COMPARE Columbia MAFN vs NYU Tandon MFE

[Chr]

I got accepted this week (PT) to both schools. turnaround time was about 2 months for both.

for full disclosure, i applied to these NY programs because 1-i need to remain in NYC, 2-i need to enroll PT, 3-both schools/programs gave me a gre/gmat waiver...and of course that's why i didnt apply to some of the other programs.

my thoughts: i like the curriculum of nyu poly better because they teach math for the sake of understanding quant finance whereas cu mafn teaches math for the sake of math with some finance sprinkled in there......the columbia name remains slightly more prestigious than nyu poly and therefore may be more helpful when looking for a job or self promotion at my current employer.

would anyone like to chime in?

and good luck to those who are still waiting.

 

[Joy Pathak]

.the columbia name remains slightly more prestigious than nyu poly and therefore may be more helpful when looking for a job or self promotion at my current employer.


Lol, SLIGHTLY???

Are you thinking Nyu-Poly is same as going to NYU? That is not the case ALTHOUGH you can go take courses at NYU. . Search through the forums, and you will see the views of students on Nyu-Poly.

I would suggest picking Columbia given your situation. It will get you farther with your current employer and in general than the degree from NYU-Poly will. Since you're not looking entry level positions, you might as well pick Columbia.

You would have to pick though! I donot know enough about the curriculum of either program, but if you're solely picking on curriculum then I can see your justification. Otherwise, based on ALL classifications, Columbia MAFN or even their MSOR surpasses Nyu-poly MFE.

I have heard from a current student there(Nyu-poly) that they are improving the program.

 

[john k]

I have recently been accepted FT to both of these programs and although I am leaning towards Columbia, I was hoping to get some input before making a decision. I have been working as an actuary for over 3 years and am looking to eventually make the jump to a trading role after finishing my degree and getting some experience under my belt. As I understand it, the MAFN program is more theory focused while the NYU Poly program places a greater emphasis on practical implementation. NYU Poly's program is also significantly cheaper.

Anyone have any thoughts on which might be a better fit?

 

[Jedison]

Columbia by a long shot. Brand name, quality of courses/teaching, recruiting, alumni network...the list goes on

 

[CasanovaJ]

"NYU Poly places greater emphasis on practical application, and NYU Poly's program is significantly cheaper"

Where are you getting either of those?

 

[Jedison]

I wouldn't disagree with either of those purely on the basis that the MathFin curriculum is highly theoretical and Columbia's tuition is stupidly high. That being said, having a good practical skill set and saving some money on your education isn't worth much if you can't get a job. I think your background as an actuary will definitely help but breaking into Wall Street, particularly in those front office roles that pretty much everybody getting an MFE are looking for, is extremely difficult. The major IB's resume drops online are basically black holes. You might get some interviews from smaller firms or prop houses that way but the positions that most aspiring quants are looking for are hard to get if you're not going through campus recruiting. That's why I think it's worth overlooking the theoretical nature and the price tag that comes with the MathFin program.

 

[CasanovaJ]

OK, I looked this one up... looks like NYU Poly is about $45k, and Columbia is $57k-- point taken.

As far as "practical" goes, looking at the NYU Poly core curriculum--

"Financial Accounting--
This course provides a solid foundation in the construction and interpretation of financial statements. Topics include accounting terminology; financial statement preparation and analysis; liquidity and credit risk ratios; depreciation calculations; revenue recognition; and accrued liabilities and asset valuation. Also covered are the effects of equity transactions; cash flows; and various accounting methods on financial statements.

Economic Foundations in Finance--
This course studies the interactions between money, the financial system and the economy. Topics include supply and demand; consumer theory; theory of the firm; production costs and other subject areas such as interest rates and asset returns. This course summarizes key insights from financial economics as the methodological and conceptual basis of financial engineering.

Corporate Finance--
The modern corporation, as issuer of financial securities and end-user of financial risk-management products, is a major participant in financial markets and the economic counterpart to investors and financial intermediaries. The mechanism of financial markets and the valuation of instruments are studied in further detail in other courses. However, this course applies the tools of the trade of financial economics and corporate finance to the financial decision-making process of firms. Upon successful completion of this course, students know how to contribute to optimal financial decisions in a corporation: valuation; capital budgeting; risk; capital structure; dividend policy; long-term financing; risk management; and mergers and acquisitions. Increasingly important international factors that affect corporate finance are stressed throughout."

You won't learn this stuff at Columbia, but if it's what you're looking for, I'd suggest just saving $40k and taking CFA Level 1... If the other argument is that "NYU Poly is heavier on programming," this may just be me but while I don't personally see it as an absolute deal-killer to be charged insane tuition to be taught graduate-level math (which I'm actually expecting to be legitimately tough), there's something that massively irks me about the idea of paying $5k/course to be taught something that I think any sharp ten year old could probably learn by downloading a copy of Visual Studio and googling "learn C++"... I'm not trying to trivialize the difficulty of programming, but plenty of people pull it off without paying an arm and a leg for it... MAFN focuses on the tough math, they do it well, and then they call it day.

