COMPARE NYU MSMF vs UCB MFE

[joe_boy]

I did a masters in statistics at a solid university some 10 years ago. Ploughing through Folland and Durret was both a humbling and enjoyable experience. But I have to say, I feel that the knowledge you pick up in these rigorous math courses are very rarely being drawn upon when working in the industry. Great prep for PhD studies in any STEM field though.

Yeah..UCB's program seems very very industry oriented. With all what you have said, I think that's what you should be going for.

 

[bootstrap]

Admittedly biased as a courant alum myself. If you want to work in finance, you can't beat ny, and chicago, miami, and boston are close enough. You are also studying in the math department, which makes the program definitely more on the rigorous side compared to some other programs that might be in the business school of the university. It really is about what you want to do. Also remember living in ny is quite expensive, probably only comparing to san fran in high cost of living. If you want to work in data science or have a different work culture/quality of life, then the west coast could very well be a good option for you. I imagine if you are good, you'll be able to get roles you want, even with the tough competition.

Thanks Paul, as always!

From what I heard, 70% of UCB grads would end up on the east coast anyway. But its location does make networking a bit tough in the beginning.

That's a very good pt you made. Berkeley opens doors to jobs in the valley in addition to wall street jobs. In a bad market like the current one, perhaps it's not a bad idea to diversify one's bets a little.

 

[bootstrap]

Very aware of it. I reached out to many Courant grads to see if they can review the program with us and share their experience.
No bite yet. It's a mystery why we got no review since 2014.

Same experience. I reached out to 10 diff alums on Linkedin, only one got back to me. This tells me that its alum network probably isn't that solid.

 

[bootstrap]

Yeah..UCB's program seems very very industry oriented. With all what you have said, I think that's what you should be going for.

Thanks for your affirmation Joe!

 

[joe_boy]

Very aware of it. I reached out to many Courant grads to see if they can review the program with us and share their experience.
No bite yet. It's a mystery why we got no review since 2014.

Just thinking Andy, we hardly get reviews on NY based programs esp compared to the frequency of reviews each year on UCB, Chicago, CMU (not really based in NY), UCLA, NCSU, GaTech...almost all the recent reviews we had from some Baruch guys came in around the same time (March and April). Asides that, the last time was I think 2016 or so.

Does this have anything to do with NY (probably folks are just busy interviewing, working hard), or probably many don't just see the reason to write epistles if they got the kind of jobs they wanted after graduation...or maybe my analysis is just wrong. Lol

 

[Andy Nguyen]

@joe_boy
You are probably correct in your observation and analysis. Most people don't have any incentive to write a review if they get what they want. Only if you feel strongly about something, either negatively or otherwise. Working in finance is extremely stressful and busy so it's another major reason why people don't bother.
It's reasonable to assume that the wave of reviews are result of some programs' marketing push. At least, these programs have approached this in the right direction. Many programs don't bother with this at all.
People come to QuantNet to do their research on quant programs. Once they get into the program and start working, life got busy and priorities changed.
As you and I sit here, we have incentives to see more reviews but as you step on the side of the fence, things change, right?

 

[Paul Lopez]

Very aware of it. I reached out to many Courant grads to see if they can review the program with us and share their experience.
No bite yet. It's a mystery why we got no review since 2014.

Wow that's pretty crazy! I didn't think we were so antisocial

 

[joe_boy]

@joe_boy
You are probably correct in your observation and analysis. Most people don't have any incentive to write a review if they get what they want. Only if you feel strongly about something, either negatively or otherwise. Working in finance is extremely stressful and busy so it's another major reason why people don't bother.
It's reasonable to assume that the wave of reviews are result of some programs' marketing push. At least, these programs have approached this in the right direction. Many programs don't bother with this at all.
People come to QuantNet to do their research on quant programs. Once they get into the program and start working, life got busy and priorities changed.
As you and I sit here, we have incentives to see more reviews but as you step on the side of the fence, things change, right?

Haha..Such is life..

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Wow that's pretty crazy! I didn't think we were so antisocial

I would not say antisocial but "not properly incentivized" would be more appropriate.
For working professionals, if we properly incentivize them, maybe we have better chance to solicit a review.

 

[bootstrap]

@joe_boy
You are probably correct in your observation and analysis. Most people don't have any incentive to write a review if they get what they want. Only if you feel strongly about something, either negatively or otherwise. Working in finance is extremely stressful and busy so it's another major reason why people don't bother.
It's reasonable to assume that the wave of reviews are result of some programs' marketing push. At least, these programs have approached this in the right direction. Many programs don't bother with this at all.
People come to QuantNet to do their research on quant programs. Once they get into the program and start working, life got busy and priorities changed.
As you and I sit here, we have incentives to see more reviews but as you step on the side of the fence, things change, right?

