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Columbia MAFN Columbia MAFN

Alex Ng

Alex Ng

Joined
10/1/23
Messages
131
Points
28
Hi, guys. I was going through the programs that I was still waiting on and noticed that there aren't much discussions around Columbia's Master of Arts in Mathematics with Specialization in Finance. Conversely, I have seen a lot of discussions and posted results on tracker for Columbia's MFE program as well as the MSFE. However, these programs are all highly ranked and are from the same school. Even programs that are ranked much lower have received much more attention.

So does anyone know why this program is less discussed and seems to have very few updates? Is it just a sampling bias where the discussion is minimal around the QuantNet community?

Also, has anyone heard back from the program? The official website says results are usually expected to roll out starting mid-Jan, but I haven't heard any decisions from anyone yet--accepted or rejected.

I would appreciate any comments and updates about the program.
 
I am also pretty flummoxed by the lack of discussion of this program on QN. Although i have seen some complaints about their career services. it seems like their admissions process is much less structured than other programs. i have seen tracker entries with a 1 week wait time and entries that submitted in november and didn’t hear until april…. lol
 
ajjjw said:
I am also pretty flummoxed by the lack of discussion of this program on QN. Although i have seen some complaints about their career services. it seems like their admissions process is much less structured than other programs. i have seen tracker entries with a 1 week wait time and entries that submitted in november and didn’t hear until april…. lol
Click to expand...
Yes. That is definitely a part of my confusion. In previous years, the first batch of decisions came in mid-late January and continue to roll out over February, but no updates on tracker so far or anywhere else really. I can only see a handful of even pending records.

I submitted my application on December 3rd but still haven't heard back.
 
this is from their website

‘If it takes a long time for you to receive a final decision, then the reason usually is that we do not (yet) have a sufficiently large pool of applications to compare with. It is not the case that we take an inordinately long time to read your application and think about it’

which would seem to imply that they have less applications at this point of the cycle than they have had in previous years given that no results have gone out. Yet that seems to contradict the news we’ve gotten from other programs such as princeton which have reported massive jumps in the number of applications we received. I’m definitely reading too much into this but it is curious nonetheless.
 
Maybe, it's just maybe, it's a result of them falling from 5th place to 9th place on the ranking this year?
They have the same class size with the other Columbia MFE program (100+ FT students) so I imagine them having a similar applicant pool.
 
Tigga said:
Maybe, it's just maybe, it's a result of them falling from 5th place to 9th place on the ranking this year?
They have the same class size with the other Columbia MFE program (100+ FT students) so I imagine them having a similar applicant pool.
Click to expand...
That's an interesting theory, but if you look at the tracker and order by submitted date, the first page covers all records all the way to 2021. Even in previous years like 2023/2022/2021, still not many records...
 
I attended one of their info events and they said they start reading the first set of applications around mid Jan
 
I'm pretty sure we have a lot of applicants to that program here but for one reason or another, they are just waiting for someone to create a momentum by adding their timelines to the Tracker or making a dedicated discussion.
Once that is done, it's getting more and more traffic which leads to more data on the Tracker, etc.
The number of applications for Columbia MFE/MAFN are much higher than programs like Chicago/Cornell but you see more timelines data and discussion here for the latter.
I think the more transparent the process, the easier it is to have a discussion. I have been asking the programs to encourage their applicants to use the Tracker which increases exposure to the program.
 
This post is being updated as I get more responses from the program.

Admission Offers:
The way most of these master programs work is that you apply through the Graduate Admission Office that handles applications to the master programs. Once your application is completed, they send it to the program to decide. When the program sends back the decisions, the Graduate Admission Office will communicate it to you via their portal/email/etc. Once the offers are released by the program, it's up to the Graduate Office to deliver the news and the program has no control over how long it will take.

Now the Columbia MAFN program told me that they have sent the first group of admission offers to Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) office and the decisions will be coming out in the next few days. No rejection will be sent out yet. They will continue to evaluate on a rolling basis as more complete applications are sent to them. If you have not received an admit in the first group, you are still being considered.

The number of class size this year will be similar to last year, around 100 students.

Admission number:
I'm being told they receive similar number of applications at this time of year compared to last year.

Career service:
They have one dedicated full-time career development officer and one associate director who spends 1/2 of her time to support career development. So essentially you have 1.5 people to support this incoming class of 100 students.

They will have an official account here do Q/A with QuantNet audience. I'm grateful for their openness to engage with our audience. I think it will be a much needed channel of communication and reflect a trend we see on QuantNet the last few years where programs do more to reach out.
 
Last edited:
Andy Nguyen said:
This post is being updated as I get more responses from the program.

Admission Offers:
The way most of these master programs work is that you apply through the Graduate Admission Office that handles applications to the master programs. Once your application is completed, they send it to the program to decide. When the program sends back the decisions, the Graduate Admission Office will communicate it to you via their portal/email/etc. Once the offers are released by the program, it's up to the Graduate Office to deliver the news and the program has no control over how long it will take.

Now the Columbia MAFN program told me that they have sent the first group of admission offers to Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) office and the decisions will be coming out in the next few days. No rejection will be sent out yet. They will continue to evaluate on a rolling basis as more complete applications are sent to them. If you have not received an admit in the first group, you are still being considered.

The number of class size this year will be similar to last year, around 100 students.

Admission number:
I'm being told they receive similar number of applications at this time of year compared to last year.

Career service:
They have one dedicated full-time career development officer and one associate director who spends 1/2 of her time to support career development. So essentially you have 1.5 people to support this incoming class of 100 students.

They will have an official account here do Q/A with QuantNet audience. I'm grateful for their openness to engage with our audience. I think it will be a much needed channel of communication and reflect a trend we see on QuantNet the last few years where programs do more to reach out.
Click to expand...
Hi Andy, do you have any info on how the admissions go through the applications/make their decisions?

Do they review all applications and release small batches of decisions on a rolling basis?
 
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