University of Chicago - MS in Financial Mathematics

To echo some of the other sentiment on this forum -- there are certainly minor issues that need to be addressed, but ultimately the program as a whole is fundamentally solid. The curriculum is put together cohesively, and for the most part, the quality of teaching is superb. Faculty and staff are all incredibly friendly and caring -- in particular, the student services administrator, Meredith, is great. The program is admittedly pretty difficult. I came from a Math background and sometimes still had trouble on problem sets. Coding in Python is emphasized throughout most courses.

I'll skip all the small details and focus on the most important things: relevance of coursework, quality of teaching, and career advancement services.

Relevance of Coursework:
I think Roger (the director of the program) works really hard to construct a curriculum that follows a rational progression, and overall I agree with most of his choices. The best courses are Portfolio Theory, Options Pricing, and Numerical Methods. Project Lab, a course that allows you to work with outside companies, is an added plus because it gives you exposure with real-world problems. You can also take courses from Booth or the Statistics department -- these are really good.

Having an intermediate-level Probability and Statistics course during the first quarter would be godsend for recruiting; I know there is one in place right now, but it focuses too much on theory.

Quality of Teaching:
For the most part, the quality is pretty good, but there are definitely some courses that could be taught better (I think the program is fully aware of which ones). Roger Lee and Mark Hendricks are fantastic. Sebastien Donadio (the instructor for Python) is pretty good, although I would argue that while you learn a lot of Python in his class, you do it inefficiently. From my personal experiences, I think there are more efficient ways to teach coding than to bombard students with a heavy amount of coding assignments (some useful, some not). I'm not sure if this has changed since I graduated. But if you want to learn a lot, Seb is your guy.

Career Services:
If you want to do trading, the location is an added plus because Chicago has a high density of prop trading/market making firms.

The career services people are friendly and helpful, but one has to realize there's only so much they can do. They do a good job of putting together and coordinating workshops, and try to provide as many resources and references as they can, but it ultimately depends on the students to actually prepare for recruiting. Recruiting is more a matter of diligence and mental fortitude than anything else, so job placement ultimately depends on the individual more than anything else. New students shouldn't expect to walk into the program and assume that they have a job locked up after graduation, but if you put in the effort you should be fine.

Background

Bachelor's degree in Engineering from India. Worked as a sell-side analyst for 2 years before going to UChicago MSFM program. Currently working as a desk quant in a bulge bracket.

Did you get admitted to other programs?
Yes, Georgia Tech QCF, Columbia MAFN

Why did you choose this program (over others, if applicable)?
Because of the location, brand- name and some scholarship.

Application process
The application process is pretty easy. Submit the transcripts, resumes, application statements with a video.

Courses selection
The courses which liked the most were Options Pricing, Numerical Methods, and Portfolio Theory. Python has become the primary language of the program. Right from September review students are taught Python programming (which I don't see in other MFE programs). I found this to be very helpful in the internship/job interviews. Other programming courses include C++ programming and advanced C++ programming applications.

During the September review, there were some technical interview preparation workshops which I really liked.

There are trading related classes such as Quantitative trading, Applied Algo trading, and Machine Learning in Finance.

Machine learning in finance is a good class to get into the application respective of machine learning in finance and trading. However, this class can be improved a lot.

There are still some required and elective classes that involve heavy math. e.g Stochastic calculus, Fixed income derivates.

Quality of teaching

Option classes are always at the top of academia. Professor Roger Lee always has a unique way of expressing complicated option concepts in simple terms. I enjoyed both his classes despite the heavy math concepts behind.

Prof Mark Hendricks Portfolio Theory is very practical, he follows a business school teaching style where his assignments are interesting case studies by asset management companies.
There are many trading professionals lecturing the classes. E.g Quantitative trading and regression classes are great to get started in trading.
The Machine Learning and Deep Learning classes still need some improvements though.

I really appreciated the video recording of the lectures. I can review any class again.

Overall, the teaching quality is good except for one or two courses. The faculty is a blend of academic professors and industry practitioners

Overall the curriculum is good but needs more elective courses.

