COMPARE MIT MFin vs Columbia MAFN

[qiuyuw]

Actually I don't think MAFN curriculums would make such a big difference. The recruiting season for BB quant positions is the first semester in your first year (usually October and November), and you don't even take many courses. So actually people are competing with their previous knowledge about math finance and previous internship experience. Remember you would compete with students from CMU MSCF, Baruch, Columbia MFE, NYU MathFin and Cornell MFE. If you go to MIT Mfin and apply for jobs (s&t, quant or other positions) in HK or mainland China, not enough people can compete with you.

 

[Zeroxieeee]

Actually I don't think MAFN curriculums would make such a big difference. The recruiting season for BB quant positions is the first semester in your first year (usually October and November), and you don't even take many courses. So actually people are competing with their previous knowledge about math finance and previous internship experience. Remember you would compete with students from CMU MSCF, Baruch, Columbia MFE, NYU MathFin and Cornell MFE. If you go to MIT Mfin and apply for jobs (s&t, quant or other positions) in HK or mainland China, not enough people can compete with you.

That's not true in general now. HRs in Asia are much more familiar with the top quant programs in US. They do know Baruch is a good program so it's totally different from years ago when a master program's brand name can give you a boost. TO DATE, QUALITY IS IMPORTANT.

 

[qiuyuw]

That's not true in general now. HRs in Asia are much more familiar with the top quant programs in US. They do know Baruch is a good program so it's totally different from years ago when a master program's brand name can give you a boost. TO DATE, QUALITY IS IMPORTANT.

Even if they are much more familiar with the top quant programs in US, there are still a number of HRs considering brand. He/she just needs to get one job among a portion of banks that favors MIT and gives his/her interviews. Actually I do believe brand name is still very important in HK and mainland China.

 

[danov]

Both are very good options, but I'd give the nod to Columbia. I think there's a big advantage to working in NYC at some point in your career if you are interested in Finance - and it's a lot easier to get a job in NY Finance from Columbia than from MIT - spending fridays on desks, attending events, setting up your own meetings, doing interviews etc

 

[shanama]

agree with danov on this one...

 

[Simon.ZY]

Based on your career goal, Columbia is definitely what you want to go. Location and the opportunities to network.

 

[mabelleaf]

Location, curriculum, networking => Columbia

 

[cindylee]

Sooo helpful to be in NYC if you are lookin to work in finance in New York. Quant skills will continue to help you as finance continues to get more data intensive. Carnegie Mellon actually does a nice job of helping students find NY roles via its NYC satellite campus.

 

[rolandarroz]

Tough to recruit for NYC if ur in Boston. Sounds like MIT MFins have to get into more details about what classes they take, as not all take a quantitative curriculum. Columbia has a really good alum network in NY Finance.

 

[ApolloChariot]

It's Columbia MAFN, not Columbia Financial Engineering or Columbia Business School, two programs that are clearly superior to it. As someone who went to Tandon FRE (a few years ago), I will unequivocally say you do NOT want to a program playing third fiddle at your own school.

IMO, the advantage of being in New York is not nearly enough to compensate for its likely dismal placement rates (which are not made public), and companies and recruiters who would rather hire from other programs on the same campus. If forced to choose between Columbia MAFN or MIT MFin, I pick MIT and it would not even be a decision.

 

[devconnolly]

Can give some more info on the MFin:

Recruiting to NYC is not really an issue - I've been up there four or five times this semester at various events/interviews. A lot of companies come to campus to interviews (focused on undergrads sure, but we are still eligible to apply).

My coursework is essentially all quantitative, bar one of the core classes this semester (Corporate Finance). Financial Engineering, Financial Data Science, Machine Learning, Probability/Stochastic Models.. and thats just the Course 15 classes. The entire undergraduate curriculum (Course 6 (CS) and Course 18 (Maths)) are open to MFin students too.

We don't all take quantitative, but I would say its over a third if I had to guess - correct that in some interviews you do have to explain your coursework a little bit more.

 

[IntoDarkness]

sounds more like an undergrad do-over

 

[binomial-torrent]

Which program has the best buy-side placement?

 

[devconnolly]

sounds more like an undergrad do-over

MIT undergrads consistently land jobs in top-tier firms as quant traders/researchers, quant developers, engineers, strats etc, so that doesn't sounds like a negative to me.

 

[binomial-torrent]

MIT undergrads consistently land jobs in top-tier firms as quant traders/researchers, quant developers, engineers, strats etc, so that doesn't sounds like a negative to me.

they often have math medals which is the main factor and are US citizens (unlike the majority of folks going into these programs)

 

[codebreaker]

I wonder Columbia MAFN and MIT MFin， which one should choose？

 

[codebreaker]

Can anyone give advice on choosing among these two program? I am looking forward to getting a job in quant/IBD. Thanks!

 

[codebreaker]

It seems Columbia mafm has a higer average salary and placement rate from the quantnet ranking. Can anyone provides some detail reason of why choose any one of them？

 

[PongoShib]

I think there are a few reasons I would pick MIT MFin over Columbia MAFM. One of the main reasons is that MFE is clearly the number 1 program for quant at the university. In addition, when looking at their webpage, it's kind of hard to find where each class is going in terms of job placement. The webpage only shows "career landings," which is how many alumni work at their list of companies. Although this is pretty interesting data, it would be helpful for applicants to know exactly where people are placing into because I'm pretty sure they include both full-time and part-time students in their data (which is slightly misleading). In addition, the average salary + sign-on bonus comparison is tricky. In the latest employment report released by MIT (which has a 100% reporting rate), the average salary + sign-on is $111k, which makes the difference less significant. In addition, not all students are really aiming for the highest paying quant jobs. Some are going into private equity, IBD, advisory, healthcare, and etc. But I would suggest you do your own research and make a decision based on your list of priorities. I'm sure you can succeed at both programs.

 

[codebreaker]

I think there are a few reasons I would pick MIT MFin over Columbia MAFM. One of the main reasons is that MFE is clearly the number 1 program for quant at the university. In addition, when looking at their webpage, it's kind of hard to find where each class is going in terms of job placement. The webpage only shows "career landings," which is how many alumni work at their list of companies. Although this is pretty interesting data, it would be helpful for applicants to know exactly where people are placing into because I'm pretty sure they include both full-time and part-time students in their data (which is slightly misleading). In addition, the average salary + sign-on bonus comparison is tricky. In the latest employment report released by MIT (which has a 100% reporting rate), the average salary + sign-on is $111k, which makes the difference less significant. In addition, not all students are really aiming for the highest paying quant jobs. Some are going into private equity, IBD, advisory, healthcare, and etc. But I would suggest you do your own research and make a decision based on your list of priorities. I'm sure you can succeed at both programs.

thank you