Columbia MFE Advice on Columbia MFE

[Royston]

Hi Quantnet community,
I have just received an admit into the Columbia MFE Program and would love to get some insight from the community into the career services and opportunities provided, as a lot of reviews speak about the lack of effort made in this area.

Also would like to compare this to a program like NYU Tandon which is up and coming and has been receiving good reviews recently about its career services and other opportunities. I have received an admit here as well.

I realise that the sheer weight of the Columbia name adds a lot more credibility to a resume and in most cases it would be the obvious choice, but would love any pros and cons and insights that could be provided into the program.

 

[Michsund]

Please pick Columbia mfe. It’s much better, it’s established and is a tier 1 program where you can bet on landing a job at a tier 1 bank.

 

[Royston]

Please pick Columbia mfe. It’s much better, it’s established and is a tier 1 program where you can bet on landing a job at a tier 1 bank.

Yes I’m definitely leaning towards Columbia. But would just like a little bit of insight into the internship and job hunting experience people have had. Cause I know that NYU has a dedicated portal for internship and Job opportunities which makes it easier, so I just wanted to know if columbia also has any such resoruce etc.

 

[Michsund]

Yes I’m definitely leaning towards Columbia. But would just like a little bit of insight into the internship and job hunting experience people have had. Cause I know that NYU has a dedicated portal for internship and Job opportunities which makes it easier, so I just wanted to know if columbia also has any such resoruce etc.

Columbia is one of the only schools to have 100% employment after three months.

 

[Royston]

Columbia is one of the only schools to have 100% employment after three months.

Okay ! I mean that’s what confuses me though... if it’s a 100% placement then is it that all the students go out and get jobs by virtue of being in New York or is the college actively helping out ?

 

[ApolloChariot]

Columbia Financial Engineering is a premier program, NYU Tandon FRE is significantly inferior to NYU Stern MBA and NYU Courant Mathematics in Finance. Columbia brand name aside, go with the program that doesn't play second fiddle to other programs in its own school imo.

 

[Royston]

Columbia Financial Engineering is a premier program, NYU Tandon FRE is significantly inferior to NYU Stern MBA and NYU Courant Mathematics in Finance. Columbia brand name aside, go with the program that doesn't play second fiddle to other programs in its own school imo.

Okay ! Thank you so much

 

[OriginalThinker]

I am also facing the same issue. I have the admit from NYU Tandon and Columbia MFE. but i have heard lot of negative reviews about Career services of columbia and hence was confused because people are giving preference to NYU due to good career support.

 

[ApolloChariot]

I am also facing the same issue. I have the admit from NYU Tandon and Columbia MFE. but i have heard lot of negative reviews about Career services of columbia and hence was confused because people are giving preference to NYU due to good career support.

Columbia Financial Engineering does publish its placement stats (which are impressive, specific and unambiguous), which I believe should significantly reduce concerns of its (the program, not all of Columbia's) career services being subpar.

As for Tandon FRE, it seems to have many people on this site defending it. Its review page below has EIGHT (!) 4/5 star reviews between June 11th 2017 and June 18th 2017. Whether such activity is organic, astroturfing or some sort of "marketing campaign", and whether it is any accurate indication of the quality of the program, people can decide for themselves.

NYU Tandon School of Engineering - MS in Financial Engineering - Reviews

quantnet.com

 

[Michsund]

Nyu is overhyped on quantnet. Courant is a different story. I would pick Columbia over Nyu mfe any day unless you get some sort of big financial incentive

 

[rohitkrohit]

Nyu is overhyped on quantnet. Courant is a different story. I would pick Columbia over Nyu mfe any day unless you get some sort of big financial incentive

What are your thoughts on NYU MathFin vs Columbia MFE?

 

[Michsund]

What are your thoughts on NYU MathFin vs Columbia MFE?

I posted this response somewhere else but I prefer Columbia for small reasons such as they don’t have night classes. It’s really a good choice no matter where you go

 

[lzyJack]

Please pick Columbia mfe. It’s much better, it’s established and is a tier 1 program where you can bet on landing a job at a tier 1 bank.

