COMPARE NYU Poly MFE vs Rutgers MQF

[Huijun Zheng]

Hi,
I just got ad from NYU Poly MFE and Rutgers MQF,and I'd really appreciate some advice on the selection.
The most important factor that I take into consideration is employment and placement of its international graduates in the US. I called the admission office yesterday and they told me the placement rate is 89%. But I could not get further details~

Here are something more I know about these two program:

a. The reputations compared b/n these two.

One being Rutgers(Big name , business school course, NY/NJ location) and NYU-Poly (Big NYU brand, NYC location but a big program)

From my personal experience-
Rutgers... I've been an exchange student there and I really liked it(the academic education is good,and career service is nice); and when I was in NYC its reputation is fine too.
NYU Poly... honestly I can't find many ppl who have heard of it(I realized it after inquiring a few friends working in NYC)...Hopefully someone could give me some facts about this.

b. ROI
Rutgers- higher tuition; Poly- higher living cost(Newark v.s NYC). so the cost would be similar after calculation.

Please do give me some advice!

 

[Huijun Zheng]

@Andy Nguyen Could you give me some suggestion?

 

[l_l_c_p]

++LPM

 

[JLevin]

An important question that anyone should ask themselves when accepting a degree (whether it be a bachelors, masters or phd) is: if I do well in this, will I be able to do what I want to do?

What DO you want to do? Do you just want to get a job, or are you looking at something in particular?

In either program, you could try your hardest to attend networking events/industry talks of other universities too.. e.g. Columbia's, Baruch's, Rutgers', CMU's, NYU's. These I bet help a lot in getting a foot in the door (and just understanding industries). I'm not going to say I know a huge deal about Rutgers' or Poly's programs, but it seems like Rutgers will have a more rigorous training. So maybe that's your trade-off. Convenience or knowledge?

I'd choose Rutgers..

 

[Huijun Zheng]

btw... I heard from Goldman Sachs HR in Beijing office that Poly has a bad reputation there... I wonder if it is the same worldwide.

 

[JLevin]

Hmm.. well I wouldn't join NYU Poly's Program assuming that recruitment doesn't know the difference between it and NYU Courant's Program. Neither Rutgers nor NYU Poly has that golden reputation; and it isn't what you would join either program for..

J

 

[Huijun Zheng]

True... Can't get in the top ones then I can't have that kind of high expectation. after all GS only recruit from the those very best.

 

[Sonny D]

I would put the Rutgers, Poly, and CMU programs all at the same level and the true courant Math of Finance one above any of them. With that said, since the poly one is new, and you can drop the poly on your resume, I think it would have a slight advantage (I went RU undergrad, and Courant grad, my wife went poly (before NYU) undergrad and CMU grad. She agrees with my answer).

 

[l_l_c_p]

Sorry I couldn't get the comparison of NYU-Poly, Rutgers and CMU . Can you please elaborate on what do you mean by same level. Is it the same level from industry , pedagogy or job-opportunity perspective. And I didn't get what do you mean by "since the poly one is new, and you can drop the poly on your resume, I think it would have a slight advantage" .

Please help me understand , I know I might sound very noobish ..

Thanks
LPM

 

[Huijun Zheng]

I would put the Rutgers, Poly, and CMU programs all at the same level and the true courant Math of Finance one above any of them. With that said, since the poly one is new, and you can drop the poly on your resume, I think it would have a slight advantage (I went RU undergrad, and Courant grad, my wife went poly (before NYU) undergrad and CMU grad. She agrees with my answer).

Hi Sonny,
Thanks for your reply.
I have a similar question as LPM- CMU doesn't seem to be at the same level as Rutgers& Poly~~...

And it seems that many HR already know clearly the differences between Courant and Poly, so I suppose even if I passed the resume scan(dropping "Poly"),later at interviews they would still ask about it...can't hide it from there.
So my question would be:without "pretending" to be Courant, can Poly graduates be accepted by those top financial institutions? I heard that Poly is one of the target companies NY CITI bank and Big 4 recruit from...don't know if it is true.(Honestly as international student I simply want to find a decent job and don't have very high expectation about job positions.)

 

[sidg]

Rutgers biz school is definitely a better option! Poly is low on reputation.

 

[Huijun Zheng]

Rutgers biz school is definitely a better option! Poly is low on reputation.

how low is its reputation?...

 

[sidg]

how low is its reputation?...

