MIT MFin Why so many people apply MIT MS Finance this year?

[PennyLess]

Talking about the placement stat for the second class, I spoke with one of the current students over the phone and he mentioned that he has secured an offer with the investment banking division of a BB. I am quite optimistic about the placement statistics of the current class.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

@PennyLess
You can find the exact admission number of MIT MFin here http://www.quantnet.com/mfe-admission-numbers/
So if they have 900 applicants this year (I have to confirm with their admission office), it's a drop from last year.

The placement report for first class is very similar to a typical MS Finance program (consulting, investment banking, etc) and far different from a traditional quant MFE program so people apply to both CMU MSCF and MIT MFIN should know they are two totally different type of program.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

@Anthony DeAngelis
MIT Sloan release their MFin placement report in Dec which is about 6 months after the students graduate. My understanding of Business School is that they do a survey at graduation and 3 months after that but why they wait 6 months to release? To coincide with the MBA Sloan report?

For example, the CMU MSCF releases the report for numbers surveyed at graduation.

 

[Anthony DeAngelis]

Yeah, delaying is a nice way to inflate your employment numbers. With that said, any program with a large amount of international students will have trouble with placement. I think the H1 situation in this country is sad, but unfortunately the economy (especially in the finance sector) is still tough. My girlfriend struggled with her H1 also.

I think a big problem with the MSF, right now, is that it is so new. CMU's MSCF is established and recruiters know what they are getting. The MSF is hit or miss. On top of that, the MSF is more of a banking degree, not a quant degree. You don't need a masters to be a banker.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

According to Glenn Cunningham, career service advisor from MIT Master in Finance program, they received well over 900 applications this year and targeting a class size of 60.
Today, they held an online chat for this year admits to answer questions, and hopefully improve the number of people eventually enroll to the program.

 

[Lyosha]

@PennyLess
You can find the exact admission number of MIT MFin here http://www.quantnet.com/mfe-admission-numbers/
So if they have 900 applicants this year (I have to confirm with their admission office), it's a drop from last year.

The placement report for first class is very similar to a typical MS Finance program (consulting, investment banking, etc) and far different from a traditional quant MFE program so people apply to both CMU MSCF and MIT MFIN should know they are two totally different type of program.

Well [in my non-empirical opinion], they seem to have been email-blasting people less this academic year. I remember last year I couldn't delete their emails fast enough after I took the GRE...

 

[PennyLess]

According to Glenn Cunningham, career service advisor from MIT Master in Finance program, they received well over 900 applications this year and targeting a class size of 60.
Today, they held an online chat for this year admits to answer questions, and hopefully improve the number of people eventually enroll to the program.

Many people actually think that MIT might get "over-enrolled" this year. Last year they admitted 83 and ended up with a class size of 58. This year they admitted 112 in both rounds. It's likely that more than 60 would enroll.

 

[DominiConnor]

Anthony is cynical and probably right that the stats will be chosen as part of a marketing strategy and not in any way to help people make more informed decisions.