COMPARE UCLA MFE vs. USC MFE vs. CGU MFE

  • Thread starter Thread starter docahk
  • Start date Start date
docahk said:
abcdefh - from what I understand they normally don't, but I had already given my deposit and was ready to begin when the issues came up, so they let me differ. I guess its not so much a differ as a leave of absence.
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The UCLA MFE program director just emailed me after reading this thread to clarify that they don't give deferrals to admits even if they paid deposits.
 
hi,

this is what i have heard about the CGU MFE program as I have friends in the program

-------------------------------------------------------


from what I hear, if you are a top 5-7 student in the program, you are guaranteed a job in ur preferred field of interest ( quant trading, research, risk, etc).


they also have an internship program set up that guarantees the top 5-7 students a solid internship
definitely need to be proactive to get jobs. the professors are also quite good. you can research with any of the professors from the 5C lots of flexibility in the courses.

drawback: cost$$$, how much fellowship did they offer you?
 
coolharvard said:
Is it common that the directors of various high profile programs are often reading posts here?
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Haha. Not only do directors of high profile programs read posts, Managing Directors of a few NYC based investment Banks are frequent posters and avid readers. So always be careful what you say.
 
coolharvard said:
Is it common that the directors of various high profile programs are often reading posts here?
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Not only that they read it here, they have an account here ;)
We have directors/faculty/staff from majority of MFE programs either are members here, subscribe to our newsletter, or just casual readers so they know what the market for MFE is saying. Quantnet is basically that market place.

That doesn't mean we should stop what we are doing i.e providing constructive criticism and transparency on these programs. If they hear us and improve the quality, it's a win-win for everyone. You will not see me stopping criticism on programs that I think their customers deserve better.

Personal opinion is never wrong. You just can't make up facts on programs you don't know anything about.
 
vashok said:
hi,

this is what i have heard about the CGU MFE program as I have friends in the program

-------------------------------------------------------


from what I hear, if you are a top 5-7 student in the program, you are guaranteed a job in ur preferred field of interest ( quant trading, research, risk, etc).


they also have an internship program set up that guarantees the top 5-7 students a solid internship
definitely need to be proactive to get jobs. the professors are also quite good. you can research with any of the professors from the 5C lots of flexibility in the courses.

drawback: cost$$$, how much fellowship did they offer you?
Click to expand...

This sounds old to me. I attended and graduated recently from CGU's dual MBA/MSFE program. I have heard rumors of about 4-5 years ago the program being like you describe. I know of maybe 2 FE students who got jobs through the school (profs or the career management). There were some issues with the career office when I was there (changed structure a bit and just didn't have enough resources). From what I can tell in keeping in touch with people things have gotten better. I have noticed that the intern placement this past summer looked much better than years gone by, but this is more personal/hearsay. Call the school and ask them about placement. They're really good about talking to students. This was one of the draws for me.

My particularly favorite part of the program was the freedom it offered with a third of the classes being electives plus the ability to complete a dual degree quickly. I also took advantage of a travel course in Hong Kong (it was more an MBA course but FE's can take it as an elective). The down side to the freedom is that some students don't choose a very good path and also don't bust their butts looking for an internship, lo and behold, they arrive at graduation with little marketable skills. You really have to take control of your future at CGU. There are lots of opportunities but you have to stay on top of it and keep in touch consistently with profs and administrators. They have also been steadily improving the programing aspect of the program which was nearly non-existent when I attended.

My guess is that UCLA is going to offer you more career opportunities through the school, Andersen is hard to beat. But it appears from this thread that comes from offering a standardized product (little curriculum variation).

On cost, CGU is very very expensive. I've got the loans to prove it. They do actually offer merit-based aid though in the form of fellowships.

All in all I'd say CGU is a program that is constantly improving so not only read the history on forums like this but also talk to the profs/administrators there. Don't be afraid to ask hard questions regarding things like placement.

Hope you enjoy where ever you go. I certainly loved being in Southern Cali for 2 years. Upside of not having a lot of oncampus FE recruiting was I didn't feel guilty about heading to Huntington Beach a lot!

--edit:
Feel free to PM me if you want to talk more in depth about the program.
 
Also I just want to make sure we're all clear on what we are talking about. There are two programs that can sometimes get confused with abbreviations.

Claremont Graduate University (CGU) offers an MS in Financial Engineering (MSFE).

Claremont McKenna College (CMC) offers a Masters in Financial Economics (MFE).

The MSFE is more mathematical and co-housed in the Graduate School of Management and the School of Mathematics. The MFE program is housed in CMC's Robert Day School of Economics and Finance.

I was talking about CGU's MSFE.

Also I just checked on CMC's website and looks like they may be calling their program just a Masters in Finance now. Hopefully that could help with the acronym confusion in the future.
 
