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COMPARE Cornell MFE VS Columbia MAFN

jimsmart said:
I truly agree with you on that what matters most is our own ability. Besides, as far as I know, Cornell enjoys a nice placement mainly because the Director Victoria tries to put the students in risk-related departments in Citi-Bank. Pay attention, risk-related departments not S & T or hedge funds! So if you are interested in risk management, let's vote for Cornell. If you are interested in front office positions, I believe Columbia will have advantages due to the name, the alumni network, the location and so on. Last thing to say, don't rely too much on others like career service, focus on the improvement of your hard skills and interpersonal skills.
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This is simply not correct. The fact that the director might have helped some students find an internship at a particular company at a particular division does not mean that the program is targeted towards such places. People from my generation got trading positions in both sell side and buys side (think jane street or similar) companies.
 
Feynman-Kac said:
Glad to hear from you! Where did most people from Cornell MFE go to? Cuz personally I quite like to get a job in buy-side, like quant or trading assistant in HF or AM . Does the skill set of Cornell MFE fit this goal?
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For HF you need a lot of programming skills which no FE program will give you - ideally you would have a very strong background in CS and the FE will improve your finance knowledge and open some doors for HF companies. I believe several courses (investment portfolio management, optimization modelling, statistics for FE) can be very helpful for what one would be doing at AM. Therefore, it is up to you to do the needed networking and finding a perfect job.

Last thought: networking is the easiest way to find your dream job.
 
Sherlock said:
For HF you need a lot of programming skills which no FE program will give you - ideally you would have a very strong background in CS and the FE will improve your finance knowledge and open some doors for HF companies. I believe several courses (investment portfolio management, optimization modelling, statistics for FE) can be very helpful for what one would be doing at AM. Therefore, it is up to you to do the needed networking and finding a perfect job.

Last thought: networking is the easiest way to find your dream job.
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Thanks for your advice! Seems that you are an experienced guy in financial industry. I heard that the sell-side quantitative jobs are still shrinking and front office may only give return offer to their summer interns while buy-side is even harder. I should probably start my preparation since today.
 
Feynman-Kac said:
Thanks for your advice! Seems that you are an experienced guy in financial industry. I heard that the sell-side quantitative jobs are still shrinking and front office may only give return offer to their summer interns while buy-side is even harder. I should probably start my preparation since today.
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I wouldn't say I am experience but I have been in a position of applying for an FE program and then looking for a job :) Just network - I heard it many times and didn't really think it matters that much but then once I started doing it I realized how many doors it opens.
 
Sherlock said:
This is simply not correct. The fact that the director might have helped some students find an internship at a particular company at a particular division does not mean that the program is targeted towards such places. People from my generation got trading positions in both sell side and buys side (think jane street or similar) companies.
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You misunderstood~Nobody says the Cornell FE is targeted towards risk management. What I meant was that the director had networking sources in risk management department in Citi-Bank which might be an advantage in finding a job in such areas.

In my personal point of view, the most persuasive advantage of Cornell over MAFN is 1.5 years. As for networking, Cornell is not over MAFN. In NYC programs there are many part-time students (MAFN usually had around 20; most are in the industry) which might be direct help if utilized. As for curriculum, I prefer Cornell's. But these courses might be already learned in the previous education, research, WE or might be learned by oneself. Anyway, in this context, 1.5 year is the key to choose Cornell.
 
Sherlock said:
I wouldn't say I am experience but I have been in a position of applying for an FE program and then looking for a job :) Just network - I heard it many times and didn't really think it matters that much but then once I started doing it I realized how many doors it opens.
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Who do you mainly network with? The white people? Any suggestions in doing that? I know it's important but also guess it needs skills to do it well~
 
Sherlock said:
I wouldn't say I am experience but I have been in a position of applying for an FE program and then looking for a job :) Just network - I heard it many times and didn't really think it matters that much but then once I started doing it I realized how many doors it opens.
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As what jimsmart said, networking in the U.S. is a brand new thing to most Chinese students...Tell some thing about how to do it if you wish.
 
I am also swinging btw some programs but probably (very likely...) choose Cornell. For those incoming Cornellians, any thoughts about housing?
 
housing ranges depending on what it is you're paying for. It could be as low as $550 for a really small run down room or it could be as high as $1,000+ if you get a studio. Most of the apartments in college-town (the area just south of central campus) are either studios or multi bedroom apartments. Personally, I think I'm going to head into Cornell this weekend and see how far away the graduate housing is from the campus. Although its not guaranteed, I feel like you get a lot more for you're money in exchange for a longer walk.

also if anyone wants to be housemates, let me know :D
 
I am not Asian so I can't be sure how you look at networking (I am international as well though). You can/should approach all alumni from your program and university (even people from your undergraduate schools). For example, recently a Chinese interviewing for an internship position at the place I work sent me an email asking if we can grab coffee and share my experience with him. Of course, I was more than happy to spend 20 minutes of my day to talk to him and grab a coffee and I am sure 95% of the alumni of the program and the school in general will be happy to do it as well. There are also some books on networking but I have never read one and I cant comment on them.
 
Thanks a lot.
Sherlock said:
I am not Asian so I can't be sure how you look at networking (I am international as well though). You can/should approach all alumni from your program and university (even people from your undergraduate schools). For example, recently a Chinese interviewing for an internship position at the place I work sent me an email asking if we can grab coffee and share my experience with him. Of course, I was more than happy to spend 20 minutes of my day to talk to him and grab a coffee and I am sure 95% of the alumni of the program and the school in general will be happy to do it as well. There are also some books on networking but I have never read one and I cant comment on them.
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