UCB MFE Is UCB MFE no longer a good quant program?

[JimSim]

Nvm it seems like a fantastic program in hindsight! Would highly recommend! Fantastic fantastic

 

[JimSim]

A bit about myself:

Tier 1 (arguably best) college in India (IIT Bombay)
B.Tech in Computer Science
GPA: 9.01

GRE: 333 170Q + 163V
TOEFL: 118

1 internship at Barclays Trading
1 internship at EPFL (Machine learning)
1 internship at TU Delft (Machine learning)

Interested in being a quant at Citadel, DE Shaw, Renaissance etc.

Which program should I target?

 

[hmmashmmm]

A bit about myself:

Tier 1 (arguably best) college in India (IIT Bombay)
B.Tech in Computer Science
GPA: 9.01

GRE: 333 170Q + 163V
TOEFL: 118

1 internship at Barclays Trading
1 internship at EPFL (Machine learning)
1 internship at TU Delft (Machine learning)

Interested in being a quant at Citadel, DE Shaw, Renaissance etc.

Which program should I target?

Princeton Mfin
Also don't you think that you can directly apply and get selected to these firms being IITB CS grad? Cause I have seen people getting into Two Sigma directly from IITs

 

[JimSim]

Only 1-2 people from full batch go there.

 

[MMFInfoAcct]

Interested in being a quant at Citadel, DE Shaw, Renaissance etc.

No MFE will help you land even an interview at DE Shaw or Ren tech, you would need to do a PhD on an interesting topic at a great school.

Which program should I target?

You would probably get an interview at Citadel though (personally superdayed for cit sec and the likes), regardless if do a MFE at Berkeley, Baruch, Columbia, Princeton, CMU etc. Not so much the MFE program that matters, but how you perform on the interviews.

Easiest way to know career prospects for a program is just to look at the career reports for the past 5 years. "Very few UCB MFE heading to good trading firms, hedge funds etc." You can replace UCB with any of these top 5 MFEs and this sentence still holds true. Regardless of the MFE program you go to, top buy side placements is the exception - not the norm. Here's Princetons for example, CMU/Baruch is similiar, only ~1 - 2 students from each program would place into a Citadel/HRT level fund, historically 0 for JS..

Basically, Berkeley is fine, no MFE program is really a magic pill for buy side (we are not the target programs, you'll see too many MIT/CMU cs undergrads at the superdays for the firms you mentioned, IIT background is great in comparison to the general population but very so-so if conditioned on the pool of superday candidates). "Linda no longer there. New people in charge have 0 experience from the perspective of getting jobs for students." Yeah losing Linda might be a blow to the program but I personally don't feel career service is an important factor of considering a program - interviews are mainly dependent on you not your MFE program. In fact, the biggest con of Berkeley imo is that it's not a chill program - you want more time to recruit (multiple consecutive superdays will exhaust you trust me), and less time on doing school work.

 

[JimSim]

So is UCB MFE program good or not?

 

[bigbadwolf]

So is UCB MFE program good or not?

MMFInfoAcct just told you. Maybe work on that V163 ....

 

[JimSim]

Yes, I did write again! Got 165 this time. Thanks for the encouragement!

 

[WorkofArt]

So is UCB MFE program good or not?

As good as any other top 4 program, yes. Given your background, I think you Princeton is a pretty realistic target

 

[MMFInfoAcct]

As good as any other top 4 program, yes. Given your background, I think you Princeton is a pretty realistic target

I'd bet he's going to get an interview there but not too sure how the behavioral is gonna pan out. Lindsay: "What other programs did you apply to and why Princeton?", him: "Proceeds to take a dump on Berkeley"

 

[JimSim]

I'd bet he's going to get an interview there but not too sure how the behavioral is gonna pan out. Lindsay: "What other programs did you apply to and why Princeton?", him: "Proceeds to take a dump on Berkeley"

You are very funny!

I hope you are not disappointed but I have decided not to apply for MFE programs. I have already got into Optiver so luckily I don't need to spend money on masters program now

 

[MMFInfoAcct]

I have decided not to apply for MFE programs. I have already got into Optiver so luckily I don't need to spend money on masters program now

Then we may or may not see each other