COMPARE NYU Tandon MFE vs Cornell MFE vs Columbia Math Fin

[idkmyname]

A little about me: US undergrad, math major, love math, don't like programming that much.
Update: I'm well aware of the importance of programming and that's why I'm taking my time before this fall to self-studying and improving.
thanks y'all for the advice!
academic goal: PhD in applied math (financial math) at NYU Courant

NYU MFE
pros: Dr. Peter Carr is making the program better every year. Career placement will be good. Amazing location. 2-years program.
It's NYU. can take classes from Courant. maybe it's more convenient if I want to do PhD at Courant?
cons: not-so-good reputation from the past, still larger class size compared to Cornell.

Cornell MFE
pros: Ivy league, solid career service, smaller class size around 60 people.
cons: location, 1.5 years compared to Tandon

Columbia MathFin
pros: Ivy league, world-famous, higher school rank than Cornell, heard about it's more rigorous on math, so maybe helpful for my PhD path?
location: in the City, but I personally think Tandon at Brooklyn has better location
cons: terrible career service, terrible placement rate, big class size

still waiting to hear from NYU MathFin, but DDL coming close, need to make a decision from what I got. Thanks y'all!

 

[Onegin]

Contact Courant, let them know about DDL- they’re very responsive to such requests.

 

[idkmyname]

Contact Courant, let them know about DDL- they’re very responsive to such requests.

Thanks mate!

 

[cookiedoe]

I also have to decide but between Columbia MSOR and NYU MathFin. I'd appreciate reviews or advices

 

[P. Carr]

A little about me: US undergrad, math major, love math, don't like programming that much.
academic goal: PhD in applied math (financial math) at NYU Courant

NYU MFE
pros: Dr. Peter Carr is making the program better every year. Career placement will be good. Amazing location. 2-years program.
It's NYU. can take classes from Courant. maybe it's more convenient if I want to do PhD at Courant?
cons: not-so-good reputation from the past, still larger class size compared to Cornell.

Cornell MFE
pros: Ivy league, solid career service, smaller class size around 60 people.
cons: location, 1.5 years compared to Tandon

Columbia MathFin
pros: Ivy league, world-famous, higher school rank than Cornell, heard about it's more rigorous on math, so maybe helpful for my PhD path?
location: in the City, but I personally think Tandon at Brooklyn has better location
cons: terrible career service, terrible placement rate, big class size

still waiting to hear from NYU MathFin, but DDL coming close, need to make a decision from what I got. Thanks y'all!

I agree with your pros and cons. 2 additional points on NYU MFE are 1) I work with Masters students who want to do PhD. This year, all 4 were placed. One is going to NYU Courant Computer Science. 2) Please distinguish cohort size from class size, even if Quantnet seems unable to make this basic distinction. Our cohort size and Columbia MathFin cohort size are relatively large at 110 and 120 respectively this year. In MBA programs, the top ranked programs like Harvard or Penn have relatively large cohort sizes (trolls can pounce incoherently now). NYU MFE class size is small, averaging 15, never more than 30. I personally do not understand why cohort size is treated as a negative, when one controls for class size. In fact, for fixed class size, raising cohort size allows more course variety. To illustrate the folly of focusing on raw cohort size as a negative, take Columbia Math Finance. They currently have the largest cohort size, so are penalized the most for it by Quantnet. If Columbia MathFin converts their one cohort of 120 into 120 cohorts of 1, they might well take at least the top 10 spots on quantnet,. Now that's financial engineering.

 

[Youlan Dai]

Does anyone know the daily cost of living in NYC? Breakfast-Lunch-Dinner-Water

 

[Michsund]

Does anyone know the daily cost of living in NYC? Breakfast-Lunch-Dinner-Water

Depends where and what your lifestyle is. If your eating out three times a day it’ll be like 50 daily, but if you buy your own groceries it’ll be no more then 50-70 dollars a week.

 

[Seemalb]

I agree with your pros and cons. 2 additional points on NYU MFE are 1) I work with Masters students who want to do PhD. This year, all 4 were placed. One is going to NYU Courant Computer Science. 2) Please distinguish cohort size from class size, even if Quantnet seems unable to make this basic distinction. Our cohort size and Columbia MathFin cohort size are relatively large at 110 and 120 respectively this year. In MBA programs, the top ranked programs like Harvard or Penn have relatively large cohort sizes (trolls can pounce incoherently now). NYU MFE class size is small, averaging 15, never more than 30. I personally do not understand why cohort size is treated as a negative, when one controls for class size. In fact, for fixed class size, raising cohort size allows more course variety. To illustrate the folly of focusing on raw cohort size as a negative, take Columbia Math Finance. They currently have the largest cohort size, so are penalized the most for it by Quantnet. If Columbia MathFin converts their one cohort of 120 into 120 cohorts of 1, they might well take at least the top 10 spots on quantnet,. Now that's financial engineering.

I think a major problem that people have with a large cohort is that the placement director is now responsible with around 220 resumes now compared with other schools where they are responsible for a smaller amount.

 

[CourantMathFinance]

As already mentioned, if you're facing a deadline from another program, please email us and include the acceptance letter from the other program(s) with the deadline date but with confidential details deleted.