According to my research till date, the order of top mfe courses will be NYU>UCB>CMU>Columbia>UCLA>MIT>Cornell>rest
Disclaimer: Based upon my interactions and forums search..it may not be perfect..
 
sgupt said:
According to my research till date, the order of top mfe courses will be NYU>UCB>CMU>Columbia>UCLA>MIT>Cornell>rest
Disclaimer: Based upon my interactions and forums search..it may not be perfect..
Click to expand...

Does MIT have an MFE / MSFE course? Didn't know that!! Any reviews available on that?... I'm new here... so if this has already been discussed, sorry. please point me to the right thread.
 
fyi, new to quant network. this site is very informative.
i'm deciding between usc msfe and cgu mfe.

my background: 7 years in the defense industry as a systems engineering and electrical engineer. BS and MS in Electrical Eng. I've had an itch for years and i'm finally gonna scratch it. i plan to stay in the west coast.

CGU: Impressed with their faculty, career services, administartors, and overall Drucker culture. They are building their network with financial industry. CGU hosts the Drucker forum which consistently brings in current and former business leaders. CGU's admissions office said they are populating the MFE's advisory board with managing directors from various banks. Overall, I'm very impressed BUT it is expensive. And I worry about placement after graduation. But since I'm planning on staying in CA, it might not be that bad. It would take 16 months to graduate.
USC: They just started it in 2009. Talked to a current student and she is enjoying the classes and the flexibility. It is a relatively new degree program so the career services and fairs within Viterbi (USC Engineering school) are somewhat useless. I contacted Marshall School of Business and they say their career services are for Marshall students only. However, 3 of the 9 classes needed to graduate are Marshall classes. Going to a Viterbi MS welcome luncheon tomorrow to do some fact finding. Meeting the program director for MSFE. Will try to visit the Marshall Career Services and gather more data. Got my first MS from USC back in 2005. Got my first job because of USC. The USC brand goes very far (It hurts me to write this because I'm a huge Bruins fan). In my case, it would only take 9 months to graduate (I can carry over one class from my previous USC MS degree).
 
Do you guys have any other input on the USC MFE program? I got accepted but based on what I have been reading I'm having second thoughts. BTW I applied to the new program (MS in Computational Finance and Risk Management)at the University of Washington - Seattle.
It seems interesting from what I've been reading in the program description and it is based on the Applied Math department which has great reputation worldwide. Any thoughts?
 
Jorge said:
Do you guys have any other input on the USC MFE program? I got accepted but based on what I have been reading I'm having second thoughts. BTW I applied to the new program (MS in Computational Finance and Risk Management)at the University of Washington - Seattle.
It seems interesting from what I've been reading in the program description and it is based on the Applied Math department which has great reputation worldwide. Any thoughts?
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Hy,
I am also interested in the program. Have you got nay other info on it?
 
brukun said:
fyi, new to quant network. this site is very informative.
i'm deciding between usc msfe and cgu mfe.

my background: 7 years in the defense industry as a systems engineering and electrical engineer. BS and MS in Electrical Eng. I've had an itch for years and i'm finally gonna scratch it. i plan to stay in the west coast.

CGU: Impressed with their faculty, career services, administartors, and overall Drucker culture. They are building their network with financial industry. CGU hosts the Drucker forum which consistently brings in current and former business leaders. CGU's admissions office said they are populating the MFE's advisory board with managing directors from various banks. Overall, I'm very impressed BUT it is expensive. And I worry about placement after graduation. But since I'm planning on staying in CA, it might not be that bad. It would take 16 months to graduate.
USC: They just started it in 2009. Talked to a current student and she is enjoying the classes and the flexibility. It is a relatively new degree program so the career services and fairs within Viterbi (USC Engineering school) are somewhat useless. I contacted Marshall School of Business and they say their career services are for Marshall students only. However, 3 of the 9 classes needed to graduate are Marshall classes. Going to a Viterbi MS welcome luncheon tomorrow to do some fact finding. Meeting the program director for MSFE. Will try to visit the Marshall Career Services and gather more data. Got my first MS from USC back in 2005. Got my first job because of USC. The USC brand goes very far (It hurts me to write this because I'm a huge Bruins fan). In my case, it would only take 9 months to graduate (I can carry over one class from my previous USC MS degree).
Click to expand...
Even I got a call from USC MFE. But is the stevens MFE better than this?
 
I was admitted to the MFE program at USC this morning. However, I have accepted an offer of admission from NYU-poly, a flight ticket from Beijing to NYC has already been booked. Which program should I chooose? I have no idea..... I am really confused...... Please help me with this decision issue.
(By the way, NYU-poly offers me 10,000 $ scholarship)
 

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