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COMPARE BU vs. Rutgers vs. Claremont vs. UMich

Joined
9/20/09
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I just got accepted to BU math fin program and am still waiting to hear back from the top schools (Columbia, NYU, CMU, Baruch). I am thinking of apply to more "2nd tier" programs just in case. Can someone please rank the following programs in terms of prestige on the Street/job placement?

- BU (math fin)
- Rutgers-Newark (quantitative fin)
- Claremont (MSFE)
- UMich (MSFE)

Thanks!
 
Why would you want to apply more? That should be a handful to choose from. Looks like most of the programs you got admitted from has a deposit/deadline to accept.
You will hear from NYU around April/May judging from the timeline in the Tracker.
CMU/Baruch is actively interviewing people as we speak.

Are you looking to buy insurance from one of these schools? How much do they ask for and what are the deadline?
I know you mention Feb 17 for BU.
 
When you say NYU, is it the NYU-poly or just the NYU?

and what are their differences?

Thanks.
 
Why would you want to apply more? That should be a handful to choose from. Looks like most of the programs you got admitted from has a deposit/deadline to accept.
You will hear from NYU around April/May judging from the timeline in the Tracker.
CMU/Baruch is actively interviewing people as we speak.

Are you looking to buy insurance from one of these schools? How much do they ask for and what are the deadline?
I know you mention Feb 17 for BU.


Well so far I have been admitted to BU math fin, but I heard that their job placement is terrible. Thats why I am thinking of applying to UMich, Rutgers and Claremont as well. I am also still waiting to hear back from the rest of my top choices (Columbia,NYU,CMU). NYC and Wall-Street is definitely where I wanna spend my 20's working so I might add Rutgers-Newark b/c of its location.

---------- Post added at 09:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:53 AM ----------

When you say NYU, is it the NYU-poly or just the NYU?

and what are their differences?

Thanks.


Just NYU. The difference is the NYU program is top-notched.
 
Check out opinion on BU from discussions here and elsewhere. You still have a month to hear back from other programs.

NYU-Poly was previously Polytech University. It has a new name after merging with NYU a year or so back. NYU has Fin Math program while Poly has Financial and Risk Engineering program. There are little in common between these two.
 
A lot of the schools you mentioned- like NYU and Michigan- have extremely strong regional reputations that make them competitive with- or sometimes even superior to- schools in the Top Five. When I was in Chicago three years ago, a guy from Michigan would usually beat out a guy from Princeton for a job in trading, all other things being equal.

Likewise, someone from NYU gives folks from Stanford and U. Chicago a run for their money here in New York.

That said, once you get about 500 miles away from both schools, they start to lose their brand names. Here in NYC, people call Michigan one of the better state schools, and in Chicago, many people believe that NYU is a public school (and have never even heard of top-ten-ranked Baruch).

The only schools with truly consistent national brand names are a handful of the Ivies, CMU, MIT, U. Chicago, Stanford, and Berkeley- not to mention LSE, Oxford, Cambridge, and a trend towards brand-name status for IIM and IIT (India, not Chicago).

So the question is where do you want to work and what do you want to do when you graduate?

New York+Greenwich: Structured Finance, Exotics trading, some market-making (more of a focus on OTC), some algorithmic trading. Some hedge funds.

Chicago: Market-making on the three big exchanges, algorithmic trading, prop shops, and a few hedge funds.

Boston: Investment Management.

Finally, I would note that you may get a better education at a private school than a state school. I was an engineering student at UIUC for four years and decided to go back over Differential Equations by downloading some courses from MIT's Open Course project. The first odd thing that I noticed was that I could actually understand the professor's English most of the time. The second thing I noticed was that he seemed to actually enjoy teaching the class and knew how to help students understand some of the concepts. You don't always get that at a state school math/hard science/engineering program, and there's a lot more self-study. Please do your DD.
 
Thanks GoIllini. My ultimate goal is to work in finance in NYC. If that's the case, then should I add Rutgers-Newark to my list? I heard that BU math fin job placement is terrible.
 
