-graduation, and I ultimately chose to work on a model building and research team for a large bank not located in Chicago.
I have no doubt in my mind that UChicago will continue climbing the ranks on the QuantNet ranking guide.
To all prospective students, good luck with your decisions and feel free to reach out to me for any more questions, comments, or concerns on LinkedIn at Jesse Freitag.

I’m a FinMath fresh grad student who has just graduated last December. And will start as a quant in a bank this year.

My background when I applied for the program: CS and math majors with a high G plus two quant-related interns plus one IBD-related intern. Got waitlists after applying on January and finally got accepted on late March (last one who got accepted). Have to say the bar of the program admission is rising in a horrible way these years because of not only the bad job market after the COVID but the tough hiring criteria in the most of the finance industry (it’s not easy as 10 years before anymore), given the situation that we have to compete with other competitive programs around the world and also some of PhD’s joined the industry for higher income. So we have to assume that you are going to have more competitive background than mine to apply to expect the offer.

When you received the offer, GOOD, but that is only your step zero point zero. Known that our program is job oriented: “If you are going to pursuing for a PhD, then you come for a wrong program”, cited from Mark who is the program director saying in the first day of the program orientation meeting. If you are aiming to find a job, then you should realize that most of the efforts should come from you by leveraging the program resources as many as you can to achieve success. Based on this, let me let you know what kind of resources or spirits that you can utilize to support you through the entire job-search process:

1’ Courses: some of the courses are useful to learn especially the first three courses from the first quarter. Then you are free to choose the courses that you’d love to take to achieve the minimum units to graduate. The workload in this program is medium to me so that it’s convenient for me to spend enough time to prepare for job searching when taking care of the coursework each semester. The program is updating every single year to adjust the fast-paced quant industry. The 4 tracks, are now updated in 2024, which makes more sense to me compared to the old one. Most of the course materials are moderately reformulated each quarter as well by instructors to adjust the current industry as well. So this relieves me and gives me a feeling that the program is not old at all but still intake and gives back students from the current industry, which I really appreciate.

2‘ Career Services: Led by the Deputy Director Emily and CDO director Susan, the entire career service is above expectation. Starting from August review, they will ask students to submit the resume again for review and give insights for the logistics, timelines, and resources on September Launch. A program-specific job application interface is provided to students so that they can easily filter out unrelated jobs and applied for them. Based in Chicago, we are able to be exposed to some of the trading companies in person (trek): Geneva, Akuna, CTC, etc. Also we are prepared by the CDO lots of company career talks, IPR meetings, and interview preparations throughout each quarter. The project labs in each semester is the Special for FinMath UChicago I think, and the overall quality is high if you choose the project that is most matching with you, but at the same time the company would choose you as well. The CDO invite 3 new but experienced folks to the team recently, and I think they will lead the entire program to achieve a better milestone in the future.

3’ Infrastructure & Environment: FinMath program has a big house at 5727 (3 levels and 1 basement) so most of the courses will be held there. The Study lounge is located on the 3rd floor and a bunch of terminals with Bloomberg access as well! All of the faculties are working there and you are always welcome to bother them if you have any questions. It’s also located at the center of the school, the library, the school buffet & cafe, and the bus station. The study and passionate environment, and those aspiring folks in the program push me to hard work every day and finally secure a job, which I appreciate really much! And this spirit cannot be obtained in any other same-level program, I think, to some extent.

Hope this post can benefit you in some aspects. And good luck on your study and career. Hope to see you guys in the industry some days;)

I couldn’t be happier with my experience. The professors here are fantastic—truly top-notch experts who are passionate about what they teach. Their dedication made classes engaging and inspiring, and they were always willing to help outside of lectures.

The program strikes an excellent balance between theory and practice, which prepared me well for the job market. It’s clear that the curriculum is designed to ensure that graduates are not only knowledgeable but also highly employable.

