Can you tell us a bit about your background?
Worked as a Business Analyst for 2 years in Financial Services before joining the program.
GRE: 800 quant, 650 verbal.
I studied full-time in the program from 9/2009 to 5/2010
Did you get admitted to other programs?
Yes
Why did you choose this program (over others, if applicable)?
Notoriety
What alternative sources of info you used to learn more about the program?
Quantnet, Forbes Magazine, etc
Tell us about the application process at this program
Respond via email, waitlist candidates usually find out very late into the year
Tell us about the courses selection in this program. Any special courses you like?
Stochastic Finance was very interesting, and very challenging course.
Tell us about the quality of teaching
Depending on the professor, the courses can be extremely interesting or incredibly boring. TA's can be helpful in some courses but not all.
Materials used in the program
John.C Hull - Options, Futures, Derivs Stochastic Processes - Lawler
Projects
Development of Trading Strategies
Career service
Not helpful at all. Very minimal support by the University or the program.
What do you like about the program?
I liked applied courses, where we could see the theory applied in practice
What DON’T you like about the program?
Career Service and Support
Unfortunately the Faculty, and the Department that sponsors my program was not helpful at all. Besides the occasional email about a job posting, or career fair there was really nothing much they did. All the students are pretty much on their own as far as finding a job is concerned.
That was my biggest gripe with the program. I understand markets are tough, but we are paying quite a bit of money to the University, and I feel like we should get more help than we did.
Also I didnt particularly like how at Columbia, you must be affiliated with a program in order to take their courses. Some really nice courses like Quantitative Risk Management, Advanced Derivatives,etc. were only offered by the Business School, and the School of Engineering. Students from our program we're not allowed to take these courses.
It was not all bad though, the core courses that a Quant is required to take (Stochastic processes) were taught by a very high quality professor and staff. I also liked how Columbia does push students to their limits as far as academia is concerned. Hard work is definitely rewarded.
Suggestions for the program to make it better
Improve the Career Service, and make it easier for Students to take courses from other departments
What are your current job status? What are you looking for?
Employed full-time as an associate
This review was submitted anonymously
