I am accepting the same offer from SBU after deciding between that and Rutgers MQF. NCSU is a similarly strong program, sounds like both are good options. I will lay out my decision for SBU so you can see if your objectives are similar.
SBU is mathematically rigorous and notorious for it. The coursework covers all of the required mathematical and statistical concepts, especially concerning mathematical finance (Brownian motion, stochastic processes, Ito iteration, Black Scholes, etc.). I am looking to be a front office or research quant and require a great background in math/stats. Also, SBU allows students to rise into a Phd program. It is no secret that the industry prefers Phd's, SBU accounts for this. This program allows students to not overcommit to a lengthy degree, instead make the decision with a better understanding of the challenges and implications. I have been told by numerous professionals (in quant finance and tech) to select SBU for this reason.
My opinion on NCSU:
Obviously you will have a better grasp considering you have done more research on the program. I purposely avoided all of the southern/western programs as they do not have close proximity with the area where I want to work (New York). I have talked to GTech and FSU grads from their quant programs and they stated how difficult the distance was for interviews and connections. Due to the recent trend of zoom and virtual meetings, I would double check to make sure this is still the case. The curriculum looks solid (similar to SBU); I do not see any important concepts missing. I will say that this curriculum looks heavily geared towards finance, which is obviously good for quant positions, but could bite you in the ass if you need to get a job outside of finance (data science, data engineering, ML). I could be wrong; I did not look THAT hard at the courses.
At the end of the day, it comes down to what works best for you. Both are solid programs (according to Quantnet (but honestly wtf does that really even mean anything? Why do people blindly trust a ranking system that does not disclose how their information is collected and received? Seems like nobody would hold these institutions accountable for being slightly dishonest about their stats.)) and it seems like neither is the wrong choice. When I made the decision between Rutgers and SBU, I asked myself what I wanted from the program. I decided I wanted to be a mathematician who specialized in quant finance instead of the other way around. This way, my career path options are open past finance (ML, data engineering, tech research).
I hope this helps. I am in a similar position as you, so I would take everything I said with a grain of salt. I found it really useful to talk to recent grads/current students of the program I was considering to see if my career goals aligned with theirs. LinkedIn is a really good platform for this. Almost everyone I reached out to was happy to speak with me.