One of the biggest advantages of studying FinMath at UChicago is the academic flexibility. We are able to take classes in the departments of Mathematics and Statistics, deepening our theoretical understand of machine learning and predictive analysis. This allowed me to explore my interests in greater depth, something that’s hard to find in other financial engineering programs across the US, since they do not have flexible curriculums (maybe one or two electives in most?). The university’s reputation for academic rigor really shows, and the ability to customize my education made a huge difference.

Additionally, the administrative support within the Financial Mathematics program is outstanding. Meredith, Eliza, and Dylan are incredibly helpful, always going above and beyond to ensure that students have everything they need to succeed. They create a welcoming environment where you feel comfortable reaching out with any questions or concerns. The Career Development Officer (CDO) team is equally impressive, providing great support with interview preparation, job market navigation, and career advice.

Overall, UChicago stands out as an exceptional place to study financial mathematics, offering resources and opportunities that set it apart from other programs.

The courses offered by UChicago are very hard core but they are all useful for being a quant. The career services are mediocre. You cant expect much for a class of such a big size. Students are all very talented.

In general, I love the Financial Mathematics program. The students there are smart and eager to learn.

For courses, the required ones are very helpful and highly recommend. They are math and programming focused, but also useful in financial industry. For example, Option Pricing, Portfolio Theory and Risk Management, Stochastic Processes, and Python. Other courses are optional, so it's very flexible for students to develop their path and interest. Some courses are more theoretical, others are more applicable. Students can found courses that they're interested in and make a balance between the academics and interview preparation.

Many students landed a job before graduation. Some students landed a job after graduate. I think the program did well and I'm very satisfied.

My stay at the UChicago Fin-Math program has been exciting and spectacular.

The courses are very structured and useful. From Options pricing and Fixed Income to Python and Reinforcement Learning, it equipped me with all the necessary knowledge for the practical world. I love Roger, Mark, and Lauler the most, they're the kind of professors who can explain many obscure concepts in very straightforward ways. The more fascinating part is that you can choose various courses from different departments so that you get a chance to learn what you want to learn.

The CDO(Career Development Office) is very supportive, they keep posting kinds of internship or full-time opportunities via email and organize many technical and behavioral workshops to help us better prepare for the real interview.

All these resources help me better land a job in such a difficult job market.

If you're hesitating whether to apply for the program, just go and apply for it right now!

The admission process was quite smooth. There were a couple of self introductory and motivational videos required. Also prior knowledge of mathematics, coding and finance was beneficial.

I loved the Fixed Income courses by Mark Hendricks and used the concepts learned during internships. The Credit Markets course by Alex Popovichi is another fantastic addition to the fixed income enthusiasts.

The career team is quite focused on helping students rather than advertising to prospective new cohort unlike some other schools on this forum. I really like their approach of "Apply Apply Apply" and helping you with connections to other alumni in the same industry and company to get insights that google or LinkedIn just wont provide.

Love the vicinity to so many options and futures companies as well as asset management firms. A wholesome community.

Status:
Graduated from UChicago MSFM in December 2023. Will begin working as a Quantitative Strategist in February 2024 in NYC.

Highlights:
- Comprehensive and rigorous curriculum with 4 concentrations available (Financial Computing, Financial Data Science, Options and Derivatives, Trading and Risk) that makes it an extremely focused and goal-oriented program.
- Good interview preparation provided both by CDO (mock interviews, technical interview workshops, company info sessions with a chance to speak with recruiters) as well as through coursework (August review and September Launch which occur before classes start, classes taken in the first quarter prepare you for internship interview questions as well).
- Project Labs offered with reputed companies spanning a variety of project topics. I received two interview requests for a full time role with the company I did a Project Lab with.
- Strong alumni network that participates in panels to help with interview preparation, course recommendations, and general career advice.
- Location advantage with career treks offered to trading companies based in Chicago. NYC based companies also heavily recruit from FinMath.
- Special shoutout to Meredith and Emily who will help you in any way possible and will always give you a shoulder to lean on :)

Course Recommendations:
Any class taught by Mark / Seb / Roger, Quantitative Trading Strategies, Credit Markets, Project Lab.

