COMPARE Columbia MathFin vs Toronto MMF

[TonyHu]

Hi everyone,

I have got admission from both programs, Columbia Mathematics of Finance and Toronto Mathematical Finance . I am an international student and want to get a job in US/Canada after graduation.

Columbia:
pro:
1. Great location in NYC and thus more job opportunities.
2. Decent reputation of CU.
con:
1. It seems the placement record is not very good. I would have to compete with guys from tier1 programs for a job in NYC, i.e., NYU, CMU, Columbia MSFE , etc. And I am afraid that I cannot get a good job.

Toronto:
pro:
1. Good placement record in Canada. 100% internship and easy to land a job in Toronto.
con:
1. Most students from this program can only work in risk management field.
2. Cannot go to Wall St and the market in Toronto is much smaller.

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated!

 

[qdogg]

Hi everyone,

Columbia:
con:
1. It seems the placement record is not very good.

Not saying you're wrong, but just out of curiosity, what makes you think this?

 

[Philip_Mitterrand]

Toronto market is small and the most ambitious always gravitate towards NY/London.
However, Columbia has MFE, MS Operations Research, MS Financial Economics so there is a giant cohort competing for the jobs plus Math Fin is not on top of the pecking order.

There are many pros with Toronto. Assuming you are a Chinese, US immigration is a drag even after you land up a job with many hoops to jump....whereas Canada is ameable and you can be a perm citizen in 3-4 years. Imagine the scenario in entirety and make a pick.

Hi everyone,

I have got admission from both programs, Columbia Mathematics of Finance and Toronto Mathematical Finance . I am an international student and want to get a job in US/Canada after graduation.

Columbia:
pro:
1. Great location in NYC and thus more job opportunities.
2. Decent reputation of CU.
con:
1. It seems the placement record is not very good. I would have to compete with guys from tier1 programs for a job in NYC, i.e., NYU, CMU, Columbia MSFE , etc. And I am afraid that I cannot get a good job.

Toronto:
pro:
1. Good placement record in Canada. 100% internship and easy to land a job in Toronto.
con:
1. Most students from this program can only work in risk management field.
2. Cannot go to Wall St and the market in Toronto is much smaller.

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated!

 

[TonyHu]

Not saying you're wrong, but just out of curiosity, what makes you think this?

My reasons are:
1. Competition from many other tier1/tier2 programs, and CU MathFin means nothing in NYC when I try to get a job or an internship.
2. The CU MathFin program does not have a good career service, and does not release its placement statistics(Correct me if it does).
3. Personally I am not good at networking. So it may further increase the difficulty of job hunting when CU MathFin is not first choice of employers.

But I have to say CU MathFin is a good program, and in the past Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley have recruited students from this program. But I does not know how many of them can make this.

Please feel free to give your comments, or correct me if I am wrong.

 

[New Yorker]

My reasons are:
1. Competition from many other tier1/tier2 programs, and CU MathFin means nothing in NYC when I try to get a job or an internship.
2. The CU MathFin program does not have a good career service, and does not release its placement statistics(Correct me if it does).
3. Personally I am not good at networking. So it may further increase the difficulty of job hunting when CU MathFin is not first choice of employers.

But I have to say CU MathFin is a good program, and in the past Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley have recruited students from this program. But I does not know how many of them can make this.

Please feel free to give your comments, or correct me if I am wrong.

1. correct.
2. correct.
3. right - u're on your own.

 

[AJ Burnett]

In Canada, you don't need a job to have free health care.

 

[qdogg]

My reasons are:
1. Competition from many other tier1/tier2 programs, and CU MathFin means nothing in NYC when I try to get a job or an internship.
2. The CU MathFin program does not have a good career service, and does not release its placement statistics(Correct me if it does).
3. Personally I am not good at networking. So it may further increase the difficulty of job hunting when CU MathFin is not first choice of employers.

But I have to say CU MathFin is a good program, and in the past Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley have recruited students from this program. But I does not know how many of them can make this.

Please feel free to give your comments, or correct me if I am wrong.

That all sounds about right. It would appear to be a choice between--

1) Coming out of a decent (but not top) program in a city where there may be more jobs
2) Coming out of the best program in a city where there may be far fewer

"100% internship and easy to land a job in Toronto"-- if this is actually true (and I honestly don't know enough about Toronto to corroborate it), I would probably tell you to go with Toronto-- if the only drawback is that "most likely you'll end up in Risk," there's a good chance that "most likely you'll end up in Risk" too coming out of MAFN, and that's if you're lucky... it boils down to a question of how much career risk you're willing to take on this.

"Sure job in Toronto Risk" vs. "possible job in NYC Risk, with chance of something better at the cost of also possibly getting nothing" is a tough choice that no one can make but you.

 

[Stochasticity]

How about some facts on this forum?

Program placement and other statistics:
mmf ★

 

[JLevin]

Would you rather be a big fish in a small pond (Toronto case) or a small fish in a big pond (NYC case)? For me, I think the Toronto pond is too small... and being a Columbia fish is actually pretty big. Mathematical Finance at Columbia also sounds badass. And if you're serious about making it big, which I'd say many people who get into this stuff are, then you may as well give NYC a shot.

 

[pingu]

Mathematical Finance at Columbia also sounds badass.

Psssst, not really...