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COMPARE Operation Research (Columbia) Vs. Financial Engineering (Imperial College)

Joined
5/5/11
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7
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13
Hi All,

I am in a special situation and I have to make my decision whithin 2 weeks. I have received admissions from Columbia's Operations Research program (MSOR) and Imperial College's Risk Management and Financial Engineering (RMFE) program. As you know MSOR at columbia is offered by the same department, which offers Columbia's Financial Engineering and both program are somewhat similar in terms of course structure.

Since my plan is to get either quant job at banks/hedge funds or a trader job, which program would you suggest?

I see people with MSOR degrees endup in both Banking and Consulting industry. But don't you think getting an OR degree will slim my chances?

Any pros and cons for RMFE and MSOR?

Thanx,
 
Such statistics can be confusing I think. I believe more suitable is your second option about Imperial.
 
Such statistics can be confusing I think. I believe more suitable is your second option about Imperial.

Thanks for the reply. Whats confusing? One option is to start OR at Columbia and apply for FE and transfer all units to FE.
 
Since my plan is to get either quant job at banks/hedge funds or a trader job, which program would you suggest?
Do you have any relevant work experience? Don't count on getting a trader job right out of school. What do you mean "quant job"? What do they do?
One option is to start OR at Columbia and apply for FE and transfer all units to FE.
Going from MSOR to MFE rarely happens. Why not apply to MFE in the first place?

I'm not well versed on the UK master programs so I can't tell you what roles graduates from Imperial program end up in? Do you know? Shouldn't you know?

It seems to me that you are trying to make a decision with very vague idea and lack of info from your own research.
 
Thanks for the reply. Whats confusing? One option is to start OR at Columbia and apply for FE and transfer all units to FE.

I'm saying that I don't understand why both graduates end up at positions you mentioned since the second seems much more relevant...Depends on position specifics also
 
Do you have any relevant work experience? Don't count on getting a trader job right out of school. What do you mean "quant job"? What do they do?

Going from MSOR to MFE rarely happens. Why not apply to MFE in the first place?

I'm not well versed on the UK master programs so I can't tell you what roles graduates from Imperial program end up in? Do you know? Shouldn't you know?

It seems to me that you are trying to make a decision with very vague idea and lack of info from your own research.

Andy,

I have a MS in mechanical engineering and I have +2 years of experience in engineering doing numerical analysis for oil and gas applications. Therefore I do not have experience directly related to finance but I am familiar with the tools. Trader job is my dream jon which I don't expect to get. By quant Job, I meant analyst for an Investment Bank/Hedge fund.

I have applied for the MFE program first but my application got rejected by Columbia and they offered me the MSOR admissions. After contacting them they suggested that I could start with the OR program and take all electives from FE and then reapply for the FE program.

The reason that I am considering Columbia Vs the more relevant program of Imperial is that I think graduating from Columbia will open up the doors to find the job in US. I don't know how well are UK degrees regarded in US.

I am also planning to take the CFA level I in december.

Any comments?
 
Did they really tell you that you can reapply for MSFE? Because they would mean you have to take more classes (i.e. more tuition fees) to complete all MSFE requirement after some MSOR classes. (I don't think MSOR's core classes can be used to substitute MSFE's core classes.)
 
Did they really tell you that you can reapply for MSFE? Because they would mean you have to take more classes (i.e. more tuition fees) to complete all MSFE requirement after some MSOR classes. (I don't think MSOR's core classes can be used to substitute MSFE's core classes.)
You are right, MSOR core classes can not be taken as a substitute of MSFE core classes. But based on their given info, I can take the majority of MSFE courses during the MSOR program and take MSFE core courses in following summer. Which mean that I can get it done in one year or a semester longer. The only risk is not to get the admissions for MSFE again.

Now I don't know which one to choose, The prestigious but riskier Columbia or Imperial College. Does any one know how well regarded is the MSOR program in banking industry? Or how well regarded is the Imperial's program in US?

Thanx
 
well, i guess you will have a hard time to choose. ic has math finance while columbia has mfe. so in terms of internal competitions, it would be equivalent. both programs are quite big and have pretty good brand name~
 
From what I understand, a UK degree will not get you to work in the US right out of graduation (unless of course you're lucky or you have an appropriate network). You'll need to get some work experience in the field to back up your degree and then try to cross the Atlantic.
You wanna start in the US, get a US degree.
You wanna start in EU, get a European degree.
Some will tell you that this is a narrow-minded point of view but it seems only natural to me that you will have hell of time competing with graduates from top US schools for finance jobs in the US.
 
From what I understand, a UK degree will not get you to work in the US right out of graduation (unless of course you're lucky or you have an appropriate network). You'll need to get some work experience in the field to back up your degree and then try to cross the Atlantic.
You wanna start in the US, get a US degree.
You wanna start in EU, get a European degree.
Some will tell you that this is a narrow-minded point of view but it seems only natural to me that you will have hell of time competing with graduates from top US schools for finance jobs in the US.

Fair Enough. How do you see the Job Market for MSOR graduates from Columbia. Columbia's website is not that clear.
 
How do you see the Job Market for MSOR graduates from Columbia. Columbia's website is not that clear.
The answer to this question is rather trivial. Contact Columbia IEOR and ask them to put more recent and detailed info of their MSOR graduates. This will help you and thousands of other people.
I wonder why many people have not done it already.
 
Because people don't want to do the work, as trivial as it sounds.

Not true. The reason MSOR graduates target broader and bigger job market rather than MSFE grads. There is no detailed data of MSOR grads ending up in financial institution and banks.
 
If one person questions authority (universities) he/she is a radical.
If 20 people ask the same question, it's becomes a requirement! And authorities will see at it from a different perspective.
 
I know it's much easier and relevant to ask the admissions rather than open up a discussion here. But as I said before, no luck there. I am trying to get a hold of MSOR grads and also Imperial's.
 
I was thinking. If I'm part of the Columbia Aministration, why do I want to publish the placement? It might be good but if I publish the goods, I will have to publish the bad ones as well. I don't see any incentive for them to do it. They still get a lot of people to go there just because of their name. There is plenty of proof her in QN of people that go to Columbia because they say is a better name.
 
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