And one more comment about "don't like programming that much". Programming is an essential skill for a quantitative finance career. Please take it seriously. You'll get better and like it more, if you put in the effort.

 

[ApolloChariot]

FYI, NYU Tandon FRE features a significant amount of computer programming, mainly in languages such as a R, Matlab and C++. Some non programming courses also have assignments and take home exams involving coding. Instead of lecturing you on how important programming is, I would suggest avoiding courses of the most challenging programming languages (C++).

I agree with your pros and cons. 2 additional points on NYU MFE are 1) I work with Masters students who want to do PhD. This year, all 4 were placed. One is going to NYU Courant Computer Science. 2) Please distinguish cohort size from class size, even if Quantnet seems unable to make this basic distinction. Our cohort size and Columbia MathFin cohort size are relatively large at 110 and 120 respectively this year. In MBA programs, the top ranked programs like Harvard or Penn have relatively large cohort sizes (trolls can pounce incoherently now). NYU MFE class size is small, averaging 15, never more than 30. I personally do not understand why cohort size is treated as a negative, when one controls for class size. In fact, for fixed class size, raising cohort size allows more course variety. To illustrate the folly of focusing on raw cohort size as a negative, take Columbia Math Finance. They currently have the largest cohort size, so are penalized the most for it by Quantnet. If Columbia MathFin converts their one cohort of 120 into 120 cohorts of 1, they might well take at least the top 10 spots on quantnet,. Now that's financial engineering.

"Class" size is sometimes used to refer to the size of the entire cohort, e.g. phrases such as "Class of 2019". I don't see anything egregious with QuantNet using the phrase "class size", and its meaning is clear when looking at the ranking tables and the context.

The reason large cohort sizes, all else being equal, is treated as a negative should be apparent. Given the same number of placement directors, I would prefer to be in a cohort size of 40 rather than 120. Do you disagree?

2019 MFE Programs Rankings Methodology

The ranking methodology do not even take cohort sizes into consideration, as you imply.

 

[P. Carr]

Yes I agree that given the same number of placement directors, I would prefer to be in a cohort size of 40 rather than 120. However given 2 schools with identical and reliable placement rates, I'm indifferent to the ratio of placement directors to cohort size. How about you?

 

[ApolloChariot]

I would rather my placement director be responsible for 39 other people rather than 119. I don't see how any reasonable person who wants a relevant job in the industry would be indifferent to that.

Past placement rates are definitely NOT a perfect predictor for the future. You of all people should know that judging a program based solely or even primarily on PAST placement statistics is inadequate.

 

[idkmyname]

thanks y'all for comments and suggestions, very very appreciated!

 

[P. Carr]

I would rather my placement director be responsible for 39 other people rather than 119. I don't see how any reasonable person who wants a relevant job in the industry would be indifferent to that.

Past placement rates are definitely NOT a perfect predictor for the future. You of all people should know that judging a program based solely or even primarily on PAST placement statistics is inadequate.

I guess my post wasn't clear as to whether the placement rates are in the future or the past. You assumed past but I meant future. I agree with you regarding past. So for 2 schools with identical and reliable future placement rates, do you still care about the ratio of placement directors to cohort size?

 

[ApolloChariot]

I guess my post wasn't clear as to whether the placement rates are in the future or the past. You assumed past but I meant future. I agree with you regarding past. So for 2 schools with identical and reliable future placement rates, do you still care about the ratio of placement directors to cohort size?

Thanks for clarifying.

Then yes, in a hypothetical magical reality where we can see the future placement rates with 100% accuracy, assuming placement rates and quality of jobs are identical between two schools, it does NOT matter whether my school a placement director per 40 students or 120.

Of course, in the real world, none of us have infallible insight into the future, so you can understand why I didn't think you were referring to an impossible hypothetical scenario where unobtainable knowledge is known.

 

[P. Carr]

Thanks for clarifying.

Then yes, in a hypothetical magical reality where we can see the future placement rates with 100% accuracy, assuming placement rates and quality of jobs are identical between two schools, it does NOT matter whether my school a placement director per 40 students or 120.

Of course, in the real world, none of us have infallible insight into the future, so you can understand why I didn't think you were referring to an impossible hypothetical scenario where unobtainable knowledge is known.

Yes I do understand. It's great that we actually agree on something.

 

[Onegin]

For what it's worth, I love seeing @P. Carr and @CourantMathFinance hopping on here and getting after it. Way more useful than us trying to fumble our way through these questions.

 

[Keda_S]

As already mentioned, if you're facing a deadline from another program, please email us and include the acceptance letter from the other program(s) with the deadline date but with confidential details deleted.

And one more comment about "don't like programming that much". Programming is an essential skill for a quantitative finance career. Please take it seriously. You'll get better and like it more, if you put in the effort.

Hello, as I see your reply, I wrote an email to you to ask about my final decision due to a deadline in April 4th. So could you check the email and find whether there is an email named Keda? Thank you!

 

[idkmyname]

Thank you thank you thank you all for the advice! Appreciated!

 

[CourantMathFinance]

Hello, as I see your reply, I wrote an email to you to ask about my final decision due to a deadline in April 4th. So could you check the email and find whether there is an email named Keda? Thank you!

Hello

You should be getting a response from us soon.

Best
Deane