Project Lab
This a collaboration between Uchicago Finmath students and companies (hedge funds, banks, asset managers) to work on some real-world research projects. This is the MSFM program's trump card. I know some students (2 or 3 ) who got their internships and full-time roles through project labs but still, it's difficult to convert. But this is really important for those students who come with no prior experience as they can work on lots of interesting projects. Very time consuming but you can learn a lot from it.

Career service
According to my understanding, the career service has improved greatly in the past 3 years. I attended many networking events, company information sessions, interview workshops, recruiting events and alumni panels. The Career Development Office helps you a lot in interview preparation. The program is making its best efforts to forge good relationships with employers.

Location
Chicago has a lot of trading firms and exchanges. So it's the ideal place for students trying to get into trading shops. New York anytime is the better location as compared to Chicago. U of C has a competitive advantage for the job market in Chicago. Firms based out of Chicago like interviewing students from this school.

What DON'T you like about the program?
Some of the classes are still pretty theoretical, need to be more practical. Machine Learning course needs improvement.

Suggestions for the program to make it better :

Consider improving Machine Learning and Deep Learning class. Add more electives.

What is your current job status?
I will be working as a desk quant in a bulge bracket.

A year out from graduating here, I wanted to give a fair evaluation of the Financial Mathematics Program at the University of Chicago (U of C). The program has its problems, but I gave 5 stars ultimately because my high expectations were met

Background
Came from Australia. Bachelor of Actuarial Studies / Bachelor of Finance. 2 years work experience at an actuarial consultancy, 2 internships at banks in market risk and credit risk. Qualified actuary

Did you get admitted to other programs?
Yes. My next choice would have been Columbia MSOR

Why did you choose this program (over others, if applicable)?
- I was dead set on becoming a trader and Chicago is the trading hub of the world. There are so many trading firms in Chicago, as well as elite hedge funds. The banks mainly operate out of New York

- U of C has a competitive advantage for the job market in Chicago. This is HUGE. There are only two nearby schools I can think of that compete; the University of Illinois and Northwestern. U of I is still annoyingly far away, and as far as I know Northwestern doesn't have a relevant masters program

- Massive brand name. The ranking system that people seem to care about most over here is the USNews one, where U of C is right up there. You'll get interviews in any city. Companies love this school in general

- The actual beauty of the school. Whether it's the amazing libraries, lecture theaters where countless nobel laureates have taught, or the actual MSFM building/house, the school itself is absolutely inspiring. I have to admit, I didn't know U of C was a top school before starting to research graduate programs, but there's no doubt in my mind that it's one of finest academic institutions in the world

- Project Lab (mentioned below)

- The business school. Even though the masters degree is separate, it doesn't hurt to have one of the top business schools on campus. You can try to take courses there (with extra approval). I worked on research in Booth, which was great

- Chicago is beautiful

- The courses are taught by heavyweights in both academics and practice

Application process
Standard process apart from an extra video that you have to provide, answering a couple questions

Course selection
Good range of courses taught on a quarter system (VERY intense). Here are some key points:

- Courses are at night to accommodate for lecturers who work outside of U of C
- One month of refresh courses before the program actually starts. This is a great time to get ready and even start putting in internship applications
- Decent range of electives, including ones on trading directly, machine learning, and time series analysis (taught in Booth). Generally speaking, the core courses are very theoretical and electives are practical
- The options courses are fantastic
- Increasing focus on computer programming. I believe the main language used has been switched to python
- Some very technical mathematics, including stats and calculus courses. These weren't too useful to me, as I wasn't pursuing a pure quant path and had already learned a lot of the material as an undergrad. They were also taught at lightning speed
- Courses on portfolio theory are good. I'm not sure if this is still the case, but both were compulsory; one was on credit risk, which I didn't find useful at all for my career path
- You can test out of some of the programming and an introductory finance course. The introductory finance course I heard was a waste of money

Quality of teaching
Some amazing lecturers and some not-so-amazing lecturers. As I mentioned, there are both academics and practitioners. Being a top school, the academics are very knowledgeable. Being a trading hub, the practitioners are also very knowledgeable (some are current or ex-head quants at top-tier firms). My favourites (in no order) were: Brian Boonstra, Mark Hendricks, Yuri Balasanov, Niels Nygaard, Roger Lee and Chanaka Liyanaarachi

