COMPARE IIT MMF or NYU-Poly MFE, which one I should go?

[figoliuxi]

You are counting too much on the merger. There is very little benefit that you as a student will get in the immediate short term. You can take solace in the face that you have NYU somewhere in your degree but it may not impress people where it matters.
There is no way for the program to go but UP so yes, it is on the RISE.
I spent sometime with the people running the program there and my impression is that they plan to do a lot to improve the program. These things will not happen overnight so if you join, there will be growing pains and you may not benefit from these while you are there.

Thank you, Andy.
Actually things bother me is the feedback on global-derivative forum. Most of them think Poly's MFE sucks. But some other current students say Poly is on the rise, which makes us even imagine poly will be another Baruch legend. LOL...
Another thing is that most of elective courses in Poly worth 1.5 credit, which means it lasts only half term. I really doubt how much we can learn the electives such as Stochastic pricing model in 8 weeks.

 

[alain]

...which makes us even imagine poly will be another Baruch legend.

<off-topic> What do you mean by that?

 

[figoliuxi]

<off-topic> What do you mean by that?

Most of us think Baruch's MFE is a great program and like a legend. As you see, CUNY has a bad rank but Baruch's MFE is great due to its location, faculty, courses and resources. Similarly, Poly has a bad rank but hopefully will have a great faculty, courses, resourse and of course location

 

[Joy Pathak]

Most of us think Baruch's MFE is a great program and like a legend. As you see, CUNY has a bad rank but Baruch's MFE is great due to its location, faculty, courses and resources. Similarly, Poly has a bad rank but hopefully will have a great faculty, courses, resourse and of course location

Baruch MFE is great due to dedicated given to the students from the staff, especially the program director. Nyu-Poly has the potential to be great given the professors they have and the location but I have not seen them step up at all in this front.

Regarding IIT, it is in the heart of Chicago. It literally is less than a 5 min walk to CME and the financial district. Technically it is within the financial district. IIT has some great professors, good location, and a great curriculum. They have 0 placement help from what I have seen. From what I am told some of the professors would help the top students with interviews but apparently that does not happen as much. If you think you can get a job/internship by yourself then IIT or NYU-Poly would both be great. It would just depend on what city you want to be in. Having been in NYC for the last year, I would suggest being in New York as this is where most of the jobs are. Chicago is the derivatives capital of the world and as such you will find many derivatives shops there. If you can step up and secure a job in Chicago by networking then go for it. I think the curriculum might be a bit better due to it's flexibility. In terms of size, they are both the same. IIT has increased the size.

Now you say, you are in MAth Fin program at IIT. Most of the classes in that program if I am not wrong are in the Main Campus which is in South Side which is not in the heart of the Fin District so you loose that, which is same for NYU-Poly. I donot know much about MMF at IIT but there are many courses you can take with the business school. Last when I spoke to them the MMF and MSF program had the same program director and there was a lot of cross movement. So there will be many courses you want to take that you will have to take with MSF which will be in huge class rooms.

Like I said...having been in New York for this long I would suggest going to New York as there are opportunities in this area. IF you can network, and step up this is the place to be. I love Chicago, one of the reason I was thinking about Chicago was because it is 4 hours from my home-town in Canada.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Actually things bother me is the feedback on global-derivative forum. Most of them think Poly's MFE sucks. But some other current students say Poly is on the rise, which makes us even imagine poly will be another Baruch legend.

I haven't visited GD for a long time but I need to caution you NOT to believe whatever you read there. First, the info there is really old and I have the impression that the opinion there is not from people who have first hand experience with these MFE programs.
Secondly, fall/rise in perception of any given program can change dramatically in a short period of time. Take U Michigan MFE for example. Nobody is talking about them anymore. And I don't think they have done anything worse/differently for the past 4,5 years.
Same goes to Chicago, Columbia, UCB. As more info about them are known, perception about them is changed for better or worse.

So to say program A or B is better, you need to know where they were 5 years ago and what they have done since then. Are they constantly working to improve the quality of their incoming students, improve career prospect, upgrade curriculum, etc?
I doubt many people can give good answer to this, myself included.

My way to gauging a program is pretty simple. Look at their website. It should give you a first impression on how much their invest in their program. Are they up front with the important stats? When you email and ask them question, are they going beyond call of duty to help you?

 

[onthesc]

I think the fact that we are even talking about Poly speaks volumes to how the merger has affected the perceived reputation of the Poly program. I would guess that before the merger talks, no one would pick Poly over IIT (unless you REALLY, REALLY have to be in NYC).

I think the key thing to consider then is how much the now NYU-Poly program has changed (if at all) since the merger. If you think the education + brand of Poly have made a drastic improvement in the past couple years, then maybe it is for you. However, if nothing much has changed except for the name and the more appealing marketing material, then perhaps you should be more careful about dropping your $ on NYU-Poly, not to mention the higher cost of living in NYC vs Chicago.

