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- 3/14/12
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Hahaha. Maybe... I am only left with the time slot at 3am Singapore time... Guess I need some coffee, lol.
Columbia MSOR Columbia MSOR Admission Results
- Thread starter welian
- Start date
Hahaha. Maybe... I am only left with the time slot at 3am Singapore time... Guess I need some coffee, lol.
- Joined
- 1/13/12
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Good luck to both of us~~~ I will be interviewed six hours later.
grcheng How did your interview go? I have mine scheduled for tomorrow
very helpful!I have got quite a lot of information for Columbia MSOR/MAFN/MSFE programs for current students/alumni and I would like to share the same with you. Please go through the below mentioned details -
Forums present a completely different picture than reality and that's the reason I started contacted students/alumni of Cornell/Columbia ( I have contacted 25+ people so farin the process ). I am happy that I have at least a better picture of quant finance through my interactions with current students or alumni than I would have had from reading forum posts.
Based on the discussions so far,
i) Columbia MSOR = MAFN = MSFE (there is flexibility in choosing the courses) . There is absolutely no difference between the courses and you can take any course from IEOR/Math dept. The batch size is really huge MSOR ( 120+), MSFE ( 70 +), MAFN (60 + ) and this is going to increase further this year. In addition to competing with the above masters candidates, one has to compete with undergrads in FE, OR, CS undergrads/masters, MA Stats students for similar job profiles.
ii) The placements had been good till 2010 - things are really different for 2011 and 2012 batches. In fact, none of the 2011 alumni responded to my mails. All these details from an international applicants perspective. The same firms which were giving out interview invites in 2010 or earlier are not doing the same in 2011/12
iii) Many of the current students have advised me to go for Masters in CS at Columbia(100% of the students have got summer internships), but that's something I am not interested in at all.
iv)One thing that I am not clear about is the job profile/type of job I might be landing into after Columbia MSOR/MAFN. People are not open about their work and they just give one-liner answers when queried about the work they do. And the jobs they are doing are quite different then our perceptions ( gained from forums and other sources )
v) Only few of the international Columbia MFE students (3 - 5) who are graduating in May 2012 have jobs as of now ( 2 more months to graduate ). Its extremely difficult to get a decent quant job (in terms of work content and 100K+ salary) these days - what one gets after relentlessly trying for interviews is an analyst/associate role. Most of the 2011 alumni are working in areas which are quite different from quant.
vi) The only places that assure a secured quant job in such market conditions are CMU, NYU, UCB.
vii) None ( yes no one ) among the students/alumni has a clear picture of the future prospects of quantitative finance or where they are headed
viii) In terms of rigor/course structure/quality of teaching, Columbia is the one of the best places to be.
ix) Lot of students/alum would have preferred MSOR to MAFN because of the flexibilities of MSOR and also the length of the program.
x)If you are an international applicant ( like me ) and headed into one of the Columbia programs, go for it if you really love quant finance and the stuff that they teach here. Take a note of point ii) and iv) I mentioned above - things have changed post 2010 and we don't know how things are going to turn out in 2013/14.
Again, the above is my perspective based on my interactions with several people in the last 2-3 months. I would suggest any prospective student headed into one of the above Columbia programs to apply caution and reach out to alum/students before making a decision. I would like to know if anyone else has more details about things mentioned in ii) and iv)
- Joined
- 2/5/11
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Hi.. can you point to the link where I can get last year questions?It's good
Hi, the questions for me are:
1. Why are you interested in MSOR in Columbia? 来源一亩.三分地论坛.
2. What's your career goal?. 1point 3acres 论坛
3. What other schools have you applied to?
4. How are you planning to fund the program?
Guys see danb's reposting of catchuec's post above. I've met C0lumbia MSOR and MFE students at superdays. The MSOR student confirmed most of what catchuec said regarding course flexibility and MSOR students will get the same career website and OCR opportunities. Something to think about before dismissing MSOR.
- Joined
- 1/13/12
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So you mean MSOR is not that bad as someone assessed and students in MSOR will still have numerous opportunities so long as they work hard to be qualified, yeah?
- Joined
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- Joined
- 10/9/10
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MSOR (Columbia ) vs NUS MFE??
Its your call - talk to students/alumni of Columbia MSOR, talk to students/alumni of NUS, compare the curriculum, assess the current job market both in NY and Singapore and what the future demand for such jobs is going to be like, and most importantly would you really want to/love to work in one of such job roles . Do your own research
- Joined
- 10/9/10
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Present MFE Students - Job market is too bad these days
MFE alumni - People over hype the job market situation. Market isn't that bad. You have to look for the right job.
I feel once a student gets placed, he/ she is more confident about the economy as compared to a student looking out for a job ,
MFE alumni - People over hype the job market situation. Market isn't that bad. You have to look for the right job.
I feel once a student gets placed, he/ she is more confident about the economy as compared to a student looking out for a job ,
I too have received similar responses, but try and understand that things are different for those who graduated before 2010 and for the current students. E.g., it was easier getting a decent job after graduating from Columbia MAFN ( just picking a random program ) in 2010 but the same firms are not even short listing students for interviews these days. Its not that MFE alumni are more confident about the economy but they graduated in good times and times are bad now and how the situation is going to be in 2013 is something you have to gauge before taking the risk. PM me - it will be good to discuss your findings from discussions with students/alumni which will be beneficial to both of us.
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