COMPARE BOSTON MA mathematical finance vs Rutgers MSMF vs USC MAMF

[Yuriy]

By the way, CVaR has been studied extensively at UF and many many papers have been published by UF faculty on the subject.

Also, the Abel's Prize, which is very similar to Nobel Prize but in Math was awardet to UF Math professor John Griggs Thompson.

Laureates 2008

So Gainesville is not entirely on the other end of the planet

 

[aksrandhawa]

please every body forget football and concentrate on MF..i m seriously duoble minded..is there any 1 out there who can remove my confusion????? :sos:

 

[alain]

By the way, CVaR has been studied extensively at UF and many many papers have been published by UF faculty on the subject.

Also, the Abel's Prize, which is very similar to Nobel Prize but in Math was awardet to UF Math professor John Griggs Thompson.

Laureates 2008

So Gainesville is not entirely on the other end of the planet

Gainesville is still far away from "civilization"... like Ithaca, NY :D

 

[Sanket Patel]

please every body forget football and concentrate on MF..i m seriously duoble minded..is there any 1 out there who can remove my confusion????? :sos:

All joking aside, I would pick BU. Rutgers isn't a bad school, but the fact that they have 2 competing programs gives me a funny feeling. That's just my 2 cents. But if you aren't looking to land a high-paying and work on the Street, USC isn't a bad choice. Good weather for the most part. I wouldn't go to Cali though, I'm not to keen on the earthquakes.

 

[Isaac]

All joking aside, I would pick BU. Rutgers isn't a bad school, but the fact that they have 2 competing programs gives me a funny feeling. That's just my 2 cents. But if you aren't looking to land a high-paying and work on the Street, USC isn't a bad choice. Good weather for the most part. I wouldn't go to Cali though, I'm not to keen on the earthquakes.

Concerning rutgers, i just looked it up now and noticed that the MSMF program has been boosted with additional faculty and a new course on credit derivative modelling. The advisory board is pretty strong too.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

When making decision, you need to get input from people who actually attending or graduated from the program. People here are as helpful as how much they know about these programs. It's clear that not many people who have first hand experiences about the programs you ask so as desperate as you need help, I'm afraid you need to do real work on your own now.

Call up the people at that program, ask them to let you talk to current/past students, attend the open houses, email and talk to the directors.

I did all those things when I researched the Baruch program. I scouted the net for Baruch alumni and talked to them extensively. I asked them hard and soft questions. I emailed and talked to the director in person. I attended several open house. I met current students in and out of the class. Having current students who spent considerable time answering my questions speaks volume about the Baruch program.

There are plenty of people out there giving advice who have no clue what they are talking about (less here than other forums). You need to know who to take advice from.

Decision to join a program is not made by a poll here or by popularity. I'm afraid that you haven't done much research the right way. Once you do, you should be the one who knows more than most of us.

I should point out that back when I was doing research about the Baruch program back in 2006, there was no Quantnet. I used the only available source then (Global-Derivatives). I learned very quickly that the level of noise there is extremely high. It's very difficult to get reliable signals.
So I was in your shoes and understand your frustrations. On the same token, my experience has been that you should not rely too much on forum opinions.

 

[perrewperrew]

Mathematics: Graduate Program: Mathematical Finance Program: Student Profile

I found their admission stat a little bit confusing. in 2006, 18% out of 150 was admitted. but the intake was 25. i am not sure whether the number accounted for two classes. But it was, then the class size is extremely small which is a gd thing i suppose. on the other hand, if it was only one class, the enrollment rate was ridiculously high.

I just dont understand why they would not publish the stat. When I emailed the program coordinator about the placement stat and other info, she didnt reply at all.

did anyone out there reapply the next year even if they had admit in the first place?

I am a third year. So taking another year to finish my BS doesnt really matter.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I found their admission stat a little bit confusing. in 2006, 18% out of 150 was admitted. but the intake was 25. i am not sure whether the number accounted for two classes. But it was, then the class size is extremely small which is a gd thing i suppose. on the other hand, if it was only one class, the enrollment rate was ridiculously high.

18% of 150 means they admitted 27 students in which 25 students enrolled. High yield rate which can be explained by a number of ways. One is that those students only applied to USC. Second is that they only got admit there.

I just dont understand why they would not publish the stat. When I emailed the program coordinator about the placement stat and other info, she didnt reply at all.

I would be surprised if she does reply. It's rare to see a program's director actually responds to some strangers bugging them about some placement stat.

 

[perrewperrew]

she is not the director. She is just a coordinator who is responsbile for communicating with applicants and answer their questions. I thought these are part of their jobs. maybe I am wrong. But then I dont know where I can get my questions answered.

 

[Francis]

All joking aside, I would pick BU. Rutgers isn't a bad school, but the fact that they have 2 competing programs gives me a funny feeling. That's just my 2 cents. But if you aren't looking to land a high-paying and work on the Street, USC isn't a bad choice. Good weather for the most part. I wouldn't go to Cali though, I'm not to keen on the earthquakes.

I am a Rutgers undergrad right now and it incorrect to say they have two programs competing. The program they call MSQF (Masters of Science in Quantitative Finance) is actually a regular Masters in Finance degree which is a more business oriented degree. Their MS in Mathematical Finance is the program that pertains to Quants.

