COMPARE Cornell FE vs NYU MSFM

[Carlo]

Hello all,

I recently got admitted into both Cornell MEng with concentration in Financial Engineering, and NYU's Mathematics in Finance programs. I'm still waiting for a couple other programs to get back to me, but I need to make a decision for one of these two just in case I don't make it in (the other two are CMU and Berkeley, which are harder to get into). I've broken the two programs down a bit, but would love everyone's input:

Cornell

• Good faculty
• Great course selection, you actually have some choice. Classes are from 1-5 credits each though
• Allows specialization (can take several classes in one topic, like Monte-Carlo, Bond models, etc
• Very technical-skill based – plenty of theory, some non-finance courses (i.e. a class just in Optimization)
• Location is blah, although the 3rd semester is in Manhattan
• Large credit load: Semesters have about 15-18 credits, which seems like a lot for a grad program, but includes some seminars/workshops

NYU

• Good faculty
• Great course selection, you have choices here as well. Only 7/11 lecture courses are specified for you
• Not much specialization in terms of courses per topic
• Focuses on technical skills, but always seems centered in finance.
• Location is as good as it gets
• Credit load seems perfect - 11 lecture courses + 1 project. I don't know the # of credits per course, but 4 classes a semester seems much more manageable than Cornell's 5-6 (with seminars, labs, etc)

Any ideas? I'm leaning towards NYU mostly because of the location and the finance specialization, but how does NYU stack up against Cornell in terms of quality of classes?

 

[roni]

Last year, there was a dude here who got into CMU, Toronto and many other top programs, and he chose NYU.
I think NYU has a very innovative, quantitative and interesting curriculum.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

NYU MSFM biggest asset is its group of practitioners who teach in the program. Many of these adjuncts are big shot who play important roles in placing the students.
It lost a lot of big names recently. Jim Gatheral and Attilio Meucci are now teaching in the Baruch MFE program. Peter Carr used to be Director of the program but now is Executive Director. His involvement in the program has often been overstated by prospective students.

I'm not big fan of concentration approach by some Engineering depts who throw together some courses and make an MFE out of little investment. I rather go to a program whose dept put much resources and personnel behind it.

My choice is implied.

 

[Joy Pathak]

NYU is a well established program with basically 100% placement since inception. The location is great and the professors are great.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

NYU is a well established program with basically 100% placement since inception.

Source?
I know at least 1 recent graduate who till this date can't find a job for reasons unrelated to the program. That person happens to be a member here and I keep contact with that person for a bit.
Just because you keep hearing about 100% placement does not make it so. Until they publish detailed placement every year, don't be a source of misinformation.

 

[roni]

They posted on their website "over 85%", I don't think it makes it 100% :\
http://www.math.nyu.edu/financial_mathematics/content/05_prospectiveStudents/03.html

 

[Joy Pathak]

Source?
I know at least 1 recent graduate who till this date can't find a job for reasons unrelated to the program. That person happens to be a member here and I keep contact with that person for a bit.
Just because you keep hearing about 100% placement does not make it so. Until they publish detailed placement every year, don't be a source of misinformation.

I was sure last year I read somewhere them claiming they had basically 100% placement. I will try to dig it up and post. If it's not true their recent 85% claim is still pretty good.

Regardless, I think it is definitely a good program.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I was sure last year I read somewhere them claiming they had basically 100% placement. I will try to dig it up and post. If it's not true their recent 85% claim is still pretty good.

I've seen that 100% reference quite a bit so if you can find the source, it would be good to have it here.
Often the case, programs keep some generic reference to a good year's stats and intentionally don't update them. It does not help me as a prospective applicant to have a good timeline.

 

[Carlo]

Re: 100% placement at NYU, the director claims in an official admit email that "close to 100% of the students in the graduating class of January 2011 have found full-time placement as of the writing of this letter." That's as specific as it gets.

 

[believeinmiracles]

hey Carlo,
I'm basically in the same situation as you. Considering cornell/nyu, waiting on CMU (just interviewed today).

I've been hearing similar things to what most people said on this thread and I am now leaning towards NYU. My only concern is the difficulty of finding an apartment in New York City, has anyone thought about that/have any advice or insight?

 

[roni]

hey Carlo,
I'm basically in the same situation as you. Considering cornell/nyu, waiting on CMU (just interviewed today).

I've been hearing similar things to what most people said on this thread and I am now leaning towards NYU. My only concern is the difficulty of finding an apartment in New York City, has anyone thought about that/have any advice or insight?

You will find, the question is where and for how much :\
If you can't find in the city, you can choose Brooklyn.

 

[Yike Lu]

Re: 100% placement at NYU, the director claims in an official admit email that "close to 100% of the students in the graduating class of January 2011 have found full-time placement as of the writing of this letter." That's as specific as it gets.

You are being willfully ignorant. Nowhere there does he quantify "close to 100%". Is 90% close to 100%? Is 75%? Is 51%?

51% is closer to 100% than 50%....

I doubt the placement is bad, but my god dude... don't get duped by simple wordplay.

 

[roni]

@Yike Lu

Well, 85% is pretty close to 100%, I guess that's what he meant.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Are we talking about 100% as in "Rutgers 100% placement" or what?

 

[believeinmiracles]

If anyone is interested I emailed the director Petter Kolm and got the following response

in regards to the "nearly 100% placement rate":
"For the class that graduated in December of 2010, everyone but one student are now employed full-time. All full-time students in the December 2009 class found full-time placement after graduation. That's why we report our statistics "close to 100%"!"
also im guessing that 'one person' is the one andy referred to previously in this thread
not sure why they cant be more explicit about it though. It sounds a lot better than an ambiguous "nearly 100%"

 

[kpranjal]

It would be interesting if we could get to know why the person was not able to get a job.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

also im guessing that 'one person' is the one andy referred to previously in this thread

No. The person I referred to is Dec '09 grad.
Wouldn't it be nice if we don't have to email the director to find out these info?