Help! NYU Tandon MFE vs Columbia University MFE

[lucielseven]

I got accepted into both NYU Tandon MFE (2 year program, they offered $5k scholarship per year) and Columbia University MFE (3 semester long program) for Fall 2022 and have trouble deciding. I am an international student who graduated from an undergraduate program from a non-target state university, with a double degree in Mathematics and Finance, along with a Statistics minor.

My experience with programming is limited to introductory courses and online certifications (MIT intro to Python certification, Udacity Neural Network certifications, etc) and have 0 internship experience (which I admit has always been a big worry for me in terms of my chances at post-graduation securement of jobs).

I want to work in NYC after I graduate, and would love to hear what you guys think would be the better school for my case (cost isn't an issue).

Thank you for all your advice in advance!

 

[Qui-Gon]

Columbia MFE no question imo

 

[lucielseven]

Columbia MFE no question imo

Thanks! Would you mind explaining further on why?

 

[Yihao Luo]

Columbia definitely

Bro may I ask how you got admitted with no intern?

 

[lucielseven]

Columbia definitely

Bro may I ask how you got admitted with no intern?

I have no idea honestly since it's up to the University's discretion, but as far as I know, MFE programs gives students with no internships better chance to get in compared to MathFin programs, mainly because of that Masters requirement for people to start in the FinEng industry. I figured that as long as you show that you're committed to the path, they'd probably be willing to take out the internship experience factor. My GRE score wasn't amazing either, definitely didn't even meet the 169 Quant average. I would guess my double degree and statistics minor kind of showed that I was really committed to the FinEng path, it probably also helped that I had close relationships with my recommenders and so they probably wrote great, personal letters on me.

 

[Yihao Luo]

I have no idea honestly since it's up to the University's discretion, but as far as I know, MFE programs gives students with no internships better chance to get in compared to MathFin programs, mainly because of that Masters requirement for people to start in the FinEng industry. I figured that as long as you show that you're committed to the path, they'd probably be willing to take out the internship experience factor. My GRE score wasn't amazing either, definitely didn't even meet the 169 Quant average. I would guess my double degree and statistics minor kind of showed that I was really committed to the FinEng path, it probably also helped that I had close relationships with my recommenders and so they probably wrote great, personal letters on me.

Great! I also got NYU offer but I definitely wish to go Columbia more. Wish to see you in September

 

[Yihao Luo]

Also, may I ask if your portal shows the status of "under review" instead of "you application has been moved to review with...." before you got your decision?

Thanks

I have no idea honestly since it's up to the University's discretion, but as far as I know, MFE programs gives students with no internships better chance to get in compared to MathFin programs, mainly because of that Masters requirement for people to start in the FinEng industry. I figured that as long as you show that you're committed to the path, they'd probably be willing to take out the internship experience factor. My GRE score wasn't amazing either, definitely didn't even meet the 169 Quant average. I would guess my double degree and statistics minor kind of showed that I was really committed to the FinEng path, it probably also helped that I had close relationships with my recommenders and so they probably wrote great, personal letters on me.

 

[lucielseven]

Also, may I ask if your portal shows the status of "under review" instead of "you application has been moved to review with...." before you got your decision?

Thanks

I believe so, I remember checking my application a week after I submitted it and it said "under review", and then a few weeks later I got an email saying that there was an update to my application, and it no longer said "under review".

 

[lucielseven]

Great! I also got NYU offer but I definitely wish to go Columbia more. Wish to see you in September

Will you be attending Columbia, or NYU Tandon in September?

 

[Yihao Luo]

S

I believe so, I remember checking my application a week after I submitted it and it said "under review", and then a few weeks later I got an email saying that there was an update to my application, and it no longer said "under review"

Thanks ! that is super helpful

Do you mean that the status right before you got your admission was "you application has been moved to review with the faculty committee?"

 

[lucielseven]

S

Thanks ! that is super helpful

Do you mean that the status right before you got your admission was "you application has been moved to review with the faculty committee?"

I don't remember exactly to be honest. I've only ever gotten three emails from them: the first one to tell me that my application has been submitted, the second one said my application is "still being reviewed" rather than "your application has been moved to review with the faculty committee", and the third one was the email about my application status update.

I would imagine they would send you an email if there's any changes to your application status.

 

[Yihao Luo]

Thank you very much! Wish to see you in September

I don't remember exactly to be honest. I've only ever gotten three emails from them: the first one to tell me that my application has been submitted, the second one said my application is "still being reviewed" rather than "your application has been moved to review with the faculty committee", and the third one was the email about my application status update.

