Columbia MSFE: QR pipeline

[Yuvraj Chauhan]

Hi everyone,

A program which caught my eye recently is Columbia Business School's MSFE (MS in Financial Economics). As someone who's also open to exploring the QR pipeline, while wanting to keep slightly unconventional paths (Fundamental Research, for instance) also open, would this program make sense?

For slightly more context: I'm from India, T-1 Engineering undergrad, CFA Level III Candidate, ~18 months of internship+full time experience at D.E. Shaw in an operations role. Guessing from where I come, and having been "indoctrinated" by the CFAI, one could reasonably say that the weightage I'd give to developing a very solid foundation in economic theory in order to build a career as a QR would be pretty high (but then again, this is purely based on my interactions with QRs and analysts of the Firm in NY, happy to be corrected on this point or if anyone feels the other way around).

Broadly speaking, its flexible course structure, rigorous academics and its location in NYC were the first to catch my eye. Diving deeper, a lot of the alumni I've spoken to when performing my due diligence have secured good opportunities, especially in QR due to the nature of the courses offered by this program. What makes it stand out even more to me is students being allowed to take courses across different schools within Columbia, which to the best of my knowledge isn't offered by other Columbia programs like MAFN or MFE.

I'm curious about the reason behind this program not being ranked on QuantNet, and the lack of any recent reviews on QuantNet about this course. I'd love to know if I'm missing anything or not being able to see the whole picture here.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

This is the program you refer to

Columbia University - MS in Financial Economics

3/30/23

Gain the quantitative and theoretical tools for a successful career in finance

• Andy Nguyen
• United States

I definitely would love to see more reviews from the program's alumni. It seems most traditional quant students go to the other two quant programs at Columbia instead of the MSFE under the business school.
As for why it is not ranked, we have reached out over the years but they do not feel they are ready to be ranked.
Please let me know if you have found more information on it. Would love to keep other members up to date on this.

 

[Yuvraj Chauhan]

Thanks for responding, Andy. I've been doing some diligence on this program for the past 3 months, albeit irregularly and nothing too organized, but I feel the gating factor here is the relatively high cost. That being said, I've had great reviews from current students, and I think that the small class size really makes it better from an immersion perspective.
The added advantage as an international would be it potentially allows you to do a PhD if you want to, and you have a longer timeline than others for recruiting, a sort of second chance, if you will.

On a broader level - @Andy Nguyen , I think you could try reaching out to current students and recent alums to request them to review the program on QuantNet, since it would be a great help for applicants like me who need to construct their understanding of MFE/MFE-adjacent programs. QuantNet's a great starting place to narrow down our choices within the application universe and it would be a huge win if even MFE-adjacent courses get featured here.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I think the 2 years is a bonus, you have a longer time to really study the materials and 2 summers to get internships.
The downside is the huge cost. None of the 2 year program is cheap (Princeton, CBS MSFE).
It would help if you can get some of your contacts who gave you good review to write it here.

 

[Yuvraj Chauhan]

Sure Andy, I'll let them know it would be great if they could provide some reviews about this program.

The downside is the huge cost. None of the 2 year program is cheap (Princeton, CBS MSFE).

I'm curious about scholarships, that's a theme I've not properly understood in the States. In India, scholarships tend to be given in a much more different manner than from what I've heard in the US. If you're aware of any sources which offer scholarships to internationals apart from the universities themselves, it would be a big help.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

With regard to scholarships, I have a list of them based on the data on the Tracker. There is also a US government database of all the scholarship for college students from private, public sources. You can google it up but from my previous experience, you will have to work very hard to find something for international students. After all, the assumption is that international students are the ones that provide the main revenues to universities.
Some countries like Singapore have govt scholarships or grants for their students to study oversea but that will not apply to most of us.
Your best bet would be to get a large scholarship from any of the programs in this list.

Thread 'List of quantitative finance master programs with scholarships'

10/13/24

If you're applying to quantitative master’s programs in the US, here's an exclusive list of programs that offer scholarships along with their award amounts. This list is based on the Tracker data. Don't miss out on this valuable resource!

• Carnegie Mellon University - MS in Computational Finance ($15K-30K)
• University of Chicago - MS in Financial Mathematics (up to 70% of tuition, range $20K-55K)
• Cornell University - Master in Financial Engineering (range $7.5K-20K)
• University of California, Berkeley - Master of Financial Engineering ($20K)...

• Andy Nguyen
• Replies: 9
• Forum: Application Questions & Strategy

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[Yuvraj Chauhan]

Thank you so much, Andy!