This program will challenge you in the best way possible and will not only empower you with academic knowledge but also a preparedness for job interviews and professional competence. With a staff that goes above and beyond to help and an alumni network that is so involved, the FinMath program is indeed an exceptional one!

My experience at the UChicago Finmath program is definitely life changing for me. The most helpful resources are the networking opportunities with financial industry and plenty of brilliant alumni who are always willing to help me. These factors help a lot in boosting my career. In addition, the courses provide the basic knowledge we will need to handle quant interview, which helped me a lot during my interviews.

Enrolling in UChicago's Financial Math Program was a game-changer for me. The blend of theory and real-world application, coupled with passionate faculty and hands-on experiences, has made my academic journey truly transformative. The supportive community and commitment to staying ahead in the finance world set this program apart. It's not just an education; it's a personal and professional growth journey. Five stars without a doubt!

Cheers!

The program is very well-structured, not only in course arrangement, but also in career center's assistance. I find my classmates all have strong undergraduate background so it is a little bit pressure here, but pressure makes progress!

The cohort consists of a healthy mix of young graduates and more mature students with experience in the industry. This diversity is reflected throughout my experience at the program. Students have prior background in financial mathematics are also allowed to take a certain number of electives from other departments (e.g. the renowned economics program or business school). The new track system allows students to build a more tailored curriculum and focus on areas that they're most interested.

I graduated from UChicago FinMath in December 2022 and will be joining as a quant strategist at a Chicago prop shop.

Career Development Office
As mentioned in the previous reviews, Emily is an amazing career advisor. Not only does she give excellent interview and career advice, she also provides the moral support that is needed during the recruitment process.

Course reviews:
There are some courses in the program that I believe are worth taking:
- Portfolio Theory and Risk Management I
- Options theory/Numerical Methods
- Stochastic Calculus
- Regression Analysis and Quantitative Trading Strategies. This course does have mixed reviews but I personally enjoyed it. It gives you an insight on how to manipulate data and simulate simple trading strategies.

For Seb's programming courses, I believe that they are good if you do not have a CS background. If you do, this course is should be more of a review and grinding Leetcode/Hackerrank will be more helpful (which is pretty much the homeworks anyways).

The program also gives you the opportunity to take courses from other departments. Students should leverage this and take courses such as probability and statistics and machine learning courses from other faculties. I also highly recommend that you take a course from Chicago Booth; some of the courses there are very well taught.

Project Lab
Project lab is a nice touch to the program. It allows students to work with industry employers on a quant project. This experience can be used as a resume boost and be talked about during interviews. Students can also get internships and full time roles from this as well.

Conclusion
Overall, I had an amazing time in the program and will really cherish my 15 months there. I would take the Quantnet 2023 rankings with a grain of salt and do your own research into all the Master's programs. At the end of the day, making it to any of the top programs is impressive and finding a full time job will be much more dependent on individual skills and efforts. Hope this review helps!

I graduated from the UChicago Fin-Math program in 2022 Dec and I am starting my full-time quant trading role at a market-making firm in Chicago in 2023 Feb.

My background:

Undergrad -- Finance & Data Science major with a math minor
Full-time experience -- one year at a wealth management firm

What I liked about the program:

