I was a part of this program in 2014. I will try to give an objective review of this program without any personal feelings and give you a glimpse of what to expect.
The program is led under the direction of the Executive Director, Dr. Ahmad Namini. The plus side to him is that he has experience in Wall Street and is helpful in terms of getting you a job and possibly boosting your GPA. He attempts to give a better grade than other professors because all the professors engage in grade deflation. However, Namini only teaches one course, Programming in C++. The problem is he doesn't teach: his entire class is jokes. He can literally joke for 3 hours straight and their is no restraint: racial epithets, sexual innuendos, etc. You feel duped by him. He's an excellent salesman in selling you a program that you will regret joining.
The program is 3 semesters long. The first semester is the worst, and your GPA will be terrible. The first semester is two classes for about 7 weeks, and then two more classes for 7 weeks. It's ultra fast and there is an enormous amount of cheating. The director also doesn't care if you cheat, in fact he told us he doesn't care in the Math Refresher program and not to come to him to complain. Your integrity will be at stake.The class is international, with only a few Americans. The foreigners can't leave once they join, and regret their time at the school. This is how the school rakes in so much money for their program. Most Americans enjoy a scholarship, but usually lose it because of the grade deflation.
Do not attend the Math Refresher program. This is a two-week program that costs around $300 at the time. Namini teaches it, and he only jokes around. You also don't need anything in the refresher program to do well in the program. The benefit of this refresher program is to network with other students and form a group. You will work in groups no matter what, if you don't join this, you may have a little trouble forming a group. But trust me you will find a group even if you are the most socially awkward person, everybody is nice. The TAs are all Chinese The Chinese work with the Chinese, the Indians with the Indians, the Europeans with the Europeans.
You will get a mentor, a second-year student. This is a good thing.
The academic advisor Whitney Jorns is very nice and helpful. The career advisor, Christine Nigro, she is also helpful. Namini is helpful too. There is a good support system to help you succeed. Don't be surprised if Namini offers you cigarettes; he'll smoke with you too. A lot of students take up smoking to ease their stress.
The second and third semesters are normal, ie four or more classes each 14 weeks long. The first semester is highly theoretical, with the 2nd and 3rd semesters being more application based. This program is intense and stressful, I suggest going to another school where the program is longer, maybe 2 years or longer so that you can understand the material well and prepare yourself for future success in your GPA.
You will most likely take Dr. Andrew Lyasoff for Stochastic Calculus unless he is on sabbatical. He is not a very good teacher. Throughout class, he will not answer your questions: he will ignore it some way or another with catch phrases like "It's straightforward, " "It's trivial," "It's obvious." His office hours aren't much help either for most students. He is a nice man, but he simply cannot connect with people on any level. He only talks stochastic calculus and does not have knowledge outside of it. He wrote a book and used us as his gunieau pigs, it's not a good book and you will definitely have to look elsewhere for understanding the material. There is a lot of cheating on his exams too. Bright side: we all had a great time making fun of this guy, and you will, too.
Schwenkler teaches Finance. He is the hot professor all the ladies like and he is organized. His lectures are good. But he will escort you to the bathroom during exams and stand behind you while you urinate to prevent cheating. Cheating really is a major problem here. Will he do this in the future? I don't know.
Jacquier for Statistics is one of the worst: his lectures are completely incoherent. He has an accent and some students find it difficult to understand, I didn't though.Your grade will be terrible in this class. This class is maybe the hardest.
Other professors are better. But you have them towards the end of the program.
I think you will enjoy the international community and also will have a lot of laughs with culture shock and making fun of the professors. It's a fun experience, but don't expect to come out a winner in terms of grades. If you think you want an MBA down the line or a PhD, this is not the place to be. This is a last stop as far as education is concerned for most students. By the way, most quants are PhDs. It is extremely rare to have a Masters degree and be a quant.
Hiring season for internships is December January and February. If you apply before that, you are making a mistake. Don't apply to more than 30 jobs and don't do it outside this 3-month window I gave you above. Some students apply to 50 in the fall, some up to 200 from the fall to February: this is just wasting energy.
You will most likely find an internship. Job placement is good after school ends. But be ready to take a job you don't want: like risk management. You also won't work for a major company like JP Morgan, or some other big bank or hedge fund. The school just does NOT have the connections. Most of you will not be a quant. There is NO career fair for you. Two main companies want you and come to campus: State Street and Charles River Development. There are students who do NOT get jobs, you won't be competitive with grade deflation. I suggest to go to a cheaper school because if you don't get a job then, you will still not lose as much money; also Boston is expensive compared to other US cities in terms of housing and food. Other schools in the northeast like Columbia are rumored to have grade inflation, making you less competitive.