 

[Isaac]

I am a Rutgers undergrad right now and it incorrect to say they have two programs competing. The program they call MSQF (Masters of Science in Quantitative Finance) is actually a regular Masters in Finance degree which is a more business oriented degree. Their MS in Mathematical Finance is the program that pertains to Quants.

Well the MQF program curriculum (and details used to promote it) suggests that it is actually tailored towards a quant career, however it still retains the strong business courses hence its more like in btw business analyst/quant analyst program.
While the MSMF is gear solely towards the quant market and the program director ( Paul Feehan) seems to be making quite an effort in gaining reputation for the MSMF. They'd be hostin the 2nd SIAM conference on fin math&engr in nov. see conference website in...
SIAM: SIAM Conference on Financial Mathematics & Engineering (FM08)

 

[Andy Nguyen]

My Rutgers Quant School Experience
http://www.advancedtrading.com/algorithms/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=211200651&cid=quant-center
[imga=left]http://i.cmpnet.com/advancedtrading/l/Alvin_Huang_l.jpg[/imga]
By Alvin Huang
October 15, 2008

Alvin Huang is a student in the Rutgers University Master of Science in Mathematics with Option in Mathematical Finance (M.S.M.F.) program. He attended full time from September 2007 to May 2008 and now has two classes left to graduate. He is currently working full time while finishing his degree and expects to graduate in May 2009. Here Huang shares his experiences as a quant student with Advanced Trading magazine.
It's 11:30 pm on a Saturday night and I'm sitting in the Busch Campus Center, engaged in a puzzled discussion with three classmates over Dr. Halperin's formulation of the premium leg of a credit default swap. To my left is a first year MSMF student who has been here for over 12 hours; she sits back and lets out a accomplished sigh, having just finished the second problem of her Numerical Analysis homework assignment. "Two problems in 12 hours," she said. Not bad, I thought to myself. Wait until she takes Computational Finance next semester.

That number easily goes above 30. Back to work. I stare down at my notes with a resigned look, knowing that the next 36 hours will be spent studying for my Credit Derivatives midterm. Quant school experience? This is it. Wake up at 6 a.m. Gym at 7. Be at the graduate student lounge in the Hill Center by 8:30 a.m. and do work until midnight. Then on certain days, there are classes, which serve as a nice break to the routine. Do this 7 days a week, 14 weeks per semester, and you get the idea.

Does all this hard work eventually pay off?

As with any program, I believe that you get out of the program what you put into it. For me, this was exactly what I wanted. The Rutgers MSMF program is an intense 18-month program, immersing the students in mathematics, statistics, programming, and finance. Having spent the last 7 years as a proprietary trader, I was looking to broaden my knowledge of the markets from a quantitative aspect. I deliberately selected Rutgers specifically for its heavy focus in mathematics.

The MSMF program is unique in that the majority of the courses were taught without a bias towards financial applications. The professors are experts in their respective fields, whether it's partial differential equations, operations research, time series, etc., and they expose us to a plethora of problems, both theoretical and practical. This approach teaches us how to think. It forces us to understand how to formulate a problem, know where to look for the solution, and once referenced, be able to generate an approximation. It stresses the derivation of numerous models.

Even on the exams, the professors deliberately give multi-step questions (often derivations), walking us through the problem, and testing us on our fundamentals that are necessary to succeed in the financial industry.

Having returned to the financial industry in August, I was able to apply many concepts that I learned from the Rutgers University MSMF program to help my firm evaluate and manage risk, allocate capital, and generate profits. This is not to say that these are formulas written down from my class notes. Nor are these strategies listed in any text book we used. I had to read additional books and papers before formulating my own ideas and employing these strategies.

It is the mathematical foundation that the Rutgers MSMF program created for me that allowed me to understand these technical documents as well as have the ability to implement such methods.

Having said that, it is now 2:45 a.m. I have to get up in 3 hours for an entire day of studying Credit Derivatives. So I will end here. Oh, and one last thingthe demanding schedule that I've outlined regarding the MSMF program here parallels that of my current job: over 90 hours per week.

So, did the Rutgers MSMF program prepare me for a life as a quant? Yeah, I'd say so.

 

[atreides]

Does anyone have information about placement / admission stats at Rutgers

 

[vkaul]

Is georgia tech QCF the worst finance program in the country

 

[StevenBachrach]

Does anyone have information about placement / admission stats at Rutgers

Last year we accepted about 50/220 applicants with the applicant pool expected to get more competitive this year after the Advanced Trading Rankings were published.

 

[buddyforall]

What matters is what you are (aptitude, PS & programming ability) and not what you have (branded degree etc) ?

While somebody can say that any Ivy League MBA gives you a big intial advantage the same cannot be said for a branded MFE.If you know C++ you know it and if you don't know it you don't.
There are no ifs and buts about it.

Maths and Programming is not something that can be taught in a span of a year.

So from where you have done your MFE helps only till you get an interview.After that you are on your own.

The question as to which MFE is better is only of marginal importance as a quant you need to learn on the Job and so what you learn in a MFE is less important than how fast you can pick up new stuff.