1. Location
- I finished my 4-year undergrad program in NYC and figured that NYC was not for me. I wanted a better blend of a big city but also having some nature / peace and quiet. Since I wanted to become a quant trader, Chicago seemed like the ideal choice being the trading / market-making industry hub, but also having the peace and quiet that I wanted. Its proximity to job opportunities also allows easy networking / coffee chatting.
- The city's architecture is also very nice. There are also a lot of museums that are definitely worth going to.
- The city's rent is much lower than other major cities. (Almost half of NYC's.)
2. UChicago's positive academic reputation
- The school overall is known for its academic rigor, reputable professors, and beautiful campus. With the Fin-Math program, you get access to not just the top-tier Fin-Math courses and professors, but also resources from other programs such as the Booth Business school, the stats program, UChicago Law School, etc..
- Some Fin-Math professors (namely Roger Lee, Mark Hendricks, Seb, and Greg Lawler) are amazing lecturers and have classes that have an amazing blend of theory + practicality.
- There are also out-of-Fin-Math professors (namely Mei Wang in the Stats department) who also teach very good classes.
- There are tons of research opportunities
- There are some times free / discounted social activities (show tickets, Michelin restaurant meals, skiing, etc.) that are posted by the school that's kinda neat.
3. The Fin-Math program's resources
I categorize this program's resources by its (1) courses, (2) career development, (3) other general / life resouces.
(1) courses:
- All of the classes taught by the professors listed above are highly recommended, plus the other recommended classes in other reviews.
- You also get access to non-Fin-Math classes like those in Booth, the stats department, and even the law school for Fin-Math credits.
***But since class schedules / professors may change every quarter, it's better to ask Meredith & alumni what classes to take (or avoid..) when the time comes.
(2) career development:
- Emily Backe in Fin-Math's career development office (CDO) is extremely resourceful, kind, and responsible. She can not only give you the perfect interview prep but also lead you to just the right people you need to speak to for your job search, interview prep, etc..
- Other professors (Roger, Mark, and Seb) will also help you with technical interviews. Their interview prep sessions are extremely useful.
- There are also industry professionals (called IPO) helping you with further interview prep.
- The program is designed in a way such that you get to meet students from a class above you during your first quarter at the program. This makes sure you have students to talk to who can tell you about their school + work experiences, and
(3) other general / life resources
- Meredith is the go-to for all your questions. She is fun, resourceful, and knows EVERYTHING about the program and its people. She will give you her most honest opinion (and all the intel she gathered from all the profs & students) on what classes to take or avoid. She will also lead you to any help you may need since she knows everyone... quite literally.
- The class size is fairly large (~100 people per class), which mean there's a larger variety of students from different background, etc. Students are all very nice here -- you can definitly make life-time friends from the program. Also, many students are very knowledgeable and have many years of work experience -- you can always learn a lot from your classmates.

What I didn't like about the program:

1. City's infrastructure & weather
- Many parts of the city, including but not limited to public transportation, road design, how people don't know how to drive, bad DMV systems, etc. are designed poorly and are extremely inefficient (and sometimes have bad service)
- Too cold.. brrr
- High crime rate (esp around school, aka the Hyde Park area)... However, you do have to be careful everywhere (plus most American major cities do have issues with high crime rates, although not necessarily as bad as Chicago's hyde park area..) Just be vigilant and try not to walk around alone in dangerous neighborhoods, especially when it's dark.
2. Career development office's flaw(?)
- For a while during my time in the program, Emily Backe was gone and the program's CDO was near non-existent with very insufficient support. It's awesome that Emily came back but the program's CDO is very Emily-dependent. Hope CDO hires more reliable staff soon so Emily doesn't need to be overworked...
3. Some classes were poorly taught and were a waste of money & time
- These classes are
4. Minor things that don't necessarily concern others
- Fin-Math's graduation for my year was meh ... The merchandise we got included a bag that has very low quality (had 2 holes already after using it once)
- The winter can be depressing with the school almost empty (most students take online classes in the winter). But it get's better in the spring & fall.

Overall:

- I wanted to give 3.5/5 but QuantNet doesn't let me. Since Emily's back, I'll round it up to a 4/5.
- I didn't give it a 5/5 mainly because of (1) the bad courses that the program offers and (2) the inconveniences caused by the city's bad design / insfrastructure. However, I still gave it a score higher than 3/5 because you still can get what you want from the program.

I graduated from UChicago MSFM last December, and I am set to work as a quantitative researcher at a bank in NY. Overall I am extremely satisfied with the program.

