2011-2012 Quantnet Ranking of Financial Engineering (MFE) Programs

[Anthony DeAngelis]

Andy, as a non quant, after seeing how salty Barkeley students get by being beaten by Baruch, I 100% support your ranking haha. The snobbery is hilarious. If anything, Columbia should of been 6th and Berkeley should of been moved to 7th.

 

[NuBie]

Andy, as a non quant, after seeing how salty Barkeley students get by being beaten by Baruch, I 100% support your ranking haha. The snobbery is hilarious. If anything, Columbia should of been 6th and Berkeley should of been moved to 7th.

I am just glad to know QN finally got rid of all dissenters and make QN a real Baruch backyard. And congrat to Andy, I am sure QN will be much more properous from now on with only ONE voice. I am out...

 

[Anthony DeAngelis]

LOL I've never even been on Baruch's campus. I just find it funny how nasty people can get because their school wasn't 5th instead of 6th. Where are the Stanford kids complaining?

 

[darth]

get out of here leech

and in what capacity may i ask , can you make those comments.

 

[bansalmohit]

and in what capacity may i ask , can you make those comments.

if you just became member of this forum to criticize the rankings( i am talking about Nubie) and want to waste other peoples time, its better you remain out. my wording is harsh but i do not like to waste my time reading such people. Quantnet is for people who want to help each other to get in better schools and enahnce quant career.

 

[JesseLevermore]

I am not yet in any programs but these little arguments have definitely helped me form an opinion on programs.

When a quality car company like Aston Martin produces a new automobile do they see a need to advertise it? Of course not because the exclusivity and quality of the car speaks for itself. They do not need to refute any claims someone might attribute to them because the brand is known quality and nothing more need be said.

I have not seen a single Stanford student make a comment on this topic. You should realize you are only hurting your school with the cheap advertisement of seeking justice on a forum for a rank that is arbitrarily created by an algorithm.

 

[TraderJoe]

I don'tunderstand what the Berkeley students are getting upset about. Their placement stats are pretty impressive:

http://mfe.berkeley.edu/careers/placement.html

I mean with 100% placement sucess, average $158 K compensation plus average $21 K signing bonus, they must be quite happy.

Probably, only CMU MSCF may be able to come close to these numbers. I seriously doubt that Princeton or NYU or Columbia or Stanford can come close to these numbers.

 

[bigbadwolf]

I don'tunderstand what the Berkeley students are getting upset about. Their placement stats are pretty impressive ...

Real Berkeley students have better things to do than to write incoherent, misspelt, denigrating and repetitive posts on this forum. The thread was derailed by trolls.

The proof is in the pudding. As you say, look at starting salaries and placement rates. They speak for themselves.

Baruch is always going to be an underdog compared to global brand names like Princeton and Berkeley. Looks like some people are reluctant to give credit to what the people behind Baruch's MFE have done: build it into a first-rate program that can contend with the best.

 

[nesense]

What do you guys think of these rankings - the Top 10 Quant Schools According to the Street.

http://www.advancedtrading.com/articles/209102204?pgno=1

The board consisted of esteemed Wall street veterans who selected these top 10 quant schools based on Wall Street recruitability.

 

[soliton]

What do you guys think of these rankings - the Top 10 Quant Schools According to the Street.

http://www.advancedtrading.com/articles/209102204?pgno=1

The board consisted of esteemed Wall street veterans who selected these top 10 quant schools based on Wall Street recruitability.

that's old

 

[Joy Pathak]

I don'tunderstand what the Berkeley students are getting upset about. Their placement stats are pretty impressive:

http://mfe.berkeley.edu/careers/placement.html

I mean with 100% placement sucess, average $158 K compensation plus average $21 K signing bonus, they must be quite happy.

Probably, only CMU MSCF may be able to come close to these numbers. I seriously doubt that Princeton or NYU or Columbia or Stanford can come close to these numbers.

False. The 158K is with the sign on bonus in it..not 158K PLUS $21K.

$150K is very standard associate position at banks(sign on bonus included). There is nothing special here. It's the standard.

 

[vivekj]

$150K is very standard associate position at banks(sign on bonus included). There is nothing special here. It's the standard.

If that's the standard, then Berkeley must be doing a good job of placing students at 150K+

 

[Joy Pathak]

If that's the standard, then Berkeley must be doing a good job of placing students at 150K+

The other schools have similar records (from whats displayed on their websites). Baruch (disclaimer : my school) posted 95K average/median(we don't report bonus)... just 5K lower...which is around the standard. 95-115K is what associates get depending on the bank.

But anyways... I never said they don't do a good job. I was just stating that what was mentioned was wrong and that they were not getting paid anything extra-ordinary compared to any other person who gets an associate position from another program (as most do in the programs mentioned in the OP's post)

 

[alexinmusic]

Well I would like to mention some points which I think are important.