To play the devil's advocate, UCB alums are generally fairly responsive, and committed to contributing to the program 3, 5, 10 years after graduation.

 

[bootstrap]

Hi, may I ask you when did you get off of the waitlist, have you had any interviews after getting waitlist?

Hi, I got off last week, a week after my 2nd interview. I got waitlisted in March.

 

[lalabobo]

Hi, I got off last week, a week after my 2nd interview. I got waitlisted in March.

Did you update your checklist?

 

[bootstrap]

Did you update your checklist?

I think you have to update your checklist as you progresses through your courses. Otherwise they wouldn't know what progress you have made.

 

[lalabobo]

I think you have to update your checklist as you progresses through your courses. Otherwise they wouldn't know what progress you have made.

Did you complete all of the items on the checklist?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Keep an eye on the recent reviews of the UCB MFE program. It seems they are having a challenging time due to ongoing issue with the change of director. It's been tough for the 2024 graduates of the program. I hope the issue will be resolved soon.

University of California, Berkeley - Master of Financial Engineering - Reviews

quantnet.com

 

[MikeLawrence]

I was going to throw in a vote for UCB but now I'm really not sure.

Decide where you'd rather work, and choose there.

 

[Michelle]

I was going to throw in a vote for UCB but now I'm really not sure.

Decide where you'd rather work, and choose there.

UCB MFE used to be known for its strong career services and placement. It seems to be an area of concern right now.
It's highly recommended that applicants do a thoroughly research on programs they want to apply to. Reputation and track records take years to build but harder to maintain at a high level.
If this is any indication, reviews from current graduates are invaluable in giving insights on how a program is actually performing.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Keep an eye on the recent reviews of the UCB MFE program. It seems they are having a challenging time due to ongoing issue with the change of director. It's been tough for the 2024 graduates of the program. I hope the issue will be resolved soon.

University of California, Berkeley - Master of Financial Engineering - Reviews

quantnet.com

Since my last post, there were 7 additional reviews. Those are very helpful from current students and recent graduates.
You can clearly see the pros and cons of the program from the very detailed reviews. Appreciate all the time and effort put in by our reviewers.

 

[jxz]

Courant MathFin masters alum here.

My experience is skewed as I took the program during covid, where the majority of the classes were conducted online. Professors made their best effort of teaching online, but it was not ideal to teach maths on MS Paint/ digitally doodling over powerpoint slides. Students being completely silent during online classes didn't help either -- made it harder for me to raise questions or interject. My experience would've been more positive if all classes were taught in-person and on a blackboard. It was also a bit hard for me to get to know other classmates at that time, not only because of covid, but also because I am not fluent in Mandarin.

You would get a better and more positive perspective soliciting opinions from an alum that did the program after covid -- say class of 2022 and onwards -- as they get to take lectures in a standard classroom environment, and (unrelatedly) the student demographics seem to be less concentrated than before.

I believe I am a median student (at best) in my cohort. Courses are usually heavy on the theoretical side, and the program markets it as being "buy-side oriented"; from my rough recollection, my cohort landed on sell-side jobs more often than they did on buy-side. The toughest and most mathematically rigorous classes are usually conducted by the program director Petter Kolm himself. You would get the most out of the program (which I wish I did) if you come in with a bit of industry knowledge and some understanding of risk neutral pricing, fixed income pricing and Markowitz portfolio theory. Despite me struggling throughout the entire program, I enjoyed most of my coursework.

I cannot really compare this program to the others. I never did another math finance/ financial engineering program; I stopped double-guessing my choice of NYU soon after I got a day job. My colleagues and ex-colleagues of the same role are either from NYU courant mathfin, NYU tandon MSFE, or Columbia MS FE/Operations Research/Statistics, and we seldom bring up schoolwork in our conversations.

 

[BoY]

This is close to a no-brainer as it gets, and as Courant MFin alum I say you should absolutely go with UCB. I have known a handful of hedge funds place UCB in their summer internship target program and not Courant. Courant has been slipping in the competition for a few years since pre-covid and it's very evidently from the ranking here(not saying quantnet ranking really means anything but it's something). I don't see any reason to go to Courant if the goal is to land a quant job after this, besides the location, which really don't mean anything these days with all the virtual interviews easily arranged.