Background:
Hard science undergrad. Several years of experience in finance in Asia. Hope my review is particularly helpful for prospective students who are already experienced in some way, as this was my case.

Why I chose this program?
I was admitted to several programs mentioned in quantnet. I reviewed the course lists of each program. UChicago MSFM had a good mix of theory and domain-knowledge courses, and the course choice was flexible. I knew what courses I wanted to take and not, so this was a big plus. If you were in my shoes, you probably would want to take courses that you need instead of a course in which you're going to get an A. So I encourage you to review the course lists. Also, the program allowed students to take courses from other departments, mainly statistics and Booth. I highly benefitted from this flexibility.
Of the programs I was admitted to, MSFM was the only program that offered project lab each quarter. I participated in the project lab in nearly all quarters and was able to gain insight and connection. It was a big differentiator for me because when I graduate, I'd need to work full-time to get a taste of a business I'm interested in (which is a big commitment).

Course reviews:
Roger Lee: taught option theory and pricing methods. Anything Roger teaches, I highly recommend you take because he is amazing. He can explain complicated concepts in a crystal clear way. Initially, I was not enthusiastic about his options class because I thought I was already familiar with the materials. But I did not regret taking his course. He cleared out all of my bogus mathematics and replaced my complicated solutions with simple solutions. I glimpsed at some of his research papers. Even though I cannot produce this quality research, I could still appreciate his amazing ideas (if you are interested in the topic, you don't need to for exams). What some financial mathematics professors prove with long long lines of hard algebra, Roger, with his brilliant ideas, can prove in much fewer lines.

Mark Hendricks: taught portfolio theory and credit. Mark is a very good teacher and a nice pleasant person. He really cares about students and would go out of his way when you have something to discuss. He emphasizes explaining in words our understanding, which is what you need to do in interviews.

Seb Donadio: taught Python and C++. Seb is probably going to be your memorable professor. One of the most intense courses for me. Even though I was familiar with the languages, I spent a lot of time on assignments and projects. Instructions need some work because they can be vague and confusing, but I encourage people to take his courses to get the full experience of MSFM. The strength of his courses is the domain knowledge he shares. He is a highly experienced professional and doesn't mind sharing what he knows. I appreciate that I learned not only more about the languages but also how they are used in the financial industry. I found his courses very helpful in interviews.

Gregory Lawler: taught stochastic calculus. He is a distinguished scholar and a very good teacher - a must-take for quant finance wannabes.

These are the courses nearly everyone takes, and you can choose the rest of the courses from both the Financial Mathematics department and other departments. You don't want to stack up too much in the Fall quarter due to recruiting. Other quarters can be as hard as you want them. Generally, I am happy with nearly all the courses I've taken.

CDO:
One of my favorites in the program. Emily Backe was a world-class career consultant (no longer part of CDO anymore, promoted for the better good of the program - but she is still here). She is extremely caring and knowledgeable. The CDO had ample industry knowledge that helped me navigate my way. They did not provide just generic career advice.

Summary:
I am extremely happy with the knowledge I gained in the program and the career outcome. I'll stay in touch with people I met in the program. Not really understanding why UChicago's ranking is so low on the quantnet ranking table, though I cannot speak of other programs I didn't attend. But in my personal opinion, the ranking is irrelevant to individual success (as a potential quant finance wannabe, you shouldn't take information as is anyway). I hope the prospective students find a program that suits them most. Wish you success.

Graduated in December 2022, working as desk strat at a major bank.

CDO: really on top and provides great connections with employers and alumni.

Curriculum: provides almost all aspect of quant finance knowledge from pricing, computing to economics. Also the teaching staffs are a gold mine. Once you reach out they offer bottomless help.

The program really is a buffet. You can get what you want and all you need to do is to show up and grab a plate.

I recently graduated from The University of Chicago's Financial Mathematics Program in December 2022. I will work as a quantitative analyst of a top custodian bank in US.

