God, hardest choice! NYU MathFin VS Harvard CSE

[Zelong Qiu]

Hi all,

I got admitted to the Mathematics in Finance program at NYU and the computational science and engineering program at Harvard. Both are master program. It is really a tough decision to make and I would like to hear some suggestions from brilliant practitioners and alumnus like you guys. Any information or thoughts are highly appreciated. Below is the pros and cons from my personal point of view.

Harvard:
Pros:
1. Harvard is Harvard is Harvard
2. CSE is designed as a data science program which is hot recently
3. 3 core courses with very flexible electives; students can take courses at MIT Sloan which compensate the lack of finance courses
4. core course focus on computational science, i.e programming; more broad career choices after graduation; I'm not sure if quant finance will continue hot for next few decades plus programmers get increasingly higher pay at tech companies
5. 100% placement of graduates

Cons:
1. engineering is not Harvard's best
2. few graduates went to quant fin industry, most went to software industry
3. unclear about career service and few info only; so I assume the career service is not strong
4.the damn weather at Boston....ridiculously cold

NYU:
Pros:
1. NYU's msmf is one of the best in the quant fin/fin engr programs
2. Well rounded curriculum with top faculty
3. location, close to well street
4. almost 100% placement of graduates into quant fin industry

Cons:
1. the brand name is not as famous as Harvard
2. the career choices after graduation may be narrow, i.e. quant fin only

Actually, I think both are top choice. The only difference is depend on what I want to be after graduation, quant fin or data science. I'm wandering how the compensations of these two career compare? It seems to me that the average entry level salary is about 10k per year on well street. not sure about software side. Any ideas?

Thank you all

 

[Daniel Duffy]

What does that curriculum at Harvard look like, i.e. contents?

BTW what do you want to be?

 

[Zelong Qiu]

What does that curriculum at Harvard look like, i.e. contents?

BTW what do you want to be?

Hi Daniel, thank you for your reply. It is so excited to hear from you.

Honestly, both Quant Find(especially algo trading) and data science interest me. I have done projects and internship in both area and feel comfortable to dedicate rest of my life to either career.

The curriculum at Harvard consist of 10 courses, 3 of which are required core. So I have two plans for each career path.

The core courses are:
1. Numerical Method: data fitting, root finding, linear algebra computation... pretty standard stuff but emphasize on programming
2. Stochastic Optimization: another standard courses, looks similar to the Stochastic OR courses in my undergraduate education but it also focus on programming
3. System development for Computational Science: seems like a pure programming course, focus on improving the efficiency of system, large scale computation

7 other courses can be chosen all over the Harvard or MIT. I scheduled two courses plan as fellowing:
1. Algo trading track
a course in Machine Learning
a course in Financial Time Series
a coures in Stochastic Calculus
a MIT course in Analytics of Finance(standard 1st semster course in MFE program, intro to derivative, pricing theorems etc.)
a MIT course in Analytics of Finance 2(intro to algo trading, implement two strategies)
a MIT course in Algo trading (project based course)
a MIT course in Quant Asset Management(project based course)

2. Data science track:
a course in Machine Learning
a course in Advanced Machine Learning
a project based course on data science
a course in Bayes
3 courses in CS, algorithm, data base etc.

So, in fact, what I'm struggling is 3 problesm:
1. Could the NYU Mathfin program or CSE Algo Trading track take me to a algo trading position at a trading firm or ideally a hedge fund?
2. If algo trading is not possible or DNE, which is a better career path, data science or risk management or other role in finance. By better I refer to higher pay, more friendly working environment.
3. How the two programs compared in the term of reputation? of course harvard is harvard but how about harvard's engineering compared with NYU's math

 

[IntoDarkness]

U got Harvard brand but nothing more

 

[tetcmar]

Strongly vote for Harvard. NYU MathFin is wonderful, but dude you've got one from Harvard. The curriculum of CSE looks amazing.

 

[RyanSH]

I would suggest Harvard. The curriculum looks amazing to me. I mean you can still do finance after the graduation from Harvard. BTW, is it one year program or 1.5 years?

 

[Zelong Qiu]

I would suggest Harvard. The curriculum looks amazing to me. I mean you can still do finance after the graduation from Harvard. BTW, is it one year program or 1.5 years?

Officially, it is a 1-year MS program (without thesis) or 2-year Meng program(with thesis). However, MS student who doesn't want to work on a thesis can extend the program to 1.5 years with no problems.

 

[RyanSH]

Officially, it is a 1-year MS program (without thesis) or 2-year Meng program(with thesis). However, MS student who doesn't want to work on a thesis can extend the program to 1.5 years with no problems.

Well, then I will definitely recommend Harvard. But my suggestion is biased since I have future plan for PhD. I think 2 years program with thesis might help.

 

[CasanovaJ]

Probably the first time I've ever felt truly stumped on this sort of thing... flip a coin? :D

 

[TehRaio]

Go to Harvard, benefit from the brand, and quality of education, and avoid cornering yourself into quantitative finance. you never know when the next financial crash comes up, and everybody gets fired lol.

 

[JX.CHEN]

Harvard

 

[Daniel Duffy]

NYU has the Courant Institute.

 

[mhy]

NYU if you are sure you want to go into the financial industry, Harvard if you want to keep your options more open (I mean it's not even an MFE/MathFin degree)

 

[bigbadwolf]

NYU has the Courant Institute.

Over-rated. The CSE, and not because it's Harvard.

 

[CasanovaJ]

Go to Harvard, benefit from the brand, and quality of education, and avoid cornering yourself into quantitative finance. you never know when the next financial crash comes up, and everybody gets fired lol.

I may actually agree with that... go with Harvard.

 

[IntoDarkness]

That Harvard program is a crap, admitting students with high GPA, GRE, and the ability to pay the fat bill. Its the same as Stanford icme... C'mon, job placement just mediocre

 

[pingu]

Well, then I will definitely recommend Harvard. But my suggestion is biased since I have future plan for PhD. I think 2 years program with thesis might help.

Side note: don't do a master if you want to do a PhD later.

 

[TraderJoe]

Look, if your goal is to work in HFT or AlgoTrading as you have stated, then there is no doubt that the Harvard CSE program would be the best choice. But you need to understand that you will be competing with Computer Science PhD who would have far superior knowledge (not necessarily intelligence) and technical skills. You would be relying on the Harvard brand name and your own abilities to compete with these Computer Science PhDs.
If you want to work in Quant Finance, then NYU Courant program would be the best choice.

 

[Zelong Qiu]

NYU has the Courant Institute.

Hi Daniel,
Would you mind to comment on the curriculum of the Harvard program and if it is possible to lead me to also trading position?

 

[Zelong Qiu]

That Harvard program is a crap, admitting students with high GPA, GRE, and the ability to pay the fat bill. Its the same as Stanford icme... C'mon, job placement just mediocre

I definitely buy the point that the placement is so-so. However, I mean every student to any top MFE programs is supposed to be talent and able to pay fat bill.And among these fat bills, Harvard's bill seems like the smallest. Anyway, thank you for your suggestion.