 

[john k]

Thanks for the input. Seems like Columbia is the better choice given that I will have the option to take some electives outside of the math dept if I feel like I need to develop my programming/technical skills (I've picked up enough VBA, R and SQL to be effective at my last two jobs but I feel like some formal coursework would be nice as the competition in this area seems like it will be much tougher when I move to finance).

 

[ADT]

The major IB's resume drops online are basically black holes.

That was what I initially thought and believed, until I started work and saw otherwise. From anecdotal experience, resumes do get picked out from online resume dumps under two scenarios.

A) You have specific experience that they were looking for (e.g. a first year full-time analyst at a BB NYC in credit risk with no prior IBD experience got pulled into another BB in NYC for an IBD front-office role via online resume dump - why? Because this person had prior internship experience in equity research AND he was in credit risk covering Corporates, and that was useful for their FIG IBD group.)

B) Another situation but this time in Securities (i.e. S&T/Research) at another BB in NYC - summer analyst class was full of your target school/type-A/networking ninjas type candidates who probably networked like crazy and aced their interviews with ~3.5 and above GPAs. But there were a handful from non-target schools who got pulled from online resumes - why? Because of SKYHIGH GPAs, and by that I mean >3.95, basically acing every single class for ~5 semesters despite taking difficult/technical classes in math/econ/etc.

I guess the takeaway is, always try. You never know.

 

[Dessembrae Ultor]

I recently got acceptances from both NYU Tandon and Columbia MAFN. I'm actually unsure about which program to choose, and would love to hear some opinions. Columbia obviously has huge brand recognition, but other than that, the reviews have not been great. Students aren't very happy with the course structure and career services, and I don't know if the administration has taken and acted on feedback from students. On the other hand, what I've read about Tandon's program seems very encouraging despite the unflattering reviews that the program used to get earlier, and they seem very responsive to students' feedback. Dr. Peter Carr and team seem to be genuinely trying to improve the program, and it appears that the curriculum is quite practical and industry-focused as opposed to being overly theoretical. The placement services also seem more hands-on compared to Columbia. But I'm still unsure whether those things are enough to overcome the sheer weight that a Columbia education lends to a résumé. There is no doubt that a Columbia name opens doors. Thus, the dilemma.

I'd be really grateful if folks could share their thoughts on how the Columbia MAFN program compares against the NYU Tandon, in terms of curriculum, infrastructure, administrative responsiveness and career services, and whether someone like me (who has no quant work experience) would be a better fit at the former or the latter program. Thanks!

Edit: In terms of career goals, I'm mostly interested in trading, quantitative research, quantitative development & risk management, in that order.

 

[NumeroUno]

I recently got acceptances from both NYU Tandon and Columbia MAFN. I'm actually unsure about which program to choose, and would love to hear some opinions. Columbia obviously has huge brand recognition, but other than that, the reviews have not been great. Students aren't very happy with the course structure and career services, and I don't know if the administration has taken and acted on feedback from students. On the other hand, what I've read about Tandon's program seems very encouraging despite the unflattering reviews that the program used to get earlier, and they seem very responsive to students' feedback. Dr. Peter Carr and team seem to be genuinely trying to improve the program, and it appears that the curriculum is quite practical and industry-focused as opposed to being overly theoretical. The placement services also seem more hands-on compared to Columbia. But I'm still unsure whether those things are enough to overcome the sheer weight that a Columbia education lends to a résumé. There is no doubt that a Columbia name opens doors. Thus, the dilemma.

I'd be really grateful if folks could share their thoughts on how the Columbia MAFN program compares against the NYU Tandon, in terms of curriculum, infrastructure, administrative responsiveness and career services, and whether someone like me (who has no quant work experience) would be a better fit at the former or the latter program. Thanks!

Edit: In terms of career goals, I'm mostly interested in trading, quantitative research, quantitative development & risk management, in that order.

NYU is a well-known brand name, also.

Being accepted into two great schools sounds like a good dilemma to have.

Hope you're able to get more feedback.

 

[Michsund]

I recently got acceptances from both NYU Tandon and Columbia MAFN. I'm actually unsure about which program to choose, and would love to hear some opinions. Columbia obviously has huge brand recognition, but other than that, the reviews have not been great. Students aren't very happy with the course structure and career services, and I don't know if the administration has taken and acted on feedback from students. On the other hand, what I've read about Tandon's program seems very encouraging despite the unflattering reviews that the program used to get earlier, and they seem very responsive to students' feedback. Dr. Peter Carr and team seem to be genuinely trying to improve the program, and it appears that the curriculum is quite practical and industry-focused as opposed to being overly theoretical. The placement services also seem more hands-on compared to Columbia. But I'm still unsure whether those things are enough to overcome the sheer weight that a Columbia education lends to a résumé. There is no doubt that a Columbia name opens doors. Thus, the dilemma.

