COMPARE Imperial RMFE vs LSE QMRM

[DeadDosu]

Hello everyone,

I am having difficulty in selecting a course that would act as the best foundation for a future career as a quant in either research or trading.

I have been very fortunate in obtaining offers to both the Imperial Business School's MSc in Risk Management and Financial Engineering and LSE's MSc in Quantitative Methods for Risk Management (Previously known as MSc Risk and Stochastics).

Both courses are highly technical, with Imperial offering courses in R, Python, VBA and C++ compared to LSE's R, Python and Matlab. In this regard Imperial seems to provide more of the core languages that are desirable/required for many entry-level positions.

This being said, I have heard that the LSE course is incredibly intense and heavily stochastics-based with added elements of AI, Machine and Deep learning and other topics of use. Employability on both are excellent so I am not sure if there is a difference with regards to that.


I would love to hear any and all of your thoughts on this.

 

[IntoDarkness]

i voted for imperial simply because martin haugh is now a professor there and i took his class before and enjoyed it

 

[Risky Business]

i voted for imperial simply because martin haugh is now a professor there and i took his class before and enjoyed it

I took his Coursera course and really think it was great!
Imperial seems to have several ML and such courses. Try to schedule how your "ideal curriculum" would look like

 

[DeadDosu]

I took his Coursera course and really think it was great!
Imperial seems to have several ML and such courses. Try to schedule how your "ideal curriculum" would look like

Thank you both for replying.

He must be quite good if you are both recommending him!

You're right, both of them do have ML. I'm finding it quite difficult to differentiate between the two in terms of the best moving forward.

I have heard the Imperial course is quite huge and that it can be disorganised at times. Similarly, their mid-terms are all before winter holidays which means the first-term is incredibly front loaded and quite stressful. This being said, everyone on the course has managed to do incredibly well employment-wise and I have a lot of contacts there already.

The LSE course is far more smaller and personalised, they take a lot of steps to connect the students with alumni and are receptive to the course members. The LSE exam structure lends itself to it being back-loaded so it would make job applications in fall easier. In terms of the reputation, the LSE is fantastic but I fear that the QMRM will bottle me into risk roles. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Risky Business]

Anything else the same... I always prefer smaller class sizes over larger ones. This should help you land an internship and hopefully a job easier.
Rather than looking at their name... look at their career placement!
As much as Martin Haugh is a great teacher, he will teach you at most 2 courses, so you should really focus on career placement statistics and support! Also, what class profile do they usually have? You want to be with people who share your interests

 

[Youlan Dai]

Holding prestige and program quality constant, I prefer smaller class size cause I hate being interrupted by others during office hour. I would like to enjoy the whole office hour myself and I did.

 

[DeadDosu]

Anything else the same... I always prefer smaller class sizes over larger ones. This should help you land an internship and hopefully a job easier.
Rather than looking at their name... look at their career placement!
As much as Martin Haugh is a great teacher, he will teach you at most 2 courses, so you should really focus on career placement statistics and support! Also, what class profile do they usually have? You want to be with people who share your interests

Definitely, I'll make sure to do some inquiries with the people I know there already as to the graduate destinations both again they both appear to be good. I'll be sure to be thorough though!

That's a great question,-- upon further research I found most of the LSE people bundled in risk positions across IB and AM. There are several however that have made it to quant desks too but it's very clear to see the direction the course is pushing people towards. I think I'll try contacting some alumni on LinkedIn and ask them some questions before making a decision on that.

 

[DeadDosu]

Holding prestige and program quality constant, I prefer smaller class size cause I hate being interrupted by others during office hour. I would like to enjoy the whole office hour myself and I did.

Thanks for the reply, and yes I prefer smaller classes too,-- it's just all in all a more conducive environment for learning.

It's a pity there isn't more literature or reviews on this website as to the state of UK postgraduate education! Wish I could have got more votes on the poll

 

[TheComplexUnit]

RMFE grad here ('12). Some observations: (1) class sizes are indeed on the larger size. Yet, this is arguably an advantage in the interest of social diversity. Unless you have a learning disability, I doubt you will need to frequent TAs' office hours. (2) The program is predominantly comprised of internationals, most of whom fail to find employment in the UK despite sincere efforts. Be mindful of this fact. (3) There is arguably little correlation between your grade classification and the juiciness of your subsequent job title. Consider how you spend your time there. (4) -Very- few candidates venture into research and trading. You are more likely to end up as a structurer, risk manager, or similar IB support analyst role. (5) If you know diddly-squat about finance, this program is actually a decent introduction to the field. Like most MFEs, the nature of the courses are still somewhat anchored in 90s mentality (derivative pricing), yet you sense that they are at least trying to stay relevant. The recent introduction of ML-oriented/Pythonesque courses substantiating this claim.

Whether LSE has anything more or less to offer is dubious. Flip a coin for all I care. At the end of the day both educational establishments are solid reputation-wise.

 

[Nishti]

RMFE grad here ('12). Some observations: (1) class sizes are indeed on the larger size. Yet, this is arguably an advantage in the interest of social diversity. Unless you have a learning disability, I doubt you will need to frequent TAs' office hours. (2) The program is predominantly comprised of internationals, most of whom fail to find employment in the UK despite sincere efforts. Be mindful of this fact. (3) There is arguably little correlation between your grade classification and the juiciness of your subsequent job title. Consider how you spend your time there. (4) -Very- few candidates venture into research and trading. You are more likely to end up as a structurer, risk manager, or similar IB support analyst role. (5) If you know diddly-squat about finance, this program is actually a decent introduction to the field. Like most MFEs, the nature of the courses are still somewhat anchored in 90s mentality (derivative pricing), yet you sense that they are at least trying to stay relevant. The recent introduction of ML-oriented/Pythonesque courses substantiating this claim.

Whether LSE has anything more or less to offer is dubious. Flip a coin for all I care. At the end of the day both educational establishments are solid reputation-wise.

Hi, could you please advise whether th RMFE course at Imperial is suitable for someone looking to embark on career in derivatives trading/structuring in UK?