COMPARE Hopkins MS in Finance vs UCLA MFE

[Kreol]

Hi

I am an Economics undergrad. International. Applied to Masters in Finance. Received 2 offers :

1) John Hopkins MS in Finance with full tuition cover (~$64k)

Pros:
- Free
- Good location
- MBA afterwards
- Will have time to study math by myself

Cons:
- No math
- Business school holds a lower position in the rating
- No direct hedge-fund exposure --> risk to find myself in a low rated bank

2) UCLA MFE with no scolarship

Pros:
- Higher in ratings
- Orientation on hedge funds
- Will fulfill my demand for math in my life

Cons:
- Too much math which is actually related to quant finance in general rather than hedge fund`s alpha generation culture.
- Bad location to find positions on East Coast
- Costly

My idealistic goal: work in a hedge fund in NY .

The reason of my struggle between these two is that I am not a math major. I like math and study Machine Learning (use R) as a hobby. However I have no "formal" math experience except for general Linear Algebra and Calculus as part of my Economics degree. At the same time I understand that I need some math experience to be eligible to work in a hedge fund. I would choose MFE if offered the scolarship. But here the situation appears to be double-sided : On the one hand, if I choose Hopkins, I will study for free and afterwards (2-3 years of work experience) will apply to top 5 US MBAs spending the saved cash on any of them. After MBA --> to hedge fund as a manager. On the other hand, if I choose MFE, I will pay ~$100k (60+40) and will have to compete with math majors while applying to hedge funds. At the same time I will hold (if successful) very quant role with no communication with clients. I like math but I also don`t want to spend the whole day at the office without any network opportunities.

Could you please share your opinion on choosing between these 2 options together with your reasoning. I understand I am on the quant forum so please stay unbiased)

Thank you very much !

 

[qdogg]

Pros:
- Good location

Unless you're willing to shell out two hundred bucks for an Amtrak ticket every time you want to interview in New York, Baltimore isn't a "good location"... and you'll also be lucky if you don't get shot-- one of my friends who went there for undergrad was mugged at gunpoint twice.

 

[tfors]

As you said yourself: You'll be competing with Math majors coming from an MFE. I.e. you'll be the underdog in a not very hot job market.

 

[Kreol]

Unless you're willing to shell out two hundred bucks for an Amtrak ticket every time you want to interview in New York, Baltimore isn't a "good location"... and you'll also be lucky if you don't get shot-- one of my friends who went there for undergrad was mugged at gunpoint twice.

Thank you for your comment ! And I am sorry about your friend. By the way, campus in Washington is available too.

 

[Kreol]

As you said yourself: You'll be competing with Math majors coming from an MFE. I.e. you'll be the underdog in a not very hot job market.

So you would choose Hopkins ?

 

[tfors]

So you would choose Hopkins ?

I am not you, but based on your opening post I believe it will be hard for you to make the shift from a social science to mathematics, you did not even take a math minor. But maybe the UCLA MFE is more accomodating to non-math majors, I don't know. I came from Computer Science and I am happy I can specialize in that direction and not in hard-core math.. (so I would choose Hopkins)

 

[qdogg]

Something else to consider is that I did an engineering-oriented undergrad major that wasn't pure math, I had still taken three levels of calculus (engineering versions-- not watered down), two linear algebras, ODE, three stats, and then did MFE and ended up having to work my ass off the whole time just to not flunk out since the courses were full of people w/ Bachelors (and often even Masters) degrees in pure math-- something to realistically think about is whether you'll even be able to get through it, and I'm surprised UCLA let you in without having the prereqs covered

 

[Kreol]

Something else to consider is that I did an engineering-oriented undergrad major that wasn't pure math, I had still taken three levels of calculus (engineering versions-- not watered down), two linear algebras, ODE, three stats, and then did MFE and ended up having to work my ass off the whole time just to not flunk out since the courses were full of people w/ Bachelors (and often even Masters) degrees in pure math-- something to realistically think about is whether you'll even be able to get through it, and I'm surprised UCLA let you in without having the prereqs covered

Well, as I have mentioned, I have been studying some advanced statistics by myself during the last 2-3 years. Also had research experience in this field. My uni did actually offer several probability, statistics and applied math courses that I had to take. I just don`t consider it as an important thing to mention. But I know what math is )
May I ask you to specify the uni in which you did your MFE ?