Carnegie Mellon University - MS in Computational Finance

Hi, I graduated from this program recently. My experience has been very good.

The best thing about this program is that the curriculum is very thoughtfully tailored to meet industry needs, staying current with frequent updates that reflect the latest developments.

The faculty, particularly the professors specializing in Quant, are true legends in their field and they go above and beyond in creating the assignments and teaching the concepts.

On the career front, the availability of career services has been a game-changer. The continuous support provided in recruiting activities has been instrumental, ensuring that I had access to opportunities to the fullest extent possible.

In summary, it has been a great experience. I have learnt a lot, gained a lot of new skills and also secured a good job in line with my career ambitions and I would whole-heartedly recommend this program to anyone pursuing a career in quant finance.

I graduated from undergrad at UC Berkeley studying Math and Economics in 2022 and was looking for a graduate program where I could apply a lot of the technical skills I learned to quant finance. The MSCF program at CMU did all that and more for me. I was initially drawn to it due to the ML emphasis in the course load and the elective offerings (NLP, ML capstone project, Blockchain, etc) as well as the buyside placements it boasts compared to similar programs.

The opportunities I was afforded simply from being part of such a cohesive program and larger alumni community were unparalleled. There were very few companies I wasn’t passing initial resume reviews with and I had a plethora of opportunities that came directly through the career office (who are very supportive and help guide you through any technical or behavioral practice/tips you may need).

As for the academics, I got a well rounded education in traditional finance (options, investment theory, portfolio management), stats, and CS. The condensed course load was certainly challenging as we had 7 weeks or so to master material that could have been given double that time to learn. However we had a very strong community in the NY campus that would routinely study together and were highly motivated by intellectual curiosity and ambition. That sort of culture certainly influences and pushes you to get the most out of the program and prepares you well for the reality of the industry.

All in all, I felt the program exceeded my expectations all around and I learnt a lot, both in terms of hard and soft skills.

I graduated from MSCF NY in December 2023.

Prior to the program, I graduated from a French engineering school and I worked as a quant trader for a little under a year.

I think the program was great in every aspect. On the academic side, all the courses offer an in-depth exploration of their respective subjects. The academic advisor was awesome – really helpful and always there when I needed advice.

On the professional side, the career services were great too, giving solid tips for getting into the finance world. I also think that one of the strengths of the program is the alumni network. I had the opportunity to meet a lot of former students, which was great for building my network and for getting insights into the industry.

Overall, I really enjoyed the program and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to get into quant finance.

I am proud to be part of the big MSCF family!
Thanks to all the amazing professors, alumni and staff, I managed to realize my dream of undertaking a career in the hedge fund industry in quantitative research. I did my undergraduate degree in computer science in Switzerland and I didn't hesitate a second to travel to the US to receive the great education the MSCF offers. In this program, I managed to round off my background and learn how to apply all the cutting edge methods to financial data. From advanced financial modelling to statistical learning, every single class I attended turned out to be extremely useful in industry. In my opinion, the MSCF provides the best education to train the new generation of quants.
Beside academics, I am honored to have met through the program very interesting classmates which I can now call my friends.

Short summary: The MSCF program is fantastic.

Alumni: If you join the program, it quickly becomes apparent how strong the MSCF alumni network is. We receive one-on-one resume advice, mock interviewing, and insights into our preferred job function (trading, research, development, …). A quick search on LinkedIn for your desired company will reveal alumni at various levels of seniority due to the program’s impressive staying power (since the mid 90’s).

Faculty: The professors are awesome - they really care about the students and how relevant their content is for internships/fulltime. You’ll frequently find them soliciting feedback and working with the equally great staff to ensure every voice is heard.

Employment: The two points above lead to very strong career opportunities. The vast alumni network allows for hiring managers to be educated on the skillset MSCF students possess, and the passionate professors ensure you have the technical skills needed to succeed. On top of this, and a personal favorite of many MSCF students, is the additional focus on communication. The business communication and presentation classes offer a much-needed reprieve from technical studies, and dive into the importance of all types of communication in the workplace. They make a (very) noticeable difference in student confidence in front of crowds, both for native and non-native English speakers.

The price tags on these programs are steep, but worth it. They have a high ROI, and you are surrounded by incredibly bright classmates who quickly become friends. Everyone brings their own strengths and subject matter knowledge to the program. Although I’m biased, I wholeheartedly recommend the MSCF.