I would imagine they would send you an email if there's any changes to your application status.

 

[Qui-Gon]

Thanks! Would you mind explaining further on why?

Given all that has been written on QuantNet on both programs over the last several years, I don’t really think I need to. Do a deep dive here and I think you’ll understand that as far as the MFEs are concerned, Columbia is in a different league than NYU. Tandon’s program has steadily been improving it seems, however, it is not yet at the level where I think it’s competitive relative to Columbia’s program. For the record if it were between Courant, Tandon, Columbia MFE and Columbia MAFN, I would go with Courant—so, it is not simply that I prefer Columbia to NYU.

 

[Chacinluis]

Given all that has been written on QuantNet on both programs over the last several years, I don’t really think I need to. Do a deep dive here and I think you’ll understand that as far as the MFEs are concerned, Columbia is in a different league than NYU. Tandon’s program has steadily been improving it seems, however, it is not yet at the level where I think it’s competitive relative to Columbia’s program. For the record if it were between Courant, Tandon, Columbia MFE and Columbia MAFN, I would go with Courant—so, it is not simply that I prefer Columbia to NYU.

I agree. Right now Columbia MFE > Tandon, but based on the great strides made under Peter Carr, I wouldn't be surprised if Tandon becomes a tier I program in the near future

 

[lucielseven]

Given all that has been written on QuantNet on both programs over the last several years, I don’t really think I need to. Do a deep dive here and I think you’ll understand that as far as the MFEs are concerned, Columbia is in a different league than NYU. Tandon’s program has steadily been improving it seems, however, it is not yet at the level where I think it’s competitive relative to Columbia’s program. For the record if it were between Courant, Tandon, Columbia MFE and Columbia MAFN, I would go with Courant—so, it is not simply that I prefer Columbia to NYU.

That makes sense. I appreciate the input; that's what I've been leaning towards too, I just wanted to be sure as I've heard some unsavory remarks regarding the decline of Columbia's program over the past few years - I don't think this is true, though.

Thanks again for the input!

 

[jjhou]

Given all that has been written on QuantNet on both programs over the last several years, I don’t really think I need to. Do a deep dive here and I think you’ll understand that as far as the MFEs are concerned, Columbia is in a different league than NYU. Tandon’s program has steadily been improving it seems, however, it is not yet at the level where I think it’s competitive relative to Columbia’s program. For the record if it were between Courant, Tandon, Columbia MFE and Columbia MAFN, I would go with Courant—so, it is not simply that I prefer Columbia to NYU.

Hi, would you mind explain why you prefer Courant over Columbia MFE and MAFN?
It seems to me that though they are on the same level, while Columbia MFE and MAFN have a big band name plus.

 

[Qui-Gon]

Preferring Courant over MAFN/MFE does not mean I necessarily think the three are not on the same level. I think choosing between the three would be an extremely difficult decision—I prefer Courant because (i) I admire Dr. Kolm most amongst the three program directors and (ii) I like Courant's coursework more than I do MAFN/MFE. Brand name plus? This is Courant we are talking about...

 

[NYY]

I know this is about Columbia MFE and Tandon MFE, but anyone got any advice between Tandon MFE and Columbia MAFN?

 

[aleewdewx]

Given all that has been written on QuantNet on both programs over the last several years, I don’t really think I need to. Do a deep dive here and I think you’ll understand that as far as the MFEs are concerned, Columbia is in a different league than NYU. Tandon’s program has steadily been improving it seems, however, it is not yet at the level where I think it’s competitive relative to Columbia’s program. For the record if it were between Courant, Tandon, Columbia MFE and Columbia MAFN, I would go with Courant—so, it is not simply that I prefer Columbia to NYU.

and how would you rank/rate columbia MAFN ?

 

[Qui-Gon]

I hope my posts aren’t being misinterpreted as I think program x is objectively superior to program y where x and y are any top ~10 programs. This is not what I’m saying. All of these programs are fantastic, and aside from Princeton/CMU/Baruch/Berkeley, I think it becomes incredibly difficult to separate the remaining top ~10 programs. My posts on threads like this are just to provide subjective points that I would consider if I was wearing the shoes of the person making the decision.

All of that said, I, subjectively, put Courant right below the 4 I mentioned above, then Columbia MAFN/Columbia MFE/MIT/Cornell MFE more or less on par with one another, then Tandon/Chicago.