COMPARE Columbia MFE vs Chicago MSFM

[andreshenao]

No mate, in my humble opinion, saving 55k from your own money or even more, avoiding 55k on student debt is a huge underrated advantage. In the long run it will pay off. Cheers.

 

[hridaypurohit]

No mate, in my humble opinion, saving 55k from your own money or even more, avoiding 55k on student debt is a huge underrated advantage. In the long run it will pay off. Cheers.

+1

 

[johng]

How much does which school you go to affect how many interviews you get? Or, is it more based on the candidates individual qualities that determine if they get the interview?

 

[prisonMike]

Chicago is the go to place if you want to work as a trader, so if that is what you want, it's a no brainer.
I think Chicago brand is similar to Columbia, nonetheless you need to have a good profile to get interviews. And 70% tution waiver makes Chicago a MUCH better choice.

 

[bfm.my]

Hi all,

I received offers from both programs. I am leaning towards Columbia but the offer from Chicago comes with xx% scholarship. After having read numerous comments on QN, I find that Chicago's program isn't really painted as one of the top ones - this is surprising given the reputation of the university and its Math Dept.

I appreciate your opinions on this. Many thanks.

 

[Skylime]

Hi there,

Ive been accepted into the Chicago FinMaths program as well. This is the only program I have applied because it is the most logical one based on my personal situation. I am a quant dev looking to transition into option trading. UChicago's focus on option theory, risk mgmt together with geo advantages in terms of trading jobs makes it the most logical choice to me. I also wanted to attend a program where the workload isnt too overwhelming, this would allow me to focus on interviews whilst still getting good marks.

I think Columbia MFE is generally considered a stronger program than Chicago FinMaths. However, I think both programs meet the minimum hiring bars for jobs in prop trading / hedge fund / BB banks. Once you are in the interview loops, it's your own academic knowledge and technical skill-sets that matter.

Would love to hear other people's thoughts too!

 

[bfm.my]

Hi there,

Ive been accepted into the Chicago FinMaths program as well. This is the only program I have applied because it is the most logical one based on my personal situation. I am a quant dev looking to transition into option trading. UChicago's focus on option theory, risk mgmt together with geo advantages in terms of trading jobs makes it the most logical choice to me. I also wanted to attend a program where the workload isnt too overwhelming, this would allow me to focus on interviews whilst still getting good marks.

I think Columbia MFE is generally considered a stronger program than Chicago FinMaths. However, I think both programs meet the minimum hiring bars for jobs in prop trading / hedge fund / BB banks. Once you are in the interview loops, it's your own academic knowledge and technical skill-sets that matter.

Would love to hear other people's thoughts too!

Thanks for sharing your view. Completely agree that it is up to us to translate assessments and interviews into job offers.

Has the safety issue around UChicago neighbourhood ever crossed your mind? I was doing some research and found some recent Reddit posts mentioning the deteriorating level of safety since the onset of Covid.

https://www.reddit.com/r/uchicago/comments/qqe1yv

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/qw9my0

 

[Skylime]

Yeh, safety is an issue. To make the matter worse, almost all Chicago FinMaths courses are in the evenings, i definitely think traversing in the neighborhood for evening classes poses some safe threats.
That said, there are ways to minimize risks, for example, living in a safe neighborhood (ie, loops), and commuting to school via Uber etc.

 

[agie]

Since these incidents, UChicago offers around 20 free lyft rides per month for areas around Hyde Park. I have lived in Hyde Park earlier and now lives in Downtown but I think with the lyft thing, it shouldn’t be a very big concern.

 

[bfm.my]

Since these incidents, UChicago offers around 20 free lyft rides per month for areas around Hyde Park. I have lived in Hyde Park earlier and now lives in Downtown but I think with the lyft thing, it shouldn’t be a very big concern.

Is it convenient commuting between Downtown and campus?

 

[agie]

It depends on where you live but there shouldn’t be a difference of 5-10 min one side. There is bus stop and train station just outside my building in Downtown and it takes 30 min from my home to Uchicago. You can use public transport and then book a lyft once you reach Hyde Park but living in Hyde Park might make more sense as it will save time and you can always use free cab service for your classes and chores.

Chicago has good public transport but the safety is the only thing that one needs to take care of

 

[johnnyb]

My largest dilemma currently is University of Chicago (60% scholarship) vs Columbia MFE.

$36k for UChicago vs $87k for Columbia.

It is a hard pill to swallow for me to go on and say “I rejected Columbia” as it is many students absolute dream school.