As a recent grad of CMU MCSF, I would highly recommend this program to anyone who is considering to get a MFE degree and land a job in financial industry specialized in the quantitative direction.

The curriculum is well-rounded and trying to prepared students with not only necessary technical skills and financial knowledge, but also communication and presentation skills to perform in an actual business setting.

Despite that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused some difficulties in job searching, the majority of students have started careers with a bright outlook. The steering committee and staffs have been working hard to continue providing us support and career advices.

It's pity that we spent about a half year studying remotely at home and failed to interacts with professors or classmates in person. Studying from most experiences professors and taking courses with smartest students definitely made it an enjoyable journey in MSCF!

I graduated from the MSCF New York campus in December 2020. Prior to the program, I had been working as a research analyst for three years. The curriculum helped me build a stronger foundation in different mathematical financial modeling. The best thing I like is that almost every course involves some kind of coding (of course, some courses are dedicated to pure coding in python and C++). Since CMU is famous for its CS courses, it is one of the reasons why I chose CMU and I am definitely more confident about my programming skills in the workplace now.

It has been a hard year for everyone but we also received a lot of help from the program. Besides the prestige given by the school name in the street, professors and the career center also have put in a lot of effort and helped us secure placement for internships and jobs.

I highly encourage everyone to reach out to alumni on LinkedIn as well, especially those who share some similar background with you. We are all super nice people and would love to share our stories with you in detail. Cheers! :D

After working for a few years in the financial industry, I was looking for a master’s program that could teach me the quantitative tools required to advance in this field. I recently graduated from the MSCF program in December 2019, and I am not disappointed to have chosen this degree. The program helped me develop the skill sets and industry connections required to succeed in the ever-changing and increasingly complex financial industry. I found all the support I needed to succeed, both in terms of academics and career development. The program has a great team of dedicated professors, career and academic counselors, classmates and student clubs. As the previous reviews mention, the program is worth the time and money invested in it.

I graduated from MSCF in December 2019, and I highly recommend anyone who's considering an MFE program to apply for MSCF.

My favorite thing about MSCF is the curriculum. During my summer internship, I truly was using everything I learned in class. The curriculum is always up to date and practical to ensure the students' success in their careers. In addition, the career service is exceptional. The staff will do everything to help you secure a job.

MSCF is also highly selective so you'll take classes with some of the smartest and brightest students from all over the world. It takes a lot of effort to succeed in the program, but by the time you graduate, you'll be 100% prepared for your career and build friendships that will last life time!

After gaining a few years of working experience in accounting and business valuation, I decided to switch my career to quantitative. Joining MSCF is one of the best choices that I ever made.
This is a totally new field for me. Before the program, I thought I learned enough for finance, which turned out to be not true. There is a lot more to learn in the program. MSCF provides a wide range of subjects to every student and prepares students well in academics for their careers. MSCF also adjusts the curriculum to meet the needs of the industries, such as multiple machine learning courses are in the curriculum.
MSCF career services are also extraordinary, comparing to some other schools' programs from what I observed.
Even the tuition is a bit higher, MSCF is totally worthy, considering the value I got from this program.

I just graduated from the MSCF Pittsburgh campus in December 2019. I went straight from my undergraduate study to this program. Having an engineering undergraduate background, I am very grateful to have joined the program. I did not have any experience in finance, financial mathematics and economic study at all. This program well-exposed me to these areas and well-prepared me to find a quant job on the investment banking side. The program's focus on presentation and communication classes help me stand out in my internship program.

Having worked for a few years after my undergraduate degree, going back for my Masters felt like a huge investment. I was giving up my career, current salary, and on top of that would be paying rent and tuition. I knew that if I was going to switch careers and give up everything I was making now that I would not settle for the best program and school. I was looking to maximize my return.

I quickly realized that CMU's MSCF program offered the best focus on career services while integrating industry relevant education in the coursework. It was evident from the breadth of information and transparency about their employment statistics that I could ensure this switch would work out net positive for me. I'm incredibly happy that I ended up at MSCF and feel that the investment has already paid off two-fold.

I graduated from MSCF in December 2019. The best part about MSCF at CMU is that they value student feedback and make changes to the curriculum every year. MSCF steering committee and the faculty are always in touch with industry practitioners.

