Undergrad CMU vs UCB vs Cornell vs Rice

[NTF]

Hi guys,

I'm a senior high school student from China and I'm having a real difficult time making a decision among the four colleges that I was offered admission. Both my parents work in financial sectors at mainland and I am always regarded as a math/CS student by everyone around me, so I am pretty much determined to pursue a career in financial engineering in the near future.

I understand that for master or higher level, the decision should probably be made between CMU and Berkeley only, but the thing is, with all my parents' resources here in China, I am not sure if I will stay in the U.S. or come back, and from my chat with severeal HRs at mainland banks, Cornell seems to have a better impression on them.

Also, I know that CMU's MSCF program is superb, but there are few stats/info available for its corresponding undergrad program, BSCF, except for the fact that it is super selective and really difficult to declare as a major. Still, the other three don't even have a real financial engineering program at undergrad level.

Could you guys please give me some advice?

Thanks in advance

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Get into the best CS undergrad program you can and discuss about MFE 4 years later. It will keep your options open later on.

 

[NTF]

Get into the best CS undergrad program you can and discuss about MFE 4 years later. It will keep your options open later on.

Thanks for the advice! So if I'm going for the best CS school I can, I should probably choose between Berkeley and CMU. Could give me some advice as to which of the two might be better? Thanks.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

There probably some US News rankings of undergrad CS program that you can use. I'm not familiar with either of them but both are top notch universities.

 

[NTF]

There probably some US News rankings of undergrad CS program that you can use. I'm not familiar with either of them but both are top notch universities.

Great. Thanks for the help

 

[mhy]

Did you get into both CMU and Berkeley for CS? Both are top ranked in the country. Berkeley has Ivy-level name recognition in Asia.

from my chat with severeal HRs at mainland banks, Cornell seems to have a better impression on them.

Makes sense. In Asia, Ivy = king.

Also, I know that CMU's MSCF program is superb, but there are few stats/info available for its corresponding undergrad program, BSCF, except for the fact that it is super selective and really difficult to declare as a major.

If you want to do BSCF, you should check with the school regarding the requirements. I guess you would take a bunch of math class as a CS major so you'd be eligible, but it doesn't hurt to make sure.

 

[NTF]

Did you get into both CMU and Berkeley for CS? Both are top ranked in the country. Berkeley has Ivy-level name recognition in Asia.


Makes sense. In Asia, Ivy = king.


If you want to do BSCF, you should check with the school regarding the requirements. I guess you would take a bunch of math class as a CS major so you'd be eligible, but it doesn't hurt to make sure.

For Berkeley Yes. In the case of CMU, I am going for the Sciences and Humanities Scholar Program as it appears that only students from Mellon College of Sciences and Tepper may declare the major in BSCF. I AM worried that taking a computational finance major at bachelor level may limit my future career choice, though. And yes, Ivies are simply valued in Asia regardless of the subject for some ridiculous reasons :-(

 

[mhy]

If you were looking for jobs in the US and you wanted to do CS (and not necessarily work on Wall Street), I would say go with Berkeley as they have the world's #1 CS program (alongside CMU/Stanford/MIT). Or CMU if you're really set on computational finance and you're confident you can get into BSCF.

But with the current immigration climate in the US you should assume that you'd be going back to Asia after graduation.

I think purely for Wall Street recruiting (and I am referring in your case to banks in Hong Kong / Singapore / mainland China, not only the US), you should go with Cornell. Their CS program is not as good as Berkeley but still top 15 (maybe top 10 even? Definitely one of the best of the Ivies) and they have a massive worldwide alumni network on Wall Street.

 

[NTF]

If you were looking for jobs in the US and you wanted to do CS (and not necessarily work on Wall Street), I would say go with Berkeley as they have the world's #1 CS program (alongside CMU/Stanford/MIT). Or CMU if you're really set on computational finance and you're confident you can get into BSCF.

But with the current immigration climate in the US you should assume that you'd be going back to Asia after graduation.

I think purely for Wall Street recruiting (and I am referring in your case to banks in Hong Kong / Singapore / mainland China, not only the US), you should go with Cornell. Their CS program is not as good as Berkeley but still top 15 (maybe top 10 even? Definitely one of the best of the Ivies) and they have a massive worldwide alumni network on Wall Street.

Thanks for the advice! I do have a U.S. green card. But you are probably right on the school choice. Cornell is great for all except that I don't like its curriculum :'(

 

[Levine Push]

Go to CMU to study CS and to Citadel 4 years later. Not fantasizing, just met someone with that path today @Quantcon

 

[NTF]

Thank you all for ur advice. I finally chose CMU. I understand this may conflict with the mainstream idea as the vote suggests, but my fond of the faculties and culture at Carnegie Mellon simply outweighs any minor difference in reputation. Thanks again for all your insights!