Fordham MSQF Fordham MSQF Admission Discussion

[albertmath]

Hoganchao said that the professor expects the class to be totally full with 25 students. I think even that is not true.

They just want to say others are coming so you should come to. I kind of seriously think that.

I feel bad for the previous batch who were told certain things and did not get them. But thats what we have these forums for to at least inform future students.


Either the students entering have not actually read all the information regarding the program or like the previous students think they are getting a guaranteed internship. If they still want to go no problem but they should at least research well otherwise its their fault if they later complain.

Personally who will go to a university that provides incorrect information to incoming students on their website , has a bad placement record it seems and charges what 39K.

 

[Tigga]

All the bad publicity is brought upon Fordham by one single student. I can safely say that Fordham wasn't even a bleep in the MFE radar scene before this student airing his displeasures on GD, Wilmott.
I'm sure the other students and his professors weren't terribly happy with what he has to say. This probably resulted in him removing all the posting on WM. IMO, all the damage has been done.
You can't blame the first group of students for not researching. There was no secondary source of info about their program except what you hear during the information sessions or on their website.
Has the situation improved? I don't know.
For the incoming students, what kind of relevant information they can find? Not much. There is still nothing much you can find out about the program. If you can't find anything here, I doubt you can find something anywhere else.
You gotta make the final call yourself. It doesn't look like any current Fordham MSQF student will come forward and provide us with updates (I hope they do).

 

[DominiConnor]

Tigga makes a good point about research, and although the first few hits on "fordham msqf" on google are by them, I manage get a couple of entries on the first page.

It's a tough call for the students on the current course, there are all sorts of sanctions that Fordham staff can threaten them with, so I'm not that critical of them.

But the staff have kept their heads well down, not choosing to contact me or comment publicly.

They did "respond" for a while, putting slightly more honest claims on their advertising, but they also are in a difficult place. They have incurred significant costs, and it will look bad to their superiors if this course doesn't fill up with high paying students.

So they've now gone back to the original claims of internships.

I wonder if they've managed to think up some definition of "internship" that they believe will keep them in the clear...
I obviously have a view, but would many people around here count an offsite "project" as "internship" ?

 

[albertmath]

Coming to tigga I dont think that guy said bad things about the program. He gave a pretty frank estimate of the pros and cons of the curriculum and gave a good post in the end on it. I read that. Agreed no c++ but corenll, nyu, ucla, some cases columbia dont have much of it infact very little. but they are big names so students can get jobs from the school and faculty or they find it easier.

coming to the question on internship and project . they are two different things. you have to explain the internship thing or give complete information. someday the incoming students will findout . thats why i dont trust the school because they make it sound like the internship is the best part of the program but it may be a project. plus full time placement is a big question in my mind ?


anyway students entering the program this year should do the reasearch completely otherwise not complain later... for me i am not going there........

 

[DominiConnor]

As a straw poll, how many people read a couple of pages of google hits on their MFE courses before handing over the money ?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I did. The night I first heard about "Baruch MFE", I came home and went google mad for the next 1 month or so. I googled everything there is about "Baruch MFE". I read every single word on the program's website (obvious first action), read every post about the program on Wilmott and GD, read everything from the posters who ever posted anything about Baruch to see his post history, google the faculty names, contact current student, went to open house, talk to the director, so on and on.
Basically, after doing this, I'm confident I know the Baruch MFE program better than 99.9% of other applicants.

As for "Fordham MSQF", the first google page contains links to their program, the infamous discussion on Wilmott, Dominic's blog entry, this very thread, the famous thread started by bigbadwolf
DISCUSSION on MFE programs (Formerly "Second-rate (and worse) MFE programs) - QuantNetwork - Financial Engineering Forum

I wonder how many people applying to their program has not come to these discussion threads in their research.

 

[hoganchao]

sorry for coming back this late, busy on my finals...actually, i just got some update about the job scene from a chinese student inside fordham msqf program the other day, she told me that 3 people has landed in full time job with one american guy get a decent one in a hedge fund which is ranked no.3 in the industry. all the other people also are doing internship or projects now except the one who posted bad thing about the program...he is kinda poor and bad luck i guess...i think the picture is that they are still going on with the program taking the last optional courses in mba curriculum. i think the current result is not so bad as for a starting program with only 8 students...i think the program will improve as the student pool expands and diversifies as well as the market recovers.

the hedge fund guy told me that the program is really great, he really enjoys it because he works best out of it and now he gets rewarded. so i think it really depends on one's effort and ability when looking for a job. in general, we should be patient with the growing program, and see what it is going to be later, we cant simply build on the words of others especially when the info is not so available currently.

albertmath, i dont know which other programs do you get in? if you dont like to take risk, then choose the one already earned some recognition. for the internship-project-internship thing, i am confused too...maybe i should contact them later, but i dont worry about it too much because like already said, nobody is gonna guarantee you a job no matter he promises or not, so what it says doesnt really matter, it is at the end on yourself mostly.

