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Cornell MPS Statistics

Joined
6/17/08
Messages
6
Points
11
Hi everyone.

I was accepted into Cornell's MPS in Stats program. We are required to select an applied field, mine would be finance. It has a 30 unit requirement and is only two semesters. The program is about 70% electives with a core that requires an "in-dept" team project for a corporation using SAS that will serve as a credential/industrial research project upon graduating. Costs about $35K.

For the project it was recommended that my team simply contact every major financial firm in New York and volunteer to take on a project that said financial firm needs completed. Is this a good idea? What would you recommend we do? We are looking to innovate and implement a new idea (perhaps dealing with large (tera- or peta-scale) datasets).

The large number of electives allows me to take two semesters of Stochastic Calc through the OR&IE dept., 3 courses at the Johnson School of Management (financial accoutning, derivatives, corporate finance), and more applied Stats courses relevant to financial engineering (i.e. time series, stochastic modeling, data mining, etc.).

I am not sure what to think of the program. What do you think? I do not want this program to replace a FE degree but instead hope that it would make me a more competitive applicant to more competitive programs in the future. Would this degree make me a more competitive applicant?

I see the degree from Cornell as a stepping stone that helps me bolster my resume with lots of programming experience in SAS, the project, and some courses at a somewhat reputable bschool, along with the OR&IE dept where I would also be taking classes. Then I plan on working a couple of years in the finance industry and applying to the more competitive programs with work experience and (hopefully) some internships under my belt.

Is attending this program a wise decision? What do you think? Thanks everyone
 
dont know about the program, but i have a collegemate whos gonna be ur classmate inMs Stat program Cornell....
 
cornell mps program

hey, i'm looking into the mps program for next year, not sure of what sort of job prospects it might be able to bring but i'm really interested in stats and i actually work with a guy that graduated it in 2002. I feel like it would be a good place to start a career in quant work if you don't have sufficient undergrad math experience and need that ivy name. myself i was a finance major with a math minor in school so i figured i need some more exposure to more advanced statistics courses but not sure if an M.S. would be appropriate right now due to my background. I would like to get into an FE program somewhere in the future and feel like this would be a good start. any thoughts.....

ps the program is outrageous these days...tuition alone is running about 36k, jesus!
 
Outrageous? if you pay 36K and you are looking for a payday of 100K, wouldn't you make that investment?
 
Outrageous? if you pay 36K and you are looking for a payday of 100K, wouldn't you make that investment?

100K isn't really 100K though; actual pay after all your expenses (taxes, housing, food, utilities) is going to be much less, maybe 20K. You'll still make back that $36K, but only after a couple of years.
 
100K isn't really 100K though; actual pay after all your expenses (taxes, housing, food, utilities) is going to be much less, maybe 20K. You'll still make back that $36K, but only after a couple of years.

Doug, I don't get your point about housing, food and utilities. You can reduce then to a minimum if you want, it's all your choice.
 
I was only saying that while your pretax, pre-expense income is $100,000 (a "payout"), that's not comparable to the $36,000, which is paid for with the after-tax, after-expense dollars.
 
cornell mps stats

thanks for all the input and i already have the cash set aside from working at ibm the last two years so money really isn't an issue, i was more wondering if anyones ever heard of the program and if it would be a good stepping stone to getting into a financial engineering or industrial engineering program at lets say a columbia or NYU?
 
i was more wondering if anyones ever heard of the program and if it would be a good stepping stone to getting into a financial engineering or industrial engineering program at lets say a columbia or NYU?

Its hard for me to see the connection between financial and industrial engineering...
 
the sort of quantitative course work i've seen in a few programs looks to be pretty similar between the two fields
 
If you are looking to be a quant I don't think that industrial engineering will help you.

Industrial engineering focuses on production planning, inventory control, scheduling, and industrial economics.

Financial Engineering is a multidisciplinary field involving financial theory, the methods of engineering, the tools of mathematics and the practice of programming.

(Both taken from the Culombia IEOR, the one that you are interested in)
And the curriculum doesn't looks similar also.

The question is if you are looking to be a quant?
 
I can say as someone who used to work in IBM's labs, there are things you can learn at IBM that are very relevant to quant work...

I think a higher degree in stats can be useful, though I am less happy when I hear about packages like SAS being used. That is not because SAS is defective, but actually because SAS isn't that bad, which means you can avoid getting your hands too dirty.

The ideal stats package is written in C++ and does not do exactly what you need, requiring you to understnad both the stats and the programming to fix it.

SAS doesn't have the user base you'd exepct in finance, partly because unlike (say) MatLab they don't seem to market much to IBs.
 
i don't know about industrial engineering...

If you are looking to be a quant I don't think that industrial engineering will help you.

Industrial engineering focuses on production planning, inventory control, scheduling, and industrial economics.

Financial Engineering is a multidisciplinary field involving financial theory, the methods of engineering, the tools of mathematics and the practice of programming.

(Both taken from the Culombia IEOR, the one that you are interested in)
And the curriculum doesn't looks similar also.

The question is if you are looking to be a quant?

Yeah, I don't think anyone said anything about Industrial Engineering. This is for a program in statistics.

Actually, I went ahead and accepted the offer at Cornell. The recruiting process here is nuts. I have two interviews next week alone. I love it here already though; the atmosphere is great and the people are great too. Some people have this idea that being in Ithaca (away from the street) is disadvantageous. However, there are at least two reasons I like being out here: first) the community is tight-nit because we are in the middle of nowhere, there are zero commuter students. And second) the alumni basis is HUGE. Every firm presentation I have been to has brought along several Cornell Alumni. That is not to say that other schools do not have a solid alumni base, but certainly Cornell's is strong.

But, my life is slower than others. I am interested in finance, AND I like research and acedemia. I am hooked on stochastic calculus right now and I think I may hang around (or, at least try to) for more degrees and more knowledge. In addition, I like to travel, so other universities abroad will be getting my application and having a university that other countries recognize is definately advantageous.

good luck to everyone. This is a tough market (says the i-banker that gave a presentation here last week, also on faculty) but (he says to) keep applying.
 
First of all, congratulations. An Ivy league college is nice.

That said, from my vantage point, INDUSTRIAL engineering may not be particularly relevant to quantitative finance (small wonder that most IEs here aren't relatively amazing compared to the ISEs), but operations research does have a quant finance outlet I'd think. After all, quant finance IS one of the ultimate applications of constrained optimization problems.
 
I think a M. Eng degree from ORIE is better for employment in your desired field..

A Master of Professional Studies degree sounds like a degree from extension school.
 
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