Also I don't know how many jobs there are in the chi, but it sounds like there would be a lot less competition in Chicago vs NYC with its huge amount of programs. Do realize you will compete with the top students from Columbia, NYU Courant, CMU, and Baruch, even Fordham and Rutgers to a lesser extent. Coming from a NYU-Poly branding, you definitely would have to step your game up 10x. However, there are more opportunities in NY in terms of job openings...

It is a tough decision, do share with us your decision and reasons in the end though. Good luck!

 

[Andy Nguyen]

@figoliuxi
When you make your final choice, please mark the program your "Final destination" in our Tracker. Thanks

 

[figoliuxi]

Really appreciate you three nice men, Joy, Andy and onthesc. You provide very much info and perspectives on analyzing programs' pros and cons. In conclusion by your replies and my minds, it is really tough to choose between this two programs. It seems like I should consider more on location, future job types and even life style in the coming two years to make a final decision. Or I receive another better program admission. LOL

Of course I will let you know my final decision in the Tracker. Quantnet is a great site and hope I can devote my best in it.

 

[DailyVaR]

Thank you, Andy.
Actually things bother me is the feedback on global-derivative forum. Most of them think Poly's MFE sucks. But some other current students say Poly is on the rise, which makes us even imagine poly will be another Baruch legend. LOL...
Another thing is that most of elective courses in Poly worth 1.5 credit, which means it lasts only half term. I really doubt how much we can learn the electives such as Stochastic pricing model in 8 weeks.

The answer is that you can't. That being said, the pre-requisite for Stochastic Calculus is Quantitative Methods a 3.0 credit class that runs the full semester. Quantitative Methods has been over-hauled this semester to include a lot of the intro/basic material normally covered in a regular Stochastic Calculus class. I would consider the combined two classes as a 4.5 credit "Stochastic Calculus" class.

If thats not enough, a limited number of students with permission of the Dean are permitted to take classes, like Stochastic Calculus, at Courant. To be crystal clear, students in the FRE program need permission from the Dean to take any classes at Courant.

 

[figoliuxi]

The answer is that you can't. That being said, the pre-requisite for Stochastic Calculus is Quantitative Methods a 3.0 credit class that runs the full semester. Quantitative Methods has been over-hauled this semester to include a lot of the intro/basic material normally covered in a regular Stochastic Calculus class. I would consider the combined two classes as a 4.5 credit "Stochastic Calculus" class.

If thats not enough, a limited number of students with permission of the Dean are permitted to take classes, like Stochastic Calculus, at Courant. To be crystal clear, students in the FRE program need permission from the Dean to take any classes at Courant.

Thank you, DailyVar
Obviously the FE degree courses are always collected with each other and the topics are taught in a continuous time. And I have referred to some current students for more details. Some of them said the courses are taught not deeply but give you a direction. I know that learning is largely relied on self-devotion, but the classroom requirement is another side pushing us forward. For the course structure, I am more or less like IIT's program, which provides computational finance, stochastic process, stochastic calculus(6 credits), Monte Carlo Simulation, C++ and Fixed Income Modeling as core courses in full semester.

 

[shankar]

True IIT is better than NYU Poly. The course structure is better and the class average IQ is better than that of NYU Poly where it seems they are throwing away scholarships just to tempt the people to join the course. I have seen cases where a guy scoring 1140 odd in GRE got 12k scholarship and a girl from the worst engineering school of India got the admit ( that too with a 10k scholarship) just after getting her undergrad degree with a pathetic GRE and no work ex.
@Andy Check their official facebook page out Andy http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_198391793515005
You will be amazed to see some posts where NYU Poly was ranked better than UCB,CMU,NYU Math Fin, etc . Ludicrous .

 

[AlexandreH]

True IIT is better than NYU Poly. The course structure is better and the class average IQ is better than that of NYU Poly where it seems they are throwing away scholarships just to tempt the people to join the course. I have seen cases where a guy scoring 1140 odd in GRE got 12k scholarship and a girl from the worst engineering school of India got the admit ( that too with a 10k scholarship) just after getting her undergrad degree with a pathetic GRE and no work ex.
@Andy Check their official facebook page out Andy http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_198391793515005
You will be amazed to see some posts where NYU Poly was ranked better than UCB,CMU,NYU Math Fin, etc . Ludicrous .

Closed group. Can't access.

 

[AaronPierce]

I just received conditional admission to NYU-Poly with $9,000 scholarship. There is a NYU torch symbol and "NEW YORK UNIVERSITY" printed on the left side. I also heard from an alumni from POLY that poly students now have full acess to NYU resourses. Rumors said that POLY might change there name and finish the combination with NYU with 2012, or maybe sooner. If poly were to join NYU before you graduate, it might be a better choice than IIT.

PS: Anyone has any idea how many people will they admit this year?