COMPARE Compare Harvard Computational Science *VS* Columbia OR *VS* Cornell MFE

[Tom.Chan]

Hi Guys

I really appreciate your help. I got offers from Harvard Computational Science&Engineering, Columbia Operation Research and Cornell Financial Engineering so far. I doubt that I will receive offers from others schools any more so I am just choosing from these three programs. I would like to get some of your opinions on the selections.

Pro:
Harvard CSE has strong math training and CS training. Big name.
Columbia has interesting flexible courses, we can choose some of the courses same as MFE, in NYC
Cornell has more relevant courses and one and half year program, with opportunities to do internship.
Con:
Harvard is a new program, not sure about career wise. No finance courses available, need to link the math and CS to finance on my own.
Columbia don’t have a strong career service, large class.
Cornell has first year not in NY and maybe the branding not as good as Harvard and Columbia? (not sure about this though)

Your help is really appreciated!

 

[BurritoMaster]

Harvard is obviously a big name, but the problem is that the computational science course is so new; hence, you're taking a risk careerwise by going to an unknown quantity. Cornell FE is solid, but I think for the NYC finance jobs Columbia carries more weight. My advice is to do columbia msor.