Recent grad grateful to have chosen CMU. This program is fantastic on account of the caliber of student across both Pittsburgh and New York campuses. As someone with a more entrepreneurial and less quant/finance background coming in, I understood how effective teams depend on a diverse set of skills often coming from different people. As part of this program, I had the opportunity to work with an incredible number of highly intelligent and motivated young professionals. Not only did that make group projects very enjoyable, but it also opened up the possibility for collaboration on projects outside of class as well. For example, two colleagues and I applied some of the material learned in our Machine Learning course to a crypto trading project, which has produced interesting results! To add to it, this program has a fantastic Machine Learning curricula. 1) Because along with Stanford, Berkeley and MIT you are at a center of AI and Machine Learning itself 2) Professor G'Sell is amazing and helps transition students from very limited knowledge of ML to interesting applications with more serious treatment of the material and programs.

I graduated MSCF in December 2018. I had a tremendous experience at Carnegie Mellon and thank classmates, teachers, counselors, and administrators for making my schooling memorable.

Before going into the top ranked program, I was expecting excellent teachers and career services. My expectations were exceeded, and I can confidently say this program is worth every penny. Beyond my expectations, I further found that the academic advisors and administrators provided a feeling of home by offering in depth and personalized guidance, passion for each individual's journey, and an environment to breed success.

I have attained my dream job through the program and strongly suggest undergraduates and early career professionals to consider the opportunities MSCF can provide.

I graduated from the MSCF program in December 2018 and I was on the NYC campus. My experience with the MSCF program was very positive. I joined the program hoping to gain more quantitative knowledge and technical skills to peruse a career in a pure quant filed, and I’m now working as a Data Scientist in Silicon Valley.


Background: I graduated from the UC system with BS degrees in Business and Statistics, and directly joined the program without full-time experience. I had a variety of internship experience in financial services, such as commercial banking, brokerage and risk consulting.

Curriculum: The program curriculum can be split into four branches: financial mathematics, Statistics and Machine Learning, Computer Science, and Finance and Business. This curriculum is very updated to reflect the change in the financial industry and it aims to equip MSCF students with not only quantitative skills but also soft skills such as communication and presentation.

Career Service: Each campus has their assigned career counselors who are available for 1-on-1 appointment for resume editing, mock interviews, and general career guidance. In addition, the MSCF program offers many career opportunities through on-campus interviews, which are exclusive to MSCF students. The program also helps students to connect with alumni, which adds more career opportunities.

Personal Experience:
1. The Staff on campus really cares for every student. Going through this program is very stressful: hard classes, heavy workload, pressure for finding jobs, etc. It is very helpful that there are people there to help you with any issue you have, either on an academic level or personal level.
2. Due to lack to strong math foundation, I was having a very hard time during both stochastic calculus classes. My professors and academic advisor noticed the problem and offered me weekly tutoring sessions with a department Ph.D. candidate free of charge. Moreover, almost every difficult class has tutoring sessions offered by the TA. This program is really trying to help us succeed.
3. The program takes students and alumni opinion very seriously. There are multiple Town Hall meetings where you can go to make your voice heard about any issues you have with the program, and MSCF also updates its curriculum based on alumni feedback after every year.
4. The broad curriculum of the MSCF really makes it possible for its graduates to peruse a career outside of quant finance. For me, what’s covered in Data Science and Machine Learning classes, together with the strong CS classes, was good enough for me to land a job in tech.

All in all, the MSCF program really is a program that cares and tries its best to help students to be successful. I highly recommend it.

As an experienced student who just graduated, I love this program and enjoyed every minute of it very much. I got enrolled as a part-time student with years of experience as a quant in the financial industry. However, I still found the program very informative and it broadened my knowledge horizon with up-to-date materials and topics taught in the classes. The course design is always trying to catch if not lead the trend of this industry. I felt it very worthy to go back to school for this program after so many years of profession.

I have also learned and harvested a lot from the people of this program. Professors and other faculties do care about each of the students. They know each of our names, backgrounds, and to some extent, personalities. Professors and academic faculties spare no efforts on teaching, trying to prepare us as much as possible, while the career service faculties do whatever they can to help students locate their ideal positions. I am very grateful to them for their endless commitment. Also, I really feel amazed at the resources this program provided. I got my internship from a start-up by one of our alumni, and a full-time job offer from another one too!