Materials used in the program
A computer and a brain

Projects
Notably there is Project Lab, which is a cooperative project between a group of students and a company. This is the MSFM program's trump card. I'm not completely sure on the statistic, but something like 100% of students who apply for Project Lab will end up on a project. The companies are: trading firms (IMC, Belvedere, etc.), hedge funds/asset managers, exchanges and consultancies. I don't believe any banks are in the rotation

Career service
I never really used the MSFM career service apart from our job board, because hustle generally works. Our job board is good. Honestly the careers office seemed a bit small for the number of students and money being hauled in from tuition. This has been restructured since I left though. Outside of the program, there are big career fairs at U of C, as well as companies pencilled in weekly for presentations; these are amazing.

Student body
Very smart students with not a lot of work experience. Not demographically diverse enough in my year; 95% foreign students from Asia. Cheating is treated harshly, which I think is the right way to go. It's an EXTREMELY intense program though, so many resort to cheating. There are a handful of professionals taking the course part time after work

What do you like about the program?
To sum it up, I entered the Financial Mathematics Program at the University of Chicago to learn, AND THEN from that find a job. That's exactly what happened; I learned a boat load, both through the program and on my own... and out of it have come some fruitful years in the US

Suggestions for the program to make it better
- Shave away some of the worse courses or make them electives
- Try to become more diverse without sacrificing student quality
- Beef up the careers services
- Create alumni events in New York ;)

What is your current job status?
Quantitative options trader at a midsize market making firm

Background

Bachelor degress in Math and Statistics in the US. Worked as a investment analyst before going to UChicago MSFM program. Currently working as a quantitative trader in Chicago.

Did you get admitted to other programs?
Yes

Why did you choose this program (over others, if applicable)?
It is the location. Chicago is the hub of trading business. I decided to come to Chicago to start my career in trading.

Application process
The application process is pretty easy. Submit the transcripts , resumes, application statements with a video.

Courses selection

Recently UChicago has been working hard on improving the courses. Right now in the first quarter, it offers a Python class which requires zero background in coding and the class will eventually cover a pretty decent depth in the topic of programming. E.g Inheriance, OOP, Concurrency, TCP servers.

There are a lot of trading related classes which I liked the most. Quantitative trading, applied algo trading and Machine Learning in Finance.

The new Machine learning in fiance is also a great class as to get into the application respective of machine learning in finance and trading. However, the class is not easy and requires a lot of work to understand the Mathematics concepts behind each algorithm.

The option pricing classes are the core classes at UChicago MSMF program. Professor Roger Lee always has a great way of getting you to understand the hard Math concepts.

There are still some required classes which involve heavy math. e.g Stocastic calculus , Fixed income derivates.
Making them as elective classes would be a better choise.


Quality of teaching

Option class are always on the top of the academia. Professor Lee always has his unique way of expressing complicated option concept into plain English. I enjoyed both his classes despite the heavy math concepts behind.

There are many trading professionals lecturing the classes. E.g Quantitative trading and regression classes are great class to get started in trading. I was asked a lot during the interview processes.

I really appreciated the video recording of the lectures. I can review any class again.

Materials used in the program
Notes are enough

Programming component of the program

They are teaching C++ and Python from zero.
Matlab is needed for a lot of classes, you can use Python or R for most of these classes as well
I picked up C++ and Python from almost zero and know using them for daily work.

Projects
Lots of interesting projects. Very time consuming but you can learn a lot from it

Career service

Location, location, location. Chicago has a lot of trading firms and exchanges.
Career service provides mock interviews and organizing recruiting events.
However, it is still a lot of work for the students to prepare.

What do you like about the program?
A lot of interesting classes, events and workshops. It prepares me for starting a career in trading industry.
The professors and lecturers are easy to work with.
You can learn programming efficiently and masters it during the program.

The project lab is a great way of getting working experience while still in school. It helps a lot on the resume building as well.

What DON'T you like about the program?
Some of the classes are still pretty theoretical, need to be more pratical
First quarter is very intensive, while we need to prepare for the interviews.

Suggestions for the program to make it better

Consider to drop some of the heavy math classes, add in more practical classes.

What are your current job status? What are you looking for?
I'm currently working as a quantitative trader. I'm planning to become a quantitative portoflio manager soon.