Strengths:
The program has a strong mathematics portion. The University of Michigan has a great reputation however not very many people have heard of the MFE program. If you do go to this program and need advice ask Reza Kamaly as he is one of the few financial engineering teachers that cares about the students.
Weaknesses:
The program is lacking in depth financial theory. The program is only focused on mathematics with a hint of finance and minor programming. The administrators refuse to help students and couldn’t care less about you. The teachers have no interest in financial engineering since they all come from different fields of study and typically only teach one financial engineering course and then many other courses in their actual department.
The program has crammed so much work into the program that the only way many of the students are passing is through grouping. For example, students have formed groups by nationality and then the students divide up the homework between the students since it is near impossible to conduct all of the homework by yourself unless you already have a well-defined financial engineering background.
The teachers have no interest in financial engineering since they all come from different fields of study and typically only teach one financial engineering course and then many other courses in their actual department. The teachers are not financial engineers and only understand their one specialty. This is a large problem in trying to figure out how all of the different parts work together as a whole. The program is divided between Engineering, LSA (Literature, Science, and Arts), and Ross Business School so each professor only understands small portions of the material. Ross will be leaving the program after the 2013-2014 school year due to conflicts between Ross and Engineering.
The summer boot camp was a huge waste of time and money. You pay about $6,320 for the summer camp and you get nothing out of it except free coffee. The material is covered very quickly by some professors and PhD students. The material that covers your background will be too easy and you will learn next to nothing. The material that you need to learn is covered so fast that details and explanations on how to actually do it are not taught. Summer boot camp is mandatory and they threaten you that if you miss class that you will have to re-take it next summer. Many students skipped and nothing happened to them. If you do this program you are better off purchasing text books in your weak areas and then studying during the boot camp and in your free time.
Career Services:
There are basically no career services available. Ross business school has provided help with writing resumes and cover letters as well as interview preparation but they refuse to promote our program and will not let us tap into their alumni network or school clubs. As noted above Ross is pulling out and these resources will no longer be available. Engineering provides career fairs but all of the companies recruiting MFE students are looking for computer programmers. If you can’t code you won’t get a job at an engineering career fair. The location of Ann Arbor is too far from Chicago or New York and this makes job placement and networking difficult.
Internship placement for summer 2013 was around 24-30%. This is somewhat overstated since some of the students took internships unrelated to financial engineering to gain some work experience and to provide money for living. A few students however did land related internships.
Student Body:
68% Chinese, 10% Indian, 4% Japanese, 4% American, 4% Iranian, 2% Turkish, 2% French, 2% Greek, 2% Slovakian, and 2% Mexican . There is a total of 50 students. Like most programs the students group up by nationality and it is hard to relate or network with other students. The students’ backgrounds are almost all engineering or mathematics.
Advice:
Look for other programs or consider a different field of study. Many other degrees could prepare you for a successful career in financial engineering. This program as well as many others lacks the development of social skills. Make sure you learn how to communicate effectively and learn how to network with everyone you meet.
Conclusion:
The program is a good program if you only want to understand financial mathematics. If you are looking for a well-rounded program in finance, programming, and mathematics look elsewhere. I ended up adding a dual degree in Applied Economics so that I could obtain some flexibility in course selection and have spent a large amount of my personal time studying topics that the program doesn’t teach. The MFE program allows you to select three elective courses which is not enough to gain a specialty in anything except math. The job placement is very poor due to a lack of career services. The tuition is very high for what you get which could leave you unemployed or under employed with a lot of student debt. My overall rating of this program is very poor. If I knew what I know now I would have looked into other degrees besides financial engineering and networked my way into financial engineering.