Peer classmates are even more lovely. Each of the ~100 students has his/her own strengths worthy of appreciation. This brought pretty much fun when we worked on group projects/homework. What could be more touching to you when your team members provided to back you up and encouraged you when they knew you had a job interview tomorrow? I think that is the partial reason why in this highly competitive industry, MSCF network could stay strong and last for long.

I graduated from MSCF in December 2019.

Background: Stats undergrad from a non top tier US school and worked for a year at a large bank in a back office role.

Goals: I wanted to make the switch to a front office position without having to wait several years for my career to develop. Also, networking was never one of my strengths to leverage. Finally, I always wanted to get more quant training and CMU’s program had been my top choice.

My experience in the MSCF was excellent. I was challenged both academically and physically – I couldn’t avoid putting on a few pounds. Ultimately, I achieved all the goals I had set up for myself.

I chose MSCF for a few reasons, which were all validated after I attended the program. First, the location in New York provides real value not only in terms of networking but also because most firms are also located in NY. Second, the reputation of the program is nonpareil. Everyone I spoke to from the industry had a positive opinion of MSCF which speaks to the quality of the graduates. Most importantly, however, the curriculum is a constant work in progress. As Jordan mentioned previously, the school actively solicits the student’s opinion to make classes as relevant as possible to current industry trends without neglecting core skills that are necessary for every quant.

I had a great time in the MSCF. Looking back, I can safely say I came out with an invaluable experience that I will always cherish. I’ve made a lot of friends and as a bonus, I did end up learning a bit of Mandarin from my classmates – mostly bad words, but certainly due to no fault of mine!

The MSCF program is an outstanding learning experience which I cannot recommend enough. I studied at the NY campus and thoroughly enjoyed the challenging academic environment and gained an invaluable beginning to my career in the financial services industry. I had previously worked for a year as a software engineer and the program was the perfect launching point for me to move into finance.

The staff and faculty have created a truly world class program. The classes are created and run just for the MSCF program, creating a tailored experience with highly relevant projects and homework. The faculty and staff are highly receptive to feedback and genuinely want to improve the classes and program. I was particularly happy with the guest lecturers and speakers who brought real world experience to the classroom.

The career opportunities from being part of the MSCF program are outstanding. There is nowhere with a better reputation in the financial services industry. The career services office works hard to give students the tools, information, and opportunities needed to find their ideal role. I am 100% happy with the job I found due to the tools given to me by the MSCF program.

With the dedicated classes, everyone takes the same classes. Studying with the same set of students creates a small and tight-knit network of classmates, which forms the foundation of a highly engaging learning environment. Perhaps one of the best aspects of the program are the ridiculously smart students that join. I constantly felt pushed to study harder while being able to learn from peers who knew more than me. Many peers become friends forged through the experience of struggling through the challenging coursework together.

Carnegie Mellon’s MSCF is a phenomenal program that I would recommend to anyone that is pursuing a career in quantitative finance. The curriculum, faculty, and professors cohesively work together to create a program that equips students with the education and tools that are needed to excel in the financial industry. The students in the program are a group of carefully selected, diverse, and brilliant minds that make the program all the more rewarding.

Prior to joining MSCF, I worked in New York at a financial services company in a programming role. In an effort to sharpen my mathematical and statistical knowledge, I joined the MSCF program with a very specific dream job in mind. A year and a half later, I can happily say that I obtained the exact position that I set out to acquire, in addition to developing new connections and learning new skill sets that will benefit me far into the future. I graduated from the program in December 2017.

The fact that CMU offers the program in New York is an impressive benefit of the program. Situated in the heart of the Financial District in downtown Manhattan, the campus’s proximity to industry is of great value. The campus itself hosts convenient technologies that affords students added convenience and flexibility in their learning styles, such as immediate lecture recording and uploading, conferences rooms equipped with large televisions and teleconferencing equipment, and classrooms with video cameras and microphones for real-time communication with the Pittsburgh campus during lectures (all of the same are also at the Pittsburgh campus).

Professors in the program are selected from the mathematics, statistics, and computer science departments, as well as from CMU’s business school. The professors write customized courses for the MSCF program, and all work together to create a cohesive program that advances in a systematic way across the four disciplines. Additionally, guest speakers from the industry are frequently invited to give presentations that complement the education in a practical way that is hard to find elsewhere in a rigorous academic curriculum. The net result is a seamless communication of ideas across disciplines, making complex ideas much easier to understand and creating a knowledge base that will serve your career for years to come.