CMU MSCF CMU Pittsburgh vs NYC campus

[finkv]

I am applying to the CMU MFE program Fall 2022. I am trying to decide whether to apply to the Pittsburg or NYC campus. The website said that they are practically the same except that faculty only comes for 2 weeks every 7 weeks to the NYC campus. I found a thread in this forum but it only had one answer and it was from 2016. Do any of you have an opinion?

My perspective.

NYC:
- It's NYC
Cons:
- Cost of living
- Faculty and resources.
- People may attend remotely and not attend lectures in the NYC campus.

Pittsburg:
- Faculty and resources
Cons
- Not NYC

 

[WorkofArt]

Related threads here and here.
Career services of CMU are excellent, and students of both campuses would be provided with the same resources. As a student in their NYC "campus"(which is just a building) you would attend most lectures remotely.
I would say the NYC option would be better if you're already working there and want to do the program part-time or if you are fresh out of college and want to spend a lot of time networking. As seen by people's opinions in the threads, there seems to be no clear advantage of choosing the NYC location in terms of careers and you would probably benefit more from the close proximity to the faculty and peers in the Pittsburgh campus.

If it were any other program, I would say NYC being NYC, is an advantage. But you're going to one of the best MFE programs in the world at a world-class institute, it won't matter so much.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

I have been to NYC but never to Pittsburgh. It probably has changed a lot since my day. All I knew is that song by Pete Seeger,

BTW wasn't CMU ranked #3 for 2022?

 

[WorkofArt]

I have been to NYC but never to Pittsburgh. It probably has changed a lot since my day. All I knew is that song by Pete Seeger,

BTW wasn't CMU ranked #3 for 2022?

Yes, it was. It's consistently ranked top 3 and is undoubtedly a top 5 program. The other program directors would probable agree with the claim too, it has the highest peer assessment score in the rankings.

I think it's fair to call it "one of the best" MFE programs.

 

[daxabooi]

Do the chances of admission change based on the preference selected (NYC campus or PA campus), i.e. is one of them strictly a popular choice among applicants and does applying to other choice increase the chances of selection?

 

[daxabooi]

While filling the application for CMU MSCF program, it asks us for a `Preferred Program Location` between New York Campus and Pittsburgh Campus.
Does anybody know if you are only considered for the campus choice selected by you, i.e. if I chose Full-Time MSCF (NYU Campus) as my preferred option, will I be considered for admissions to the Pittsburgh Campus as well, in case the NYU Campus doesn't have any more vacancies?
Also does the choice of campus have any impact on the admission process? Has there been a historically preferred choice amongst applicants and will applying to the other campus increase the chances of admission?

 

[marcusaurelius]

Hey @daxabooi, check out this thread, which could be of help: CMU MSCF - CMU MSCF - NYC v/s PA

From the presentations, the feel that I got was "there is no difference" in terms of how they select their students, if one puts NY versus Pittsburgh campuses. The biggest parallel I can make of it would be the selection process at Oxbridge. When applying there, you had to choose one specific college. You could try to figure out which college was arbitrarily less selective than others, at the expense of less aesthetic amenities whilst studying there. If you weren't picked for that specific college (fixed number of spots per college, more or less), you were then placed in the "pool" of other candidates, and other colleges looked at your profile. You could either get a spot at another college (same program you applied for, obviously) or get dinged.

Overall, I'd think they consider you for both campuses. At the end of the day, they won't pass on a stellar applicant just because they don't have enough spots on one campus. But again, don't take my word on this.

Hope this helps!

 

[daxabooi]

Thanks marcusaurelius. I had taken a look at the other thread, but this specific point wasn't discussed which is why I started a new thread.
In the application they mention "We will consider your application for the program location you select here. If admitted, we may not be able to switch the location to which you have been admitted so it is important to consider at which location you will be most successful."
Seeing the first line it looks like they will only consider the applicant for the location selected by them? But I also agree with your point that they wouldn't pass on a strong applicant just because of the location. Seems ambiguous.

Happy to hear if anybody else has some knowledge or opinions on this.

 

[daxabooi]

I raised this question to the admissions department and this is the response I received.

"All candidates have an equal chance of admission regardless of location and commonly get admitted to attend the location of their choice. There are instances where a candidate is admitted but we don't have room at a particular location so they will receive an admission offer to the other location but this is rare. All that said, candidates are usually not denied admission simply because their preferred location is full."

Basically the location shouldn't make a difference on the admissions and is a personal preference. Hopefully this is helpful for anybody with the same question.