I'd be really grateful if folks could share their thoughts on how the Columbia MAFN program compares against the NYU Tandon, in terms of curriculum, infrastructure, administrative responsiveness and career services, and whether someone like me (who has no quant work experience) would be a better fit at the former or the latter program. Thanks!

Edit: In terms of career goals, I'm mostly interested in trading, quantitative research, quantitative development & risk management, in that order.

well Columbia mafn is much more math rigorous so for a quant research role that may be useful. I would look at the resume book that the mafn program has on its website and see what field the people seem to go for. I would also contact tandon and contact them with any concerns you have. Good Luck!

 

[Chen Qingbo]

It's a good dilemma to have. It depends on your interest in Math or Techinique I believe.

 

[pingu]

Congratulations. If you want the name in the diploma, Columbia won't disappoint. However, they have 3 or 4 programs and rumor has it MAFN is at the bottom of the list. I haven't met many people from the this program but they ones I've gotten to know, let's just say they are no part of the "sharpest tools in the shed". I might have bad luck but, man, what a coincidence.

I haven't met people from the Tandon school but I've met Peter Carr multiple times. In my opinion, he is a good guy, a good professor and I think, he will do the best to push the program forward.

just my 2 cents.

 

[Michsund]

Congratulations. If you want the name in the diploma, Columbia won't disappoint. However, they have 3 or 4 programs and rumor has it MAFN is at the bottom of the list. I haven't met many people from the this program but they ones I've gotten to know, let's just say they are no part of the "sharpest tools in the shed". I might have bad luck but, man, what a coincidence.

I haven't met people from the Tandon school but I've met Peter Carr multiple times. In my opinion, he is a good guy, a good professor and I think, he will do the best to push the program forward.

just my 2 cents.

I think Msor is the lowest though.

 

[pingu]

I think Msor is the lowest though.

I don't know anything about the program themselves just of the rather small sample of ex-students I have met coming out of the MAFN and MSOR programs. Again, the graduates from the MSOR program were better (by a lot IMHO) than the ones out of the MAFN program.

I don't have a real opinion about the programs in terms of content since I haven't done a lot of research of them (besides reading QN). Outside of the ranking or reviews, opinions about the programs in this forum are from people who "want" to be in the program but have no idea of what's really going on after you get in.

 

[ApolloChariot]

My personal (sample size of 1) experience with NYU Tandon has been overwhelming negative, although it has been almost 3 years since I graduated. Other people can better explain to what extent things have changed since, although who you can trust to be impartial is up to you.

As for Columbia MAFN, this is all I could find for placement information:

Firms such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, UBS, Credit Suisse, Barclays Capital, Deloitte Consulting, Ernst & Young, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole CIB, various hedge funds and asset management firms, and many others have recruited graduates of the program.

This is the type of unhelpful, non specific "information" that I absolutely hate and is a huge red flag.

 

[Michsund]

My experience with NYU Tandon has been overwhelming negative, although it has been almost 3 years since I graduated. Other people can better explain to what extent things have changed since, although who you can trust to be impartial is up to you.

As for Columbia MAFN, this is all I could find for placement information:



This is the type of unhelpful, non specific "information" that I absolutely hate and is a huge red flag.

Yeah I applied for msor as well it seems very good to me but I though mafn may have been better? Not really sure

 

[Dessembrae Ultor]

Congratulations. If you want the name in the diploma, Columbia won't disappoint. However, they have 3 or 4 programs and rumor has it MAFN is at the bottom of the list. I haven't met many people from the this program but they ones I've gotten to know, let's just say they are no part of the "sharpest tools in the shed". I might have bad luck but, man, what a coincidence.

I haven't met people from the Tandon school but I've met Peter Carr multiple times. In my opinion, he is a good guy, a good professor and I think, he will do the best to push the program forward.

just my 2 cents.

Yikes, it's pretty alarming to hear that the students of the MAFN program weren't that great. On the other hand, I wonder if it's a result of the supposed lack of career services and interview preparation at the program? In any case, if the reputation of the program among industry professionals is such, it sort of cancels out the value addition of the Columbia name to the résumé.

 

[Dessembrae Ultor]

My personal (sample size of 1) experience with NYU Tandon has been overwhelming negative, although it has been almost 3 years since I graduated. Other people can better explain to what extent things have changed since, although who you can trust to be impartial is up to you.

As for Columbia MAFN, this is all I could find for placement information:



This is the type of unhelpful, non specific "information" that I absolutely hate and is a huge red flag.

Could you share broadly what you disliked about the program? I'd love to know what I should watch out for if I do decide to accept the offer from NYU. Also, was this before or after Dr. Carr took over?