2020 QuantNet Rankings of Financial Engineering (MFE) Programs

Soccent · 12/15/19

Can't wait to see them

mark_z · 12/15/19

can't wait, can't wait, can't wait....thanks Andy

Chilbal · 12/15/19

oh jeez rick this is amazing!!!!!!

Chilbal · 12/16/19

why is there a discrepancy between Georgia tech's salary stats on their site vs quantnet rankings.

Bryce E · 12/16/19

Here is a condensed view with the year over year change in ranking

ApolloChariot · 12/16/19

The thing I always pay attention to the most is the placement rates at graduation and at 3 months after graduation. One thing I would also try to look for, in making a decision on where to attend, is the statistics for the number of students, in addition to the percentages.

Since these are self reported figures, the methodology may be significantly different. A placement rate of 80%+ means little if the percentage is based on surveys returned by only roughly half of the graduating class.

Andy Nguyen · 12/16/19

ApolloChariot said:
Since these are self reported figures, the methodology may be significantly different. A placement rate of 80%+ means little if the percentage is based on surveys returned by only roughly half of the graduating class.

Good point. The rate is reported by QuantNet from raw data provided by the programs (size of graduating class, number of students with jobs at graduation and 3 months later). We have done that since the last few rankings.

ApolloChariot · 12/16/19

Andy Nguyen said:
Good point. The rate is reported by QuantNet from raw data provided by the programs (size of graduating class, number of students with jobs at graduation and 3 months later). We have done that since the last few rankings.

That's good to hear, far more reliable than the programs reporting just a percentage.

How do you calculate the placement percentage if the school only receives survey responses from say, 70% of the graduating class?

Andy Nguyen · 12/16/19

ApolloChariot said:
How do you calculate the placement percentage if the school only receives survey responses from say, 70% of the graduating class?

Without going into details (I will kill you if I tell you sort of thing), suffice to say that we have some minimum threshold and safeguards in place to make sure our rankings represent the most comprehensive comparison between programs that the prospective students can rely on. It will never be perfect but there isn't a single ranking of MFE in the world that is better than the QuantNet ranking.
I personally feel pretty good about how better the rankings have become each year.

Soccent · 12/16/19

Have you considered adding non - US programs, or at least European ones.

Bruce_Hu · 12/16/19

Wow, high authority and objectivity, I really appreciate that QuantNet can do this ranking every year!

Chilbal · 12/16/19

Boston fell hard this year sad...

Simon.ZY · 12/16/19

Personally, I feel like there might be some geographic bias in the average salary and bonus component. As we know NY jobs probably pays more than non-NY jobs, the program that have more graduates going to work in NY will have advantages in this component. For example, 120K in NY is approximately equal to 90K in Chicago in terms of living expenses and life quality, such as rent, food and other daily expenses. This might or might not be truely reflecting the quality of life program graduates are having after earning a degree.
Consider standarding this bias by scaling the average salary with purchasing power parity conversion factor provided by the World Bank

IntoDarkness · 12/16/19

Of course Princeton is numbaone

ARCH · 12/16/19

MRoss · 12/16/19

Simon.ZY said:
For example, 120K in NY is approximately equal to 90K in Chicago in terms of living expenses and life quality, such as rent, food and other daily expenses.

Things can get completely out of control if you start playing this game. Just using raw numbers is the most understandable and fair.

Chilbal · 12/17/19

Screen Shot 2019-12-17 at 10.40.18 AM.png

How is it that official stats are so different from what quantnet is reporting, I have seen this discrepancy last year also.
Can anyone explain why is this the case? quantnet reported 98k as avg total salary vs 115k stated here

Andy Nguyen · 12/17/19

Chilbal said:
why is there a discrepancy between Georgia tech's salary stats on their site vs quantnet rankings.

Check with them. I can't talk for them other than we use the same reporting criteria for all programs participating in the rankings.

ApolloChariot · 12/17/19

Chilbal said:
View attachment 32864

How is it that official stats are so different from what quantnet is reporting, I have seen this discrepancy last year also.
Can anyone explain why is this the case? quantnet reported 98k as avg total salary vs 115k stated here

Bigger discrepancy is the placement rate at graduation. 76 vs 62 is pretty stark.

I would be skeptical of placement rates given lacking the actual number of employed students vs employment seeking students vs graduating class.