Thanks GoIllini. My ultimate goal is to work in finance in NYC. If that's the case, then should I add Rutgers-Newark to my list? I heard that BU math fin job placement is terrible.
Finance is still sort of generic, so I assume you're referring to anything under the umbrella of trading, investment banking (M&A, IPOs, Origination), research, or investment management. You don't know exactly what you want to do yet- you just know that you want to do something that involves money. (That's ok- I didn't know what I wanted to do until I worked here for two years. I'm still not sure I know what I want to do.)

I'd still prioritize Michigan over Rutgers, but I'd really also think about SUNY, Baruch, and maybe even CMU here in the city.

Rutgers is a good state school that lands many of its students on the street, but I'm not sure it's as strong as SUNY or Baruch on the street. Getting onto a Wall Street trading floor from Rutgers is a long, difficult, uphill climb that will probably at least be as difficult as my experience trying to get in from Computer Science at UIUC. If you go to Michigan, you'll at least have better odds than me. It won't be easy, but the Michigan name still has enough connections in many financial circles to land you some interviews. A backup plan to get to Wall Street from Michigan might be British Petroleum. They have a huge energy trading operation in Chicago, and I believe they recruit very heavily from Michigan, Illinois, and Notre Dame. They need a number of financial engineers and operations researchers to help them determine exactly what refineries should produce and how to manage pipeline capacity in response to market prices. They also account for 25% of the outstanding petroleum contracts on the NYMEX and ICE, and handle more business in oil, natural gas, and the petroleum derivatives than Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs (the two biggest investment banks when it comes to commodities) combined. Spend two or three years at BP and you can land a job at any energy trading desk on the street relatively easily; you're more qualified than anyone who's worked in trading in New York for three years.

And frankly, as much as I hate Michigan's football team, if Baruch is considered a top-tier school, I think Michigan should be, too. I think it sort of stands out among the other 11-15 ranked schools, and is recognized as in the same league with Chicago, Stanford, Princeton, and Cornell in other rankings.
 
Rutgers has two different/competing programs so make sure you know which is which
Changing careers shortly - would appreciate advice... - QuantNetwork - Financial Engineering Forum


Thanks Andy for the link. I know there are two programs at Rutgers, MSMF program is only offered at New Brunswick campus while MQF program is offered at both Newark and New Brunswick. MQF appeals to me more because of the location; Newark is about a 30 min train ride from the Street so that should help with finding jobs. Also, MSMF requires a course in partial diff eq, which I didn't take as an undergrad.

---------- Post added at 07:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:05 PM ----------

I'd still prioritize Michigan over Rutgers, but I'd really also think about SUNY, Baruch, and maybe even CMU here in the city.

Rutgers is a good state school that lands many of its students on the street, but I'm not sure it's as strong as SUNY or Baruch on the street. Getting onto a Wall Street trading floor from Rutgers is a long, difficult, uphill climb that will probably at least be as difficult as my experience trying to get in from Computer Science at UIUC. If you go to Michigan, you'll at least have better odds than me. It won't be easy, but the Michigan name still has enough connections in many financial circles to land you some interviews. A backup plan from Michigan might be to get an offer from a nationally-recognized Chicago hedge fund or bank like Citadel or Northern Trust and then apply for work on the street after you get a few years of experience.

And frankly, as much as I hate Michigan's football team, if Baruch is considered a top-tier school, I think Michigan should be, too. I think it sort of stands out among the other 11-15 ranked schools, and is recognized as in the same league with Chicago, Stanford, Princeton, and Cornell in other rankings.


Hey GoIllini, which SUNY program are you talking about here? I didn't know there is one offered in the New York City area.
 
Hey GoIllini, which SUNY program are you talking about here? I didn't know there is one offered in the New York City area.
I heard they have an O/R as well as a Finance program at Stonybrook.

Something like 1/4 of my coworkers in Analytics have degrees from Stonybrook; that said, most of them are in Computer Science or Computer Engineering. I don't know a lot of the specifics about SUNY's OR/FE program, but outside the top ten, the overall reputation of the school in engineering and finance becomes more important. SUNY has a good reputation on the street for producing competent engineers and financiers.
 
Thanks a lot guys! So would you guys rate SUNY quant fin program above BU math fin?
 
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