Hi, I wonder where did you see the tier thing for the financial engineering program. Is there something online that we can look it up? The reason I am asking is that I am currently deciding among a couple of programs (potentially Chicago and Stanford). Thanks so much.

 

[Michsund]

Hi, I wonder where did you see the tier thing for the financial engineering program. Is there something online that we can look it up? The reason I am asking is that I am currently deciding among a couple of programs (potentially Chicago and Stanford). Thanks so much.

It’s not so much a list as it is a group of programs with consistent placement rates over 90% and 100k salary

 

[lzyJack]

It’s not so much a list as it is a group of programs with consistent placement rates over 90% and 100k salary

oh got ya, so based on the employment rate and salary tier 1 are Princeton, Berkeley, CMU, Baruch, Columbia MFE, NYU FinMath
tier 1/2 are MIT, Cornell, Columbia FinMath, NYU Tandon and Chicago?

 

[Risky Business]

oh got ya, so based on the employment rate and salary tier 1 are Princeton, Berkeley, CMU, Baruch, Columbia MFE, NYU FinMath
tier 1/2 are MIT, Cornell, Columbia FinMath, NYU Tandon and Chicago?

That's about right.

 

[IntoDarkness]

my advice:

• take 4706 very seriously as this is your main interview prep course and do coursera's equivalent mooc before you start
• you should know most of the stuff in 4007 and 4701 by the time you start your first semester, saves big time and effort
• take 4727 in your first semester
• must take derman's class before he dies
• use python for projects whenever you can, r is for sissies and matlab is fading
• pick as many machine learning / data science electives as you can, the only regret i have is they didn't offer those classes before and i start to use them a lot lately (thank god i took coms 4771)
• avoid classes taught by adjunct prof unless they are about machine learning and programming

 

[Chacinluis]

my advice:

• take 4706 very seriously as this is your main interview prep course and do coursera's equivalent mooc before you start
• you should know most of the stuff in 4007 and 4701 by the time you start your first semester, saves big time and effort
• take 4727 in your first semester
• must take derman's class before he dies
• use python for projects whenever you can, r is for sissies and matlab is fading
• pick as many machine learning / data science electives as you can, the only regret i have is they didn't offer those classes before and i start to use them a lot lately (thank god i took coms 4771)
• avoid classes taught by adjunct prof unless they are about machine learning and programming

Definitely take a linear programming course (and a nonlinear programming one as well if you can) before starting the Columbia MSFE. 4007 will cover linear, integer, nonlinear and dynamic programming all in one course.

 

[joe_boy]

my advice:

• take 4706 very seriously as this is your main interview prep course and do coursera's equivalent mooc before you start
• you should know most of the stuff in 4007 and 4701 by the time you start your first semester, saves big time and effort
• take 4727 in your first semester
• must take derman's class before he dies
• use python for projects whenever you can, r is for sissies and matlab is fading
• pick as many machine learning / data science electives as you can, the only regret i have is they didn't offer those classes before and i start to use them a lot lately (thank god i took coms 4771)
• avoid classes taught by adjunct prof unless they are about machine learning and programming

Hi @IntoDarkness, I know it's been a while. Wanted to ask, do you think Columbia's 4727 is really important for Quant Trading/Research roles? How about taking the C++ course here, do you think it will be a good substitute?

 

[Chacinluis]

Hi @IntoDarkness, I know it's been a while. Wanted to ask, do you think Columbia's 4727 is really important for Quant Trading/Research roles? How about taking the C++ course here, do you think it will be a good substitute?

Take 4727 on the third semester. 4727 requires a lot of time and effort. There are weekly programming and project assignments that take a lot of time. On your first semester you also have 4007 which also has weekly assignments and it is a grueling course if you have zero linear and nonlinear programming background. Every MSFE student at Columbia will tell you that the first semester is the most challenging because of the workload. You also want some wiggle room to prep for internship interviews so choose a light elective like quant-risk mgt, for example. Hope this helps.