COMPARE Columbia Math Finance or CMU MSCF

[torogirl]

Hey Everyone,

I've been accepted to both columbia math finance and cmu mscf (new york campus) programs and trying to decide. I am thinking that columbia has a great overall reputation and a wide alumni network in new york and cmu has a great quality program. Can anyone offer how they view the comparison between the two programs? Thanks so much!

 

[tylor]

personally i would pick columbia simply because it's not virtual courses

 

[Connor]

Agreed, CMU is a good program but the NY campus isn't the main campus so many of the courses are virtual. Go with Columbia in my opinion.

 

[unspatial]

Personally, I am a bigger fan of attending a course in its home campus, and also in a "non-virtual" setting. Point, Columbia. But that being said, CMU program does have a greater breadth of courses (3 semesters) and also a business-school approach which makes it quite appealing. Pick what matters to you more.

Disclosure: I'm headed to Columbia MathFin

 

[Stefan Zota]

Your initial statements are pretty generic. For instance: CMU program is older than Columbia, the number of accepted students is reasonable, so CMU has a wide alumni network as well. The brand name of both programs is very strong, hard to differentiate here.

You will find plenty of threads on this forum discussing details about each university. Also it's useful to discuss with some current students or alumni from both programs. You can find them here as well. Check the curriculum, professors etc. If you plan to attend part-time (same as many CMU students in NY campus), check about career services for part-time students in both cases. Research, research ...

 

[leozhuqi]

The career service in Columbia for MAFN students is not that good compared with that for MFE students. If you are saying MFE in Columbia, then definitly go for that. But for the MAFN program, I would think... I would prefer CMU.