Columbia MAFN Columbia MAFN decisions...

[dudepc]

Hi @dudepc , do you have the employment report?

I don't, but I've heard from a lot of alumni saying Columbia's MFE has literally 0 career service, and MAFN has a better career service compared to MFE. (take it with a grain of salt)

 

[WSBquant]

@dudepc its the other way round

 

[dudepc]

@dudepc its the other way round

I'm certain it's MAFN > MFE solely on career service based on what I was told

 

[WSBquant]

I'm certain it's MAFN > MFE solely on career service based on what I was told

From who?

 

[dudepc]

From who?

from current columbia mfe, they basically said mfe has 0% career support, mafn has 30% support

 

[WSBquant]

I heard the other way lol. Majority in MFE already landed internships and FT jobs during the course while mafn career was quite mid

 

[WSBquant]

Saw that you got into uchicago too. Curious which are you leaning to?

 

[dudepc]

I heard the other way lol. Majority in MFE already landed internships and FT jobs during the course while mafn career was quite mid

nah i get what ur trying to say, but i don’t think landing ft = good career service experience, it’s more about the individual’s ability. But solely on career service’s mfe is pretty bad i’ve heard.

Abt uchicago’s mfin I’m uncertain, it’s a brand new program so.. still waiting on a couple other programs to see

 

[ajjjw]

Columbia is not a school you go to if you’re looking for personalized bespoke career services. it does seem like you are sort of on your own, albeit with the bare minimum stuff like resume books and such. Places like Chicago seem to feature a lot more guidance and hand holding in the job search.

i got into both and have been trying to determine how important of a factor this is for me.

 

[WSBquant]

Same boat lol gonna wait out too. Fingers crossed for all of us

 

[WSBquant]

Columbia is not a school you go to if you’re looking for personalized bespoke career services. it does seem like you are sort of on your own, albeit with the bare minimum stuff like resume books and such. Places like Chicago seem to feature a lot more guidance and hand holding in the job search.

Yea but seems like only half the class is employed in US vs UChicago. Do you have more info on MAFN?

 

[ajjjw]

I’ve seen some threads on here suggest that columbia has a better name brand around the world than uchicago? I’m a us citizen and both of these programs hold equal name recognition in my view. But i wonder if there isn’t some self selection going on in the columbia programs (and mit) having a significant portion of students go back to their homeland after studying. just a guess. Or it could be like i suggested that relatively lackluster career services make it hard for international students to get a foothold in the us during the relatively short program length.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Or it could be like i suggested that relatively lackluster career services make it hard for international students to get a foothold in the us during the relatively short program length.

Which is why MAFN program has an option for you to do the program in 3 semesters instead of 2. The extra semester is extremely important for international students to stay current with their visa longer while they search for internship/job.

 

[WSBquant]

I’ve seen some threads on here suggest that columbia has a better name brand around the world than uchicago? I’m a us citizen and both of these programs hold equal name recognition in my view. But i wonder if there isn’t some self selection going on in the columbia programs (and mit) having a significant portion of students go back to their homeland after studying. just a guess. Or it could be like i suggested that relatively lackluster career services make it hard for international students to get a foothold in the us during the relatively short program length.

agree, would be good to know the class profile too. I don’t think program length is a factor since it can be done in 1.5 years too

 

[WSBquant]

@Andy Nguyen do you happen to have US employment stats for the earlier years?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

@Andy Nguyen do you happen to have US employment stats for the earlier years?

We only started doing the US salary for the last 2 rankings.

 

[ajjjw]

Which is why MAFN program has an option for you to do the program in 3 semesters instead of 2. The extra semester is extremely important for international students to stay current with their visa longer while they search for internship/job.

Is the MFE still only offering the 2 semester option? Seems like this would be a key differentiator between the programs for certain students

 

[WSBquant]

Is the MFE still only offering the 2 semester option? Seems like this would be a key differentiator between the programs for certain students

can be completed in 3 semesters too. It’s on their website

 

[nonomysquant]

nah i get what ur trying to say, but i don’t think landing ft = good career service experience, it’s more about the individual’s ability. But solely on career service’s mfe is pretty bad i’ve heard.

Abt uchicago’s mfin I’m uncertain, it’s a brand new program so.. still waiting on a couple other programs to see

I agree with this. MFE alumni from Columbia that I have reached out to have said that the career services are near zero and that certain events that are geared for the MFE students to attend end up being sold out super quickly. I am quite confident that students have been landing internships and have better job placement simply bc the students are more impressive, not due to career services. From MAFN alumni, I have heard the career dev is getting better, and there are things like mock interviews, networking events, and speaker events to help students prepare for a career. Now based on what I see on LinkedIn and personal experience, the associate director has been quite active in responding to potential students' concerns and answering questions (at the very least she did for me).

Other thoughts/questions I have been having:
-Columbia students are probably too focused on buy-side quant roles
-What kind of things are students expecting in terms of career services? I feel like no amount of career services will help anyone take shortcuts into quant positions.
-I would assume that following this year's rankings and the MFE program's placement percentage at graduation, there will be a focus on career development improvement

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Now based on what I see on LinkedIn and personal experience, the associate director has been quite active in responding to potential students' concerns and answering questions (at the very least she did for me).

Yes, @IzabelaRutkowski has been very responsive during my communication with her and I appreciate it a lot.