• C++ Programming for Financial Engineering
    Highly recommended by thousands of MFE students. Covers essential C++ topics with applications to financial engineering. Learn more Join!
    Python for Finance with Intro to Data Science
    Gain practical understanding of Python to read, understand, and write professional Python code for your first day on the job. Learn more Join!
    An Intuition-Based Options Primer for FE
    Ideal for entry level positions interviews and graduate studies, specializing in options trading arbitrage and options valuation models. Learn more Join!

Wish list for QuantNet 2023 and beyond

Just my two cents. Looking back at when I was going through MFE rankings, and in an ideal world I would've liked to know things like:
  • Placement data (duh! and also a number of people already touched on this - because it's probably the most important point)
    • Placement percentage
    • Starting salaries and titles (finance is highly hierarchical)
    • Career progression stats and job satisfaction (agree that MFE programs are generally not geared for this and a number of them would choose to not even disclose this)
    • Job location
    • I never ran into visa issues, but a lot of my friends from my MFE did - so anything on whether companies that typically recruit from that university sponsor juniors would probably be helpful
  • Student reviews
  • Info on the university's Career Development department
    • In my field (Investment Banking), we begin recruiting for summer interns over a year in advance! So a lot of MBA programs start coaching their admitted students even before they start their first semester
  • Some kind of data on the university's broader Alumni network - people that are in finance or relevant fields (I happen to think this is crucial for students that want to network)
  • Whether the program is offered jointly with a business school or is it purely the Math department
  • Whether a meaningful portion of professors actually have industry experience
  • Average work experience of the student body and what industries people generally come from

Additional food for thought here. As MFEs become more and more commoditized, like it happened with MBAs, I would probably look into the way MBA rankings dice their respective lists: best classroom experience, best professors, best MBA for consulting / finance / management, etc... Obviously, there are some rankings that probably wouldn't make sense like "Most Family-Friendly MBA" because the vast majority on FE applicants are young and single, but it'd be a starting point for me.
 
I joined QuantNet couple of months back when I started to kickstart my career in the field of Quant Finance. It is a very focused forum for students as well as professionals inspiring to learn and gain insights on the field of quant finance and also browse across courses that are offered by various institutions across globe.
I was able to shortlist some of the best colleges for MS Finance from this forum which otherwise would not be easily possible and also not readily available outside.
Compliments:
1. For aggregating a lot of data on courses and colleges that can be readily used by any newbie who is planning to go for Quant programs (like me :)).
2. The tracker tool that really helps you access yourself against your peers applying to the same program.
3. The college Rankings page that helps you to filter and decide the best course in any college

Can be extended in future:
1. Some additional and detailed information about each course in the college, like the internship opportunities/difficulties.
2. Placements statistics for each college (the ones that openly share) and deep down on the major roles offered to students from that college (e.g. buy side, sell side)
3. Comparison feature to compare the coursework/curriculum between two or more colleges that can help students to understand which field (Quant/Computing/Finance) the course is majorly aligned.
4. Lastly, a small up/down arrow beside each college rank to show whether it went up/down in rank from previous year. And if so what is the major reason for that move (e.g. better or worse placements than previous year, better research progress …).
 
I am surprised I didn't think of this immediately, but my #1 wish is for a thoroughly updated edition of the "Master Reading List for Quants" Thread.
Even if many of the books are just newer editions of the old books, the list was made 16 years ago, it would be nice to know that the new edition was thought through and approved by those who are up to date.

I know that the list was given some additions, but there are many comments under it asking for an updated version. Let's revamp it so that it is the go-to study source again (plus the C++ courses).
 
Many of the authors in that list have unfortunately passed, retired, playing gauf or spending more time with the grandchildren.

My own books ->

 
MikeLawrence said:
Yes, so we can replace them with new ones. This is why we need a new list 😂.
I know that at least one of Neftci's works was updated by another author after he passed.
Click to expand...
I once attended a course by Salih Neftci in Geneva almost 25 years ago..
 
Daniel Duffy said:
I once attended a course by Salih Neftci in Geneva almost 25 years ago..
Click to expand...
Wow. Not many can claim that. How was the course?

His intro to Math. Fin. Book doesn't exactly cater to readers, but it is trying to condense so much information into one book, which is a challenge. It is also the first textbook I am going through on my own (solo first, then meeting up with @Quasar Chunawala after each chapter), so that factors into how I view it.

It isn't bad, just different. It doesn't provide too much, but reveals things in stages. My education has typically given a specific topic (or pieces of a topic) to me all at once and then told me to work through the pieces. With Neftci's method, I feel there is sometimes there is a disconnect between what he asks and what he has shown.
 
MikeLawrence said:
Wow. Not many can claim that. How was the course?

His intro to Math. Fin. Book doesn't exactly cater to readers, but it is trying to condense so much information into one book, which is a challenge. It is also the first textbook I am going through on my own (solo first, then meeting up with @Quasar Chunawala after each chapter), so that factors into how I view it.

It isn't bad, just different. It doesn't provide too much, but reveals things in stages. My education has typically given a specific topic (or pieces of a topic) to me all at once and then told me to work through the pieces. With Neftci's method, I feel there is sometimes there is a disconnect between what he asks and what he has shown.
Click to expand...
On the last day the students got an introduction to PDEs and Crank Nicolson.. That part did not go well.
 
MikeLawrence said:
Wow. Not many can claim that. How was the course?

His intro to Math. Fin. Book doesn't exactly cater to readers, but it is trying to condense so much information into one book, which is a challenge. It is also the first textbook I am going through on my own (solo first, then meeting up with @Quasar Chunawala after each chapter), so that factors into how I view it.

It isn't bad, just different. It doesn't provide too much, but reveals things in stages. My education has typically given a specific topic (or pieces of a topic) to me all at once and then told me to work through the pieces. With Neftci's method, I feel there is sometimes there is a disconnect between what he asks and what he has shown.
Click to expand...
Might be nice to have a look at the late Mark Joshi's oeuvre for a rigorous approach.

 
For me, I'd like to see a ranking for european financial engineering programmes. It's a shame that there's no ranking for european MFEs so far since there are very good european programmes such as Oxford MCFinance and Imperial MathFin.

Edit: Haha, I just saw this was mentioned by another member. Oops! I will be joining one of the above mentioned programmes in September, so I can help you with the rankings.
 
ftst_modeller said:
In the rankings you show the average starting salary per program, it would be nice to get more granular and show specific firms/job titles and the distribution of salaries.

Continually tracking post graduate salaries would be powerful. Most MBA programs show average 3 years out salaries.

I imagine something like an annual survey where you can post years of experience, what program/background you had, company / title and total comp numbers. And you would have to contribute to see the results.

Although typing that out I think people would be uncomfortable sharing their program + company/title since you could probably pretty easily back into who it is. Not that it really matters but still. Maybe its just like T5 quant program, Citadel Data Engineer, 3 YOE, xxx TC.

Just spamming ideas because i'm at work.
Click to expand...
Not sure if, outside of the UK, European institutions track salaries, let alone placements. An alternative ranking system and list would be needed for Euro institutions. Enrollment is less compensation driven.
 
Back
Top