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COMPARE Imperial RMFE vs UCL Computational Finance

Joined
2/26/21
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Hi, I am an international student coming from Economics & Operational Research background. I have received an offer from Imperial RMFE and hopefully will receive an offer from UCL Computational Finance. I struggling to choose between two. I feel quant jobs are more interesting for me rather than risk management, asset management etc. (in general, I prefer something quite technical). In that sense, I am more leaning towards UCL Computational Finance since it is offered in Computer science department and emphasizes more programming part (which will be very beneficial from me as I am coming from Econ background). On the other hand, although Imperial risk management & financial engineering is also technical program, it is offered by business school and according to employment reports only a tiny percent of graduates actually end up in quant positions, most end up in risk management and consulting roles. Since I am international student, I do care about brand name of the institutions hence I prefer Imperial in terms of international recognition. The costs are almost the same. Another issue is, Imperial Business school as an excellent career service and 90%+ placements rates are reported whereas I am note sure about UCL (they don't publish employment report, according to my linkedin research, it is not very good in fact). I appreciate any comments. Thanks
 
As you and @David Liam have the exact same background with the exact same issues, perhaps you two can connect and discuss.

I'm not going to comment on comparing both programs, because I didn't do a deep dive into UCL's program (prolly should've applied, oops) The only thing I am going to say is, you can tailor Imperial's program to be more FE than RM.
 
I would strongly advice you against ucl master and this is coming from a current student
 
could you please a bit elaborate on this?
the program is not a target unlike imperial, the teaching quality is also not as good as imperial with the exception of some modules, in addition, the one from imperial prepares you for interviews and applying to job while UCL one doesn't have any dedicated career resource, the curriculum is also not as comprehensive as Imperial's one
 
On RMFE: most students there have no aspirations of becoming quants. The career destinations of former students might give you a warped impression of your own chances of landing a quant gig. Meanwhile, you will of course be competing for jobs with students of target quant/financial maths programmes (Imperial, Oxford, etc.). Will you be competitive? On balance I think you will ... if you put in the elbow grease. Suggestion: future employers will care more about your ability to do interesting applied projects over your ability to derive a closed form expressions for Asian options. Choose your courses carefully.

Regards, RMFE '12.
 
On RMFE: most students there have no aspirations of becoming quants. The career destinations of former students might give you a warped impression of your own chances of landing a quant gig. Meanwhile, you will of course be competing for jobs with students of target quant/financial maths programmes (Imperial, Oxford, etc.). Will you be competitive? On balance I think you will ... if you put in the elbow grease. Suggestion: future employers will care more about your ability to do interesting applied projects over your ability to derive a closed form expressions for Asian options. Choose your courses carefully.

Regards, RMFE '12.
Yes this is indeed the case. The branding is good enough to get you an interview. That is it. You are pretty much on your own in becoming a Quant.

But to be frank, this is almost the case for all MFE programs :) I have met too many end up in risk roles, even from target schools. But I do think (small) hardcore programs have higher chance. I heard they would share interview questions among peers and very active in applying quant jobs. Well, they are simply more competitive while RMFE students are pretty laid back (in my opinion...) but if OP is competitive enough (are you?), then doesn't matter
 
Thanks for the replies. Any advice would be very helpful.
 
On RMFE: most students there have no aspirations of becoming quants. The career destinations of former students might give you a warped impression of your own chances of landing a quant gig. Meanwhile, you will of course be competing for jobs with students of target quant/financial maths programmes (Imperial, Oxford, etc.). Will you be competitive? On balance I think you will ... if you put in the elbow grease. Suggestion: future employers will care more about your ability to do interesting applied projects over your ability to derive a closed form expressions for Asian options. Choose your courses carefully.

Regards, RMFE '12.
Any suggestions on courses I should take?
 
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