1) Asking for clarifying information is not necessarily being skeptical. Nowhere did I post or suggest that the numbers are falsified or mis-reported. You have a very bad habit of mis-representing what people post.
2) Programs are extremely unlikely to UNDER-report their placement rates at graduation. So do you think a 36% placement rate at graduation is a shit show? Will you argue that is good, or in any way acceptable?
Did you not have doubts about the reported placement statistic?
Tbh, I'm very surprised that the program was apparently able to achieve 75% employment at graduation, assuming the numbers in the rankings are verifiable and accurate. NYU Tandon having 75% and Columbia Mathematics in Finance 37% is insane, and I would be inclined to believe there are some irregularities or methodology differences among the two schools to arrive at those numbers.
You're right, you weren't skeptical at all...
Peter Carr was right, you are definitely a troll. I'm going to continue the productive conversation.
I would prefer not to see this happen, unless completing an MS thesis becomes common practice, across schools. MS students don't get exposure to the research of CFRM faculty.
Frankly, I was asking if the two of us could agree on ways for UW to improve its program.
I was not suggesting that we try to redesign the QuantNet ranking methodology.
Research/publications would be insight into the strength of professors at different universities. Also, MS students do in fact get exposure to research with the CFRM faculty. Given you are an on campus student and had the ability to meaningfully contribute to their research, you would just have to ask. There were several students in my cohort who did research with professors, and at least one I know of for sure that was published.
As far as going forward for UW, I think they're on the right path. Bringing in quality professors (which we apparently disagree), building the alumni network nationwide, and expanding course offerings (to involve more computer science and fintech) are all positive aspects in my mind. The program has started to collaborate more with Foster Business School where you can take a class (or two maybe) as credit towards the CFRM degree. I believe it's the same for the Econ and Computer Science departments, but I could be wrong.
As I said, I used the knowledge I learned and performed well enough in almost every interview that I had to get to the final round. I would not have had a phone call or resume looked at without the degree, and I can say that as a fact since I applied to some jobs that I didn't hear anything back from before starting the program.