I wouldn't say I am completely sure but Poly's reputation is quiet low as compared to Rutgers in general. I might be slightly biased because I have been accepted for Rutgers MQF myself and I am taking it. Still waiting to hear from Poly. But I am sure that even if I get accepted at Poly, I would stay with Rutgers. Rutgers biz school is a better option hands down!

 

[Sonny D]

Depends what you want to do. A Rutgers mba will NOT get you an interview at a top bank (again, RU grad here) in M&A. If you have an undergrad in Comp sci, then an RU MQF or a poly degree will give you a better chance of a quant programmer.

 

[Huijun Zheng]

Depends what you want to do. A Rutgers mba will NOT get you an interview at a top bank (again, RU grad here) in M&A. If you have an undergrad in Comp sci, then an RU MQF or a poly degree will give you a better chance of a quant programmer.

Hi, I am a finance undergrad... what position can an RU MQF or a poly degree get me to?

 

[Huijun Zheng]

I have made an appointment with the director of Rutgers MQF, any specific questions I could help you guys ask about ? @LPM @sidg

 

[l_l_c_p]

I have made an appointment with the director of Rutgers MQF, any specific questions I could help you guys ask about ? @LPM @sidg

1-Since there is no TA/RA we would like to know what percentage of people do get into summer internships or full time internships after 1 or 2 semester of study?
2-What are the roles and positions do grads get after graduation I mean it from a work-type and compensation perspective. This matters because this decides on the impact of the MQF degree in the industry.
3-lastly,what is the break-up for international and domestic students to the numbers in above stated questions.

Thanks
LPM

 

[sidg]

I have made an appointment with the director of Rutgers MQF, any specific questions I could help you guys ask about ? @LPM @sidg

That's great, Hiujun. I think I would be very interested in knowing the things @LPM mentioned. Please share any more information that you're able to fetch! If you do decide to go for Rutgers MQF (which you should), I shall see you there :D

 

[Huijun Zheng]

@LPM @sidg
Here is some info,

1. employment rate. Can't get the exact rate, but about 1/3 of the international students managed to acquired jobs within the US. For Chinese students, the majority of the graduates work in Beijing and Shanghai
2. mid-office, back-office...there are students working in different positions. But not many students actually do FE jobs. The recent recruiters include JP Morgan, Moody's, S&P, Big four,etc.

And he told me about the new lady from Wall Street that runs the career service. She is quite experienced.

And another point he made is that school isn't the most essential factor when seeking jobs. Even some students from MIT cannot get good placement. At Rutgers...well, the situation of individual students differ greatly(some do really well while some unemployed)
Networking is what matters.

For me, the situation is 12000$ scholarship from Rutgers and 8000$ from Poly. So I don't know how to choose yet. those who see this post feel free to give me advice.Thanks.

 

[l_l_c_p]

@LPM @sidg
Here is some info,

1. employment rate. Can't get the exact rate, but about 1/3 of the international students managed to acquired jobs within the US. For Chinese students, the majority of the graduates work in Beijing and Shanghai
2. mid-office, back-office...there are students working in different positions. But not many students actually do FE jobs. The recent recruiters include JP Morgan, Moody's, S&P, Big four,etc.

And he told me about the new lady from Wall Street that runs the career service. She is quite experienced.

And another point he made is that school isn't the most essential factor when seeking jobs. Even some students from MIT cannot get good placement. At Rutgers...well, the situation of individual students differ greatly(some do really well while some unemployed)
Networking is what matters.

For me, the situation is 12000$ scholarship from Rutgers and 8000$ from Poly. So I don't know how to choose yet. those who see this post feel free to give me advice.Thanks.

Thanks a ton man. I also believe its all on you. There is hardly a huge difference that the uni will have on your career prospects . What matter is the experience,networking and knowledge that you possess.
This is what I have been apprised by one of my senior friend.
"Finding A job - The departments are of no help. The career service of nyu and mostly with all posts a lot of jobs but hardly anything is relevant. So, you are on your own which is pretty much the case in all US universities. There are universities like UCB where the director of the program takes personal responsibility of getting students a good job. So, with the benefit of hindsight, I will tell you this - if you are good and can find a job on your own, choose the cheapest program among these options. Paying more makes sense for something like UCB.
My guess would be that you might be one of the top candidates in your incoming class too. Everyone gets some job i think but if you want a good job, you are on your own. They have companies visiting for OCR interviews but most candidates don't qualify. I would say the resources exist but it's your hard work that would land you a job not any of these schools".
So no decision is absolutely correct/wrong . its all subjective

Hope this answers a lot.

LPM