Best Quant programs in UK

[Chathura Dissanayake]

Hi All,

I need your opinion opinion about several quant programs in UK which seems to be decent and in the same tier. I have excluded the top tier ones such as Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial, Warwick etc.
Can you please rank the below programs and explain the reasons for doing so ?

- MSc Quantitative Finance - Lancaster University
- Financial Engineering - University of Reading (ICMA)
- MSc Mathematical Finance - University of Birmingham
- Financial Engineering - Birkbeck, University of London
- Mathematical Finance - University of Leeds
- Mathematical Finance - Queen Mary, University Of London
- MSc Quantitative Finance - University of Manchester
- MSc Financial Mathematics - University of Edinburgh
- MSC Quantitative Finance - University of Glasgow
- Financial Mathematics & Computation - University of Leicester

I intend to apply for 2-3 programs out of these, so hopefully your view will help me to identify the best.

Thanks & Regards
- Chathura

 

[rockanalyst]

Going by thread name, "Best Quant Programs in UK" are at Cambridge, Warwick, and then Imperial.

From the options you have provided, I would recommend University of Reading and Edinburgh.

Whatever you do, do not waste time and effort for Birkbeck.

 

[dstefan]

I know of the MSc Mathematical Finance - University of Birmingham as being well designed and taught, with focus on student employability. I do not have enough information to rank programs.

 

[Chathura Dissanayake]

Thank you very much 'roskanlyst' and Prof. Stefanica for your quick response.
In fact I am also quite interested in University of Reading MFE due to its curriculum and the reputation of Henley Business School. The ICMA Center looks unique and impressive due to its focus towards financial markets.

Also it is good to hear some positive feedback about Birmingham program because this was my personal choice from the beginning although I didnt have much idea about the quality of the program. It seems to have the best ROI from the above list.

I understand that Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial, Warwick are probably the best in UK, but I am concerned about the tuition fee and the chance of getting admitted to those programs. So I wanted to research more about the middle tier programs.

I have currently noted down Reading and Birmingham as the best options and probably Edinburgh as third.
Does anyone have more information the rest of the programs I have listed above ?
From what I have heard Manchester and Lancaster programs are also good.

 

[iqtbaq]

Going by thread name, "Best Quant Programs in UK" are at Cambridge, Warwick, and then Imperial.

Hi, I am really interested to know what is this based on.

 

[rockanalyst]

Hi, I am really interested to know what is this based on

Faculty, Curriculum, Reputation of the program, Career Services, Value for the money and Alumni Network

 

[iqtbaq]

Faculty, Curriculum, Reputation of the program, Career Services, Value for the money and Alumni Network

Sorry that I start a discussion that not related to host's questions,
but in which of the above areas is warwick superior to Imperial and Oxford?
And I presume you mean the Cambridge part III, not the one in its business school, in the above ranking.

 

[Ken Hu]

Hi, I recently applied to University of Glasgow (partly due to its reasonable tuition fees), heard it is a reputable university. Wondering whether its MSC Quantitative Finance program is comprehensive enough in terms of what the Quants practitioners are using in the industry right now? And I wondered whether any of you heard of UCD Smurfit Business School, its Master QF program also allows exemption from level 1 and 2 exams of PRM

 

[JohnKim]

Sorry that I start a discussion that not related to host's questions,
but in which of the above areas is warwick superior to Imperial and Oxford?
And I presume you mean the Cambridge part III, not the one in its business school, in the above ranking.

I suppose he meant MPhil in Fin from Cambridge Judge Business School. It's got FE concentration so you can tailor the program to be MFEish. I am curious as to why he omitted Oxford though. Among top tier FE programs that I applied to, Oxford was the only program in the UK that was in my consideration.

 

[red entor]

Hi All,

I need your opinion opinion about several quant programs in UK which seems to be decent and in the same tier. I have excluded the top tier ones such as Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial, Warwick etc.
Can you please rank the below programs and explain the reasons for doing so ?

- MSc Quantitative Finance - Lancaster University
- Financial Engineering - University of Reading (ICMA)
- MSc Mathematical Finance - University of Birmingham
- Financial Engineering - Birkbeck, University of London
- Mathematical Finance - University of Leeds
- Mathematical Finance - Queen Mary, University Of London
- MSc Quantitative Finance - University of Manchester
- MSc Financial Mathematics - University of Edinburgh
- MSC Quantitative Finance - University of Glasgow
- Financial Mathematics & Computation - University of Leicester

I intend to apply for 2-3 programs out of these, so hopefully your view will help me to identify the best.

Thanks & Regards
- Chathura

+ 1 vote for Manchester.

 

[Saurabh Chakrabarty]

Whatever you do, do not waste time and effort for Birkbeck.

Can you please tell me the reason?? I actually kept Birkbeck in my List to apply for MFE this year.

 

[Hemant Dua]

I had a professor in college who'd been to Edinburgh for this very specialized masters. I believe it's pretty good, and warrants consideration.

 

[Saurabh Chakrabarty]

Can someone review me the Quant programs in Queen Mary and University of Leicester?

 

[Pavlos Sakoglou]

What about Cass School of Business - Financial Mathematics | Quantitative Finance, and LSE - Financial Mathematics?

Any information someone by any chance?

From what I heard they are top programs but I don't really trust my sources in that matter.

 

[bigbadwolf]

What about Cass School of Business - Financial Mathematics | Quantitative Finance, and LSE - Financial Mathematics?

Any information someone by any chance?

From what I heard they are top programs but I don't really trust my sources in that matter.

Look at what they are offering by way of coding (programming) in C++ and reach your own conclusions.

 

[Pavlos Sakoglou]

Look at what they are offering by way of coding (programming) in C++ and reach your own conclusions.

Great. I shouldn't really apply to them haha

 

[bigbadwolf]

Great. I shouldn't really apply to them haha

That's my opinion. Look for computation-intensive programs. That's what'll get you a job.

 

[Pavlos Sakoglou]

That's my opinion. Look for computation-intensive programs. That's what'll get you a job.

Yea I agree. I am applying to Baruch MFE actually. That's my real target program, all the rest are to hedge my application process, sort of