1. We cannot compare the average salary between different job levels . Say job A looks for guys with MFE and just graduated from colledge. Another job B is hiring guys with MFE, but also years of experience. UCB has really good record. But if we also consider their average age of entry: 28, the salary is good but cannot impress me.

2. CMU does a good job for they also seperate domestic students from international students. I think Baruch's domestic students are doing great, and they are the majority of the program. But I really have no idea about their international students.

3. To be honest, 100% placement is good, but I don't think there's huge difference between 100% and 95% and 90%. Because students usually care more about job quality instead of the percentage. There are always some students finding themselves not suitable to Quant Finance after they get into a MFE program.

 

[abhishekkkk]

The other schools have similar records (from whats displayed on their websites). Baruch (disclaimer : my school) posted 95K average/median(we don't report bonus)... just 5K lower...which is around the standard. 95-115K is what associates get depending on the bank.

But anyways... I never said they don't do a good job. I was just stating that what was mentioned was wrong and that they were not getting paid anything extra-ordinary compared to any other person who gets an associate position from another program (as most do in the programs mentioned in the OP's post)

From Baruch's website -

"First Year Compensation
The first year compensation reported here is the compensation guaranteed at the time of hire. It is comprised of the starting base salary plus the signing bonus plus any first year bonus guaranteed in the offer letter, if any."

The 95k-96k includes signing bonus , relocation, etc that's stated in the offer letter. The low average salary (including signing bonus) can be attributed to Baruch placements of some analyst level positions. From Baruch website:

Positions
Associate Advisor
AVP – Risk Analytics & Modeling
Commodities Trader
Credit Risk Analyst
Director of Research
Financial Applications Engineer
Financial Engineer
Financial Engineer Associate
Financial Software Developer
Global Equities Analyst
Interest Rates Trader
Investment Banking Analyst
Lead Financial Engineer
Market Data Specialist
Market Risk Analyst
Quant Developer
Quant Developer Associate
Quant Research Associate
Quantitative Analyst
Quantitative Support Analyst
Research Analyst
Risk Analyst
Senior Consultant
Software Developer

 

[Joy Pathak]

From Baruch's website -

"First Year Compensation
The first year compensation reported here is the compensation guaranteed at the time of hire. It is comprised of the starting base salary plus the signing bonus plus any first year bonus guaranteed in the offer letter, if any."

The 95k-96k includes signing bonus , relocation, etc that's stated in the offer letter. The low average salary (including signing bonus) can be attributed to Baruch placements of some analyst level positions. From Baruch website:

Positions
Associate Advisor
AVP – Risk Analytics & Modeling
Commodities Trader
Credit Risk Analyst
Director of Research
Financial Applications Engineer
Financial Engineer
Financial Engineer Associate
Financial Software Developer
Global Equities Analyst
Interest Rates Trader
Investment Banking Analyst
Lead Financial Engineer
Market Data Specialist
Market Risk Analyst
Quant Developer
Quant Developer Associate
Quant Research Associate
Quantitative Analyst
Quantitative Support Analyst
Research Analyst
Risk Analyst
Senior Consultant
Software Developer

We report sign on bonus.. not unguaranteed bonus like berkeley. I should have specified. Thanks for the post.

• Average First Year Guaranteed/Unguaranteed year-end bonuses, housing/transportation and other compensations: $56,705
  http://mfe.berkeley.edu/careers/placement.html

 

[abhishekkkk]

You should do an apples to apples comparison - You are comparing one program's base salary to another program's base salary +signing bonus.

Berkeley's average base salary is- $101,125

Baruch's base salary is - $94k
Both don't include signing bonus

 

[abhishekkkk]

Aso, Berkeley has reported guaranteed signing bonus, guaranteed relocation as well as the unguaranteed bonus. I think they do this to give an idea to students who want to apply what the first-year bonus will look like.

Unguaranteed is nothing more than the first-year bonus which is unguaranteed at the time you get the offer, and variable depanding upon your performance / desk pnl, etc.

If you want to compare base salary + signing bonus you can compare Baruch's $95k - $96k to Berkeley's $101k + $22k = $123k.

 

[Joy Pathak]

Aso, Berkeley has reported guaranteed signing bonus, guaranteed relocation as well as the unguaranteed bonus. I think they do this to give an idea to students who want to apply what the first-year bonus will look like.

Unguaranteed is nothing more than the first-year bonus which is unguaranteed at the time you get the offer, and variable depanding upon your performance / desk pnl, etc.

If you want to compare base salary + signing bonus you can compare Baruch's $95k - $96k to Berkeley's $101k + $22k = $123k.

Companies tell you unguaranteed first year bonus at time of offer? Not any company I know off.

 

[abhishekkkk]

Companies tell you unguaranteed first year bonus at time of offer? Not any company I know off.

Joy, it sounds like your saying the school - Berkeley cooked up the numbers. Am I right?​