 

[alain]

which hedge fund is ranked #3 in the industry? It would be interesting to know.

 

[hoganchao]

bridgewater associates, one of the largest i guess

 

[alain]

Bridgewater is number 3 by assets under management. I was thinking more on the lines of performance.

 

[albertmath]

"""the other people also are doing internship or projects ""

So it is confirmed then. THere is no guaranteed internship since some of students are doing projects.
See no program guarantees a full time job so no one is talking about that. But now things about the internship is that it will not be something like 40 hrs a week at a firm since it can be a project.

So 3 people got a job. We know one of them is working at highbridge . What about the rest.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Albert,
If I may ask, which program would you join if you don't want to go to Fordham? If you have a better option, why wait?

 

[albertmath]

i got into iit cgu poly but i am not going anywhere... have got a job in the financial industry therefore will be working for 2 years atleast then will decide what is the course of action for me

 

[hoganchao]

working experience is much more worthy, you probably could get in much better program then.

 

[DominiConnor]

I'd just like to make part of my position clearer here.
I like finance students doing projects where a bank gives them a "real" task to do, and provides a bit of guidance and feedback.
We've helped set a few of these up, and it has been good for everyone. I would go further and say there are too few such projects.

Although it has been some years since anyone tried to make me do sports at school, I recall that the process basically consisted of three parts.
1: Theory. Sports have rules and tactics. Dull lectures and scribbling on a whiteboard.
That's equivalent to the academic bit of an MFE.

2: Drills.
Artificially constrianed bits of the game, like just having two players, running around things, rule changes to make people do the "right" thing.
That's a project.

3: Actually going out and playing.
Finance is a globally competitive sport. Just because you can run fast, enjoy hitting women and have learning difficulties, does not make you a top sportsman.
There's just so much stuff that it's very hard to teach in a classroom that you can learn by simply sitting on a trading desk listening.
But until you have the basics from 1) and 2) you don't have hooks to hang the ideas on, and it can degenerate into just random trivia.

 

[B.R.Aravind]

haii this is Aravind i jus need few information from you ,,,hope u would help me out .... I have got admissions for M.S in quantitative Finance at fordham (fall2008)after seeeing all the comments from Dominic,Andy alan ,Tigga,albert itz really scaryy and I am totally confused about their program.please help and advice me whether i can join their programm.......

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Try to contact the current students from Fordham. There are a few of them on Quantnet.
Contact the director(s) of the program. Their emails are posted online. Ask whatever info you want from them. If they can't/won't give you the info, nobody here can.

 

[doug reich]

I'm posting my response to a PM the OP sent me:

I don't know anything about the Fordham program except what has been posted in these forums.

My opinion on any program is that it is only as good as the material taught in it. The name of the school will at most get you an interview; you have to demonstrate that you are more knowledgeable and capable than other candidates at that point.

The Fordham program is not an MFE, it is a master's in finance. As others on this board have observed, an MBA in Finance should cover that material; why are you pursing an Master's in Finance?

I'll post this response in your thread; let's keep this in the public forums.

 

[Jpast]

Fordham MSQF

I'm currently enrolled in the Fordham MSQF program. Frankly, I'm a little surprised that this community in particular is so ready to write off a new program that is trying to do things a little different. It's, of course, easy to bully the new kid on the playground. I would have expected that headhunters and people in industry in the New York area would welcome a new program in the city that's trying to change things up a bit and create a more "balanced" set of skills.

C++ and whatever other coding languages aside, someone who has a significant understanding of mathematical models and can tear apart financial statements will be valuable to the market. Period. In addition, (and this is what attracted me to the program) the program is built around building real models with real data.

As recent market events underscore, simply having a deep knowledge of programming language X and not about what the model means or the financial assumptions underlying it, can be dangerous. Sure, Fordham is new to the game and trying to find its footing, but I would say their program is more aligned with where the industry is headed than where it was a year ago.

 

[doug reich]

JPast, Fordham may be a good program for what it focuses on, but it is not an MFE. Someone going there for that purpose will be disappointed.

From their website, the courses covered are:

Fall Term - Module I
Financial Modeling
Applied Micro-Economics
Global Financial Markets
Basics of Derivatives
Introduction to Stochastic Calculus

Fall Term - Module II
Financial Statement Analysis
Finance Theory I
Statistical Inference
Equity Style Derivatives
Simulation Applications
Spring Term - Module I
Fixed Income Securities
Equity Portfolio Management
Financial Economics
Interest Rate Derivatives
Risk Management
Spring Term - Module II
Fixed Income Portfolio Management
Finance Theory II
Large-scale Data Modeling
Credit Risk Management
Applied Global Macro-Economics
Summer Term
Summer Project & Project Report
Verbal & Written Communication

It seems to be closer to an MBA than a MFE. Perhaps you could say more about it?