University of Chicago - MS in Financial Mathematics

University of Chicago - MS in Financial Mathematics

UChicago - Financial Mathematics

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Location
Chicago, IL 60637
Application deadline
Round 1: January 9, 2025 | Round 2: March 20, 2025
Currently the Program offers 15 months of accelerated, integrated coursework that explores the deep-rooted relationship that exists between theoretical and applied mathematics and the ever-evolving world of finance. To assist our students with applying theory to practice, we offer Project Labs with area employers to help build out our student's skills and knowledge about the quant industry. Our Program, with its unmatched student body and highly accomplished faculty, works hard to uphold the University’s core values by creating an atmosphere that encourages intellectual collaboration and growth.

Lastly, students of the MSFM Program at the University of Chicago enjoy a world-class education. Courses are taught by a combination of established academics and industry professionals. Beyond academics, the MSFM Program offers students the opportunity to grow both privately and professionally. Networking events are held regularly to encourage communication and professional growth.

Our mission is to equip our students with a solid foundation in mathematics, and in doing so provide them with practical knowledge that they can successfully apply to complicated financial models. Our students become leaders in their field; program alumni have gone forth to find success at companies like JP Morgan, UBS, and Goldman Sachs.

The program offers two types of merit-based scholarship. All applicants are considered. No separate application required.
Alpha Scholarship recipients are offered a financial award in the amount of 60% of total tuition costs in 2023. Maroon Scholarship recipients are offered a financial award in the amount of 30% of total tuition costs in 2023.

Chicago 2024 MSFM Graduates
Chicago MSFM Class of 2024
2024 Incoming cohort
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University of Chicago Master of Science in Financial Mathematics

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2025 Ranking Data
Rank
6
Total Score
85
Peer Score
3.4
% Employed at Graduation
78%
% Employed at 3 months
95%
% Employed in the US
79%
Compensation
$134,285
Cohort Size
124 FT, 6 PT
Acceptance Rate
20.9%
Tuition
$96,826

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67,900
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Ratings

4.77 star(s) 43 reviews 4.92 star(s) Students Quality 4.83 star(s) Courses/Instructors 4.67 star(s) Career Services
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Latest reviews

J
Headline
An Unparalleled Opportunity - Must Read
Class of
2024
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.
Recommend
Yes, I would recommend this program
Students Quality
5.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
5.00 star(s)
Career Services
5.00 star(s)
Upvote 1 Downvote
C
Headline
Fresh Comments after Graduate
Class of
2024
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;)
Recommend
Yes, I would recommend this program
Students Quality
5.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
4.00 star(s)
Career Services
4.00 star(s)
Upvote 1 Downvote
F
Headline
Best Choice
Class of
2024
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.
Recommend
Yes, I would recommend this program
Students Quality
5.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
5.00 star(s)
Career Services
5.00 star(s)
Upvote 0 Downvote
Headline
A perfect place to start quant career
Class of
2017
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.
Recommend
Yes, I would recommend this program
Students Quality
5.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
4.00 star(s)
Career Services
4.00 star(s)
Upvote -2 Downvote
Headline
Worth Coming!
Class of
2023
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.
Recommend
Yes, I would recommend this program
Students Quality
5.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
5.00 star(s)
Career Services
4.00 star(s)
Upvote -1 Downvote
Headline
Unforgettable Memories
Class of
2023
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!
Recommend
Yes, I would recommend this program
Students Quality
5.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
5.00 star(s)
Career Services
5.00 star(s)
Upvote -1 Downvote
A
Headline
Flexible, Rigorous, Engaging and Practical
Class of
2023
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.
Recommend
Yes, I would recommend this program
Students Quality
5.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
5.00 star(s)
Career Services
5.00 star(s)
Upvote -1 Downvote
M
Headline
Enriching Experience!
Class of
2023
Reviewed by Verified Member
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!
Recommend
Yes, I would recommend this program
Students Quality
4.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
5.00 star(s)
Career Services
5.00 star(s)
Upvote 1 Downvote
Headline
Excellent Experience
Class of
2023
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.
Recommend
Yes, I would recommend this program
Students Quality
5.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
5.00 star(s)
Career Services
5.00 star(s)
Upvote -2 Downvote
Headline
Exceptional Financial Math Program at the University of Chicago
Class of
2017
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!
Recommend
Yes, I would recommend this program
Students Quality
5.00 star(s)
Courses/Instructors
5.00 star(s)
Career Services
5.00 star(s)
Upvote -2 Downvote
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