Part-Time MFE/MSCF/MSF in New York

[Maverick]

Hi guys,

I am working at a large pension/sovereign wealth fund in New York and am looking to do a part-time MFE/MSCF. I did my undergrad in Civil Engineering from the National University of Singapore and then traded FX Options for 2 years in Singapore and New York. Then I did my MBA from Wharton and traded Equity Derivatives for a year. Have moved to the buy-side recently and looking to develop some strong quant skills. Don't have much of programming background. Would really appreciate any help and advice regarding part-time programs in the city and the application process. I know CMU, Baruch and Columbia have good part-time programs. Any others you can recommend? Any application tips?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[Andy Nguyen]

http://www.quantnet.com/wiki/
The Columbia program you refer to is Math Finance program since their MFE is FT only. So your big ones are Baruch, CMU, NYU.
If you just want to learn without a career service, then you can broaden your reach a bit more. If you want to have some solid coding after the program, specially in the algo trading space, Baruch is a good choice but also a catch 20 since you need to know C++ to get in.

 

[roni]

I don't think Columbia has a MFE part time program, perhaps MSOR or MAMF. But, NYU, CMU and Baruch have.

Btw, during the interview weeks for Columbia MFE, some guy was afraid of the interview because his programming skills were weak but he got into Columbia MFE ( a top program).

 

[Joy Pathak]

Baruch would be a good place for you to build your quant skills. There is also a very strong Algo Trading and Market Microstructure course which will aide you significantly at your work place.

You will be using C++, MATLAB, VBA, R in the program with a big emphasis on C++ and the algo trading and MM course will require MATLAB and R. I think you can learn most of the programming as you're going through the program.

 

[Mr Doe]

Maverick, you have a MBA from Wharton!!! Why do you want to be a quant?
Pick up Wilmotts book and start going through it, coding everthing in C++, Matlab and R. You dont need another degree. My 2 cents.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

What Doe said.
Buying a few books from http://www.quantnet.com/master-reading-list-for-quants/ would give you a cheap way to know if you are prepared and like to go down this path before putting down another 100K.

 

[lonely]

I cant even comprehend why on earth Wharton MBA would even think about menial work like quant, but in case you have to learn quant then may be self study should be good enough. Joy, you need to rise above algo trading.....guy is wharton MBA why on earth he needs C++/algo trading classes. For algo trading you could hire top engineering school computer science undergrad..you don't need any finance course for that. And for HFT you don't need finance at all! Almost any algo can make money on tick data..it all comes down to who can execute it best and that's a engineering question not a finance one

 

[Maverick]

Thanks guys, appreciate your comments!! I really want to learn some solid programming and quantitiative skills because I have good qualitative and analytical skills and I find it quite hard to learn programming or quant stuff from books and thats why I thought that an MFE/MS in Quant Finance would be the best choice. I don't want to become a quant but I think having good programming and quant skills on your resume and in real life gives you a serious edge in the hedge fund and trading space. I am currently looking at the part-time programs of Baruch MFE, CMU MSCF, Columbia MAFN and NYU Courant, how would you guys rank these if someone was looking at them purely from a knowledge/skills perspective leaving out the brand name, career etc?

 

[vincegata]

They are all good programs. Look at their curriculum to see which one fits you the best. e.g. CMU is loaded with C++ courses.

 

[CN Chen]

Maverick, these top quant programs all have their strengths and weaknesses. It really depends on what you're looking for. I've noticed this forum has a slight pro-Baruch bias, so here's my completely unbiased opinion:

Disclaimer: I will be attending NYU part-time this fall.

Baruch MFE - programming component is highly stressed and strong alumni network (including quantnet, it may have the strongest). the best program purely on a bang for your buck basis, but by far weakest university brand name.

CMU MSCF - strong focus on programming. also well-established, comes with great alumni network. remote classrooms are a drawback however.

Columbia MAFN - strong math focus and best university brand name, but program is not as well-organized as others on this list and is only the second best MFE program at Columbia.

NYU MAFN - math and practical focus from a top applied math university. long history and established alumni network. only drawback is lack of great university brand name.

 

[myampol]

Note that while Columbia MSFE is a full-time program, as most of its courses are offered during daytime hours, they do videotape most of their courses and make them available through a scheme called "Columbia Video Network":
http://cvn.columbia.edu/

Under this program it is possible to get a degree called "Master of Science in Operations Research: Methods in Finance"
http://cvn.columbia.edu/deg/ieor/mfms.php
which covers much of the curriculum of their MSFE program.

It is also possible to obtain a "Certificate of Professional Achievement in Financial Engineering"
http://cvn.columbia.edu/cert/fe_cert.php
which requires only 4 courses rather than the 10 courses required for the Master's degree.

Best, you can sign up for one or more online courses without being formally admitted to either of the above programs; eventually you would need to submit the application paperwork in order to become an official candidate.

 

[Maverick]

Thanks once again guys, this is really helpful, does anyone know what all stuff does Baruch require to claim in-state tuition?

 

[ashwani]

Princeton MFin would be best, imho. But it's full-time. Second, CMU MSCF NY part-time.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Thanks once again guys, this is really helpful, does anyone know what all stuff does Baruch require to claim in-state tuition?

http://www.cuny.edu/about/resources/citizenship/faqs/tuition.html
http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/undergrad/residency.htm