My Background
Previously I worked six years as an economist and strategist for a leading financial institution in Asia. My motivation ,target and goal is to learn most top-notch quantitative skills from math to programming to utilize extensive datasets and to provide more convincing investment ideas.

Career Development Office(CDO)
Emily is the most professional, committed, compassionate, enthusiastic, kind, nice, sweetest and the most responsive and the most supportive and the most helpful professional in this program. She CARES student and knows all the answer to the career questions that graduates had. Without her help and support, I would never be able to secure the job offer.

During the interview process, Emily followed up with my job hunting and provided professional and instant response. What Emily offered is the industry standard. Emily provides insightful guidance and customized advice based on different personal background. Regarding to career path choices, there is a lot to consider. Emily will discuss with you all the opportunities and let you know the possible outcome. Emily is there for me when I had to make life-changing decisions.

Career Development Office provides world-class career service and helps with resume writing, LinkedIn updating, Technical Interview Seminar and Mock Behavioral interview Lab.

Student Service
Meredith is always there for students to talk to and share everything from visa consultation, course selection, course registration process, to accommodation for exams. She is extremely helpful with any concern or question that I had.

Meredith organized our events and classes from architectural boat tour to painting class. She is extremely involved with our cohort. The University of Chicago's Financial Mathematics Program seemed more intimate because our cohort felt more like a community.

Course recommendations
There is more to come. You will have the flexibility to choose fixed income and time series courses from the Booth and math & stat courses from both department.

Roger Lee : Mathematical Foundations of Option Pricing/Numerical methods
Professor Roger is not only smart but he also makes sure every student understand the materials. Roger had a magic and a great way of getting everyone understand the hard Math concepts.
What Roger teaches is not only the theory and but also the real world application of it. Roger will go over brain teasers and interview questions that students have seen during interviews at top firms.

Mark Hendricks : Portfolio Theory and Risk Management I
Professor Mark CARES students and is extremely dedicated to his course. Mark designed the homework rigorously and guided students to figure out the thought process. Mark combines python programming applications of portfolio theory using Harvard Business Case study approach in homework and for discussions. That really helps students to understand the real-life applications and essence of quant portfolio theory.

Professor Mark will also prepare statistical interview questions from time series, regression to financial markets analysis like fixed income. Based on my interview experience with banks and funds, most of the questions had been discussed thoroughly in the class and in the seminar/workshop.

Gregory Lawler : Stochastic Calculus
Professor Lawler is the best and the most respected mathematician contemporarily and the pioneer in the stochastic field such as probability and random processes. His lecture is easy to understand and his course is fun and interesting.

Chanaka Liyanaarachchi : High Performance Computing
HPC is the most useful programming course that I took in The University of Chicago's Financial Mathematics Program. Professor Chanaka will dive into various applications from OpenMP to CUDA. We will have the opportunities to have exposure to modern technologies.

Jon Frye : Portfolio Credit Risk: Modeling and Estimation
Professor Jon is the economist and risk specialist from Chicago FED. The lecture that Professor Jon taught in class is industry standard from PD/LGD to vasicek credit risk model. The homework that Professor Jon gave is to ensure students understand the risk management inside and out.

Project Lab
The project lab that I did with my cohort did help me secure the job. We will be able to be in touch with the current developments in finance through their relationships with practitioners.

Cohort
I had true friendship for life when I was in the University of Chicago. I would say that they were my family. Most students are very friendly and willing to help.

The University of Chicago's Financial Mathematics Program
The program has a great team of dedicated professors, career and academic counselors, classmates and students. Its reputation in the quantitative finance industry will open doors for you and you will realize how much you have learned and grown during the 16 months. I would describe this program as the most challenging and most rewarding academic endeavor of my life, and would recommend it to anyone with a passion for learning more about the quant side of finance.

Summary
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

The University of Chicago's Financial Mathematics Program changed my life. This is one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.