I can’t wrap around my head/ don’t know if they marginal benefit of going to Columbia is worth the extra $50k. After reaching out to many alumni I have not heard a single “bad” thing about Chicago other than recruitment for BB/IB in NYC is poor. I want to go into trading or HF and Chicago has strong reputation for CTC, CME Group, Belvedere Trading, etc,

I am no Tsinghua or Peking or “Harvard” undergrad— likely be one of the “average” students at Columbia. I need to make a decision by March 10 for Columbia.

ANY HELP IS MUCH APPRECIATED!

 

[Andy Zhang]

It is a hard pill to swallow for me to go on and say “I rejected Columbia” as it is many students absolute dream school.

Nothing wrong with rejecting what others consider a "dream school." It's your career after all lol.

After reaching out to many alumni I have not heard a single “bad” thing about Chicago other than recruitment for BB/IB in NYC is poor. I want to go into trading or HF and Chicago has strong reputation for CTC, CME Group, Belvedere Trading, etc,

It seems Chicago's strengths align close with your interests (+scholarship), so go with Chicago.

 

[dorian]

bro, just ask for an extension. i got into BU MSMFT and they gave me crazy early deadline to accept. emailed, got 3 weeks extra.

 

[Eric Jacquier]

Hi Johnnyb, Dorian is right, it never hurts to ask for an extension. The worse that happens is they will say no ! On the choice itself, both places are start studded. But there is only one Olympus of Finance, and it still is Chicago. Take the other side, you can't go wrong either way. In NYC you are closer to the investments banks but these days 90% of the interviews are online so it is not so crucial as it used to be. In Chicago you are closer to trading. All these are minor points in the end. With a well written resume, you will have the same opportunities. Enjoy the next year and 1/2.

 

[jshree]

Hi Johnny, may I know if you have arrived at a decision - if so, which college have you finalized and why? Also, wanted to know your reason behind choosing Columbia over Cornell

 

[escheffer]

My goal is to become a macro quant researcher at a top US hedge fund and I've been accepted into Columbia's MFE and UChicago's MSFM programs for Fall 2024. Although Columbia is highly ranked, and might have a higher reputation in Wall Street (besides the favorable location), I'm inclined to believe UChicago might offer more value.

Its outstanding professors, strong ties with the Stats and Econ departments, robust career development office, and close industry connections stand out. Also, Columbia seems to have a more rigid program focused on derivatives modeling and valuation, while Chicago allows choosing a focus aligned with my interests in stats, machine learning, and econometrics, aiming for a macro quant research (does that make sense?).

Additionally, I've been awarded a 60% scholarship at UChicago, which I hope might indicate I would have an interview edge given my resume. Moreover, in Brazil, UChicago has a higher reputation than Columbia because of the Econ department (almost every leading Brazilian economist went there for PhD) in case I decide to return.

My background is Engineering, I already have the CFA and I would say that, today, I am stronger on computing and finance than math.

What are your thought on that?

Thank you all so much for your time.

 

[jmansfield]

Hey I'm currently in UChicago MSFM and I'm going to be a QR intern on a Systematic Macro Team at a hedge fund this summer, so I feel I can give some pretty good advice. There simply is no better place to study economics than UChicago, so in terms of prestige, I would say if you want to go down the Macro route the UChicago name will be more prestigious than Columbia's. While here it's very easy to take cross-department classes, so getting into those Ph.D. level Econ classes that you are interested in will be a breeze. Just in my class alone, I've seen some students become TA's or do research with Econ Professors, one student even left the program to do an Econ Ph.D. with one of the professors as his advisor. Given the 60% scholarship, I'd say it's simply way more bang for your buck to go the UChicago route, although don't expect the 60% scholarship to help you in interviews, many students here get scholarships, and employers don't really look at them anyway.

Although I would say UChiago's biggest advantage is its location, since Most MFE programs, Columbia, Cornell, CMU, Baruch, ...ect , Focus their networking and career outcomes on jobs in NYC those positions become hyper-competitive and over-saturated very quickly. Whereas UChicago focuses on the US's 2nd biggest finance hub, Chicago, and has incredibly close relations with all the firms out here. For context, as part of the program, I've toured prestigious Trading firms with UChicago flags on their walls. These relationships along with the GOATED Career Development office (CDO) massively helped me secure my internship.

Hopes this helps, congrats on the offers!!

 

[jmansfield]

see above

 

[kdb]

Still cant believe Chicago is ahead of Columbia. Don't know if it is because we need to cast a vote to see the results, the cost factor or Chicago's performance has significantly improved. Had posted this a while back and got opposite results.

COMPARE - NYU MSMF vs Cornell MFE vs Chicago MSFM

I would go for NYU Fin Math out of those 3. I also got admits from UCLA MFE and Columbia Mathematics of Finance.Which one of these would you guys choose ? I‘’d vote for UCLA MFE

quantnet.com