Cornell MFE v.s. Columbia MFE v.s Columbia MAFN

[Alex Ng]

yea which is why if we go by that logic there’s 2 scenarios that make us wonder why for MAFN

1. Majority are US -> low employment in US at only 55%?
2. Majority are international -> relatively lower employment at grad and 3 months after? Shouldn’t it be easier with the “CU” brand?

the past few year of employment stats MFE is the highest except for 2023. Your updated post says MFE has the lowest employment which is false

I was specifically pointing at employment at graduation as I believe that is more indicative, but I will make it clearer to reflect that.

 

[WSBquant]

anyway curious what the others think. There’s so much talk this year on MAFN

 

[ajjjw]

anyway curious what the others think. There’s so much talk this year on MAFN

def bc the 5 rank last year lol

 

[WSBquant]

def bc the 5 rank last year lol

hmm I think all the discussions came after they dropped to 9 this year lol

 

[Alex Ng]

def bc the 5 rank last year lol

I started the only thread on MAFN. I wasn't sure why there were no discussions prior to my thread.

 

[WSBquant]

Based on the rankings seems like CU MFE is consistently in the top 5 except for 2023, MAFN (8)~ Cornell are in the same tier at (~7)

 

[Alex Ng]

Based on the rankings seems like CU MFE is consistently in the top 5 except for 2023, MAFN (8)~ Cornell are in the same tier at (~7)

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Also wondering about NYU MFE as it is not ranked on risk.net in 2023. I emailed them for clarification but no response.

 

[WSBquant]

Also wondering about NYU MFE as it is not ranked on risk.net in 2023. I emailed them for clarification but no response

I think with over 1500 applicants they seem to have and nearly reaching 2000 during COVID maybe they are just too popular for it

anyway they seem to have pretty good employment stats despite some of the mixed reviews here

 

[ajjjw]

Based on the rankings seems like CU MFE is consistently in the top 5 except for 2023, MAFN (8)~ Cornell are in the same tier at (~7)

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the difference between cornell and MAFNs rank this year is a single point. a difference of that size is driven by like, a couple students at cornell getting a higher starting salary than MAFN. I like to think about ranks in terms of tiers.

 

[WSBquant]

the difference between cornell and MAFNs rank this year is a single point. a difference of that size is driven by like, a couple students at cornell getting a higher starting salary than MAFN. I like to think about ranks in terms of tiers.

Yea and not to forget NYU MAFN which seems so quiet here!!

 

[ajjjw]

Yea and not to forget NYU MAFN which seems so quiet here!!

now that is another question entirely. Courant obviously has a great reputation and the finmath program has great buy side placements yet has been in the 2nd half of the top ten for the last 5 or so years. i really don’t understand what happened?

 

[WSBquant]

They took all the HF openings

 

[quantchoices]

Hi @Alex Ng, have you gotten into any of them?

 

[Alex Ng]

Hi @Alex Ng, have you gotten into any of them?

I have an offer from Cornell and still waiting on both programs from Columbia

 

[Alex Ng]

I was gonna update this thread as I promised when I receive more reviews from current student, but I didn't know that the edit option expires after time.

Anyways, for those who were following this thread and hopefully casted your vote, a current student told me that some CU MAFN students struggle to keep up with some of the math-heavy classes due to a lack of math preparations. I know admitted students typically have at least some programming/math background, but students who only met the minimum requirement (that is, did not major/minor in math) seem to really struggle a lot with the math-heavy classes, especially for those who have not systematically studied mathematics for more than a few years. Something to think about when deciding where to go. To be a little more specific, these students did not learn ODE, real analysis, numerical method. P.S: to be confirmed if this is the case for all programs or just CU MAFN due to its course difficulty.

An update on Cornell FE, according to the program director at the admitted student webinar, the program wants keep roughly the same class size as last year. My guess is that 60 is the target, which is slightly higher than last year given the rising number of applications we have seen in 2024 for most MFE programs. So, an advantage for Cornell FE is definitely their small class size which allows you to have more contact with professors and attention in general.

 

[Alex Ng]

Also wondering about NYU MFE as it is not ranked on risk.net in 2023. I emailed them for clarification but no response.

About what I said regarding NYU MFE not ranked on Risk.Net, the admissions told me that the program had unanswered questions regarding the ranking mechanism/methodology. As a result, NYU Tandon MFE did not participate in the 2023 (latest) ranking. Those questions are still unanswered, so the NYU Tandon MFE program will not participate in the 2024 Risk.Net ranking.

Subject to change of course if the program and the organization end up resolving their issue, but definitely a bad news for those who rely not just the QuantNet ranking but Risk.Net ranking which is more comprehensive as it ranks world-wide quant finance programs.

 

[bootstrap]

now that is another question entirely. Courant obviously has a great reputation and the finmath program has great buy side placements yet has been in the 2nd half of the top ten for the last 5 or so years. i really don’t understand what happened?

Hello, would you be able to elaborate on Courant's placements in recent years?? I am having lots of trouble obtaining such information. As you said, hardly anybody talks about Courant on this forum. Thanks!

 

[Alex Ng]

Another comment that was made by a FE/FM grad app counselor and a current student was that Columbia's MAFN program is more theoretical than other programs, especially when it comes to the core courses. There is also less coding in this program than a typical financial engineering program would have.