Rutgers MSMF mathematical finance in rutgers

[zzfaithlizz]

Hi, I'm a new comer here. I have some trouble choosing between the two options. I saw a lot of valuable information here. Maybe you guys can help me to decide. Let me introduce myself a bit first, I was a medical student in China, now major in Bioengineering in one of the UC schools. Going to quit my PhD and change to Stat or MFE pertaining to my personal interest. I had good academic records in math but I haven't touched it for 5 years! I interned in Bain & Company, failed in an M&A case during the recruitment interview, thus, determined to equip myself with more knowledge before I try it again. So far I got two admissions, and considering I don't have much working experience or sufficiency in math or finance, job opportunities may not be optimistic for me if i graduate from Rutgers U, while master of Stat from Cornell U may not secure a job either. Anyone has some insider's view about my options? thanks a lot!

Let me put it in a clearer format about the two admissions:


Cornell Statistics MPS: Program Ranking 6th nationa wide for Statistics; Year to finish 1year; Cost per year for tuition $34,600; Program Difficulty Handable; Location 4hrs drive to NYC; Applications: Finance, Pharm, Biotech, Industrial Research; Values in the program Broad but not professional

Rutgers Math Finance: Program Ranking 22nd out of 28 schools; Year to finish 1.5year; Cost per year for tuition $24,000; Program Difficulty Tough; Location 1.5 hrs drive to NYC; Applications: Finance; Values in the program Broad but not professional; sufficient master degree with engineering background are dominant

 

[alain]

Hi, I'm a new comer here. I have some trouble choosing between the two options. I saw a lot of valuable information here. Maybe you guys can help me to decide. Let me introduce myself a bit first, I was a medical student in China, now major in Bioengineering in one of the UC schools. Going to quit my PhD and change to Stat or MFE pertaining to my personal interest. I had good academic records in math but I haven't touched it for 5 years! I interned in Bain & Company, failed in an M&A case during the recruitment interview, thus, determined to equip myself with more knowledge before I try it again. So far I got two admissions, and considering I don't have much working experience or sufficiency in math or finance, job opportunities may not be optimistic for me if i graduate from Rutgers U, while master of Stat from Cornell U may not secure a job either. Anyone has some insider's view about my options? thanks a lot!

Let me put it in a clearer format about the two admissions:


Cornell Statistics MPS: Program Ranking 6th nationa wide for Statistics; Year to finish 1year; Cost per year for tuition $34,600; Program Difficulty Handable; Location 4hrs drive to NYC; Applications: Finance, Pharm, Biotech, Industrial Research; Values in the program Broad but not professional

Rutgers Math Finance: Program Ranking 22nd out of 28 schools; Year to finish 1.5year; Cost per year for tuition $24,000; Program Difficulty Tough; Location 1.5 hrs drive to NYC; Applications: Finance; Values in the program Broad but not professional; sufficient master degree with engineering background are dominant

It looks like you have been all over the place. Why did you decide to quit medicine in first place? Do you know exactly what you want to do? Do you have at least an idea? Answer those questions first.

Also, how do you come up with those rankings?

My view is very simple, if you are good, you are going to get a job sooner rather than later. If you don't think you can't get a job in the field that you like, maybe you need to try harder and become better at it.

 

[zzfaithlizz]

thank you for asking. when i was in medical school, i was in a research track instead of being a doctor, so i should have been in biomed research for graduate school, it just happened that bioengineering is another name to stand for it. after couple of years doing bench work, i felt my needs not met. being an intern in bain gave me a different perspective of career choices, i want to be a management consultant in the future. due to lack of knowledge in the field, i chose to change major. M&A was where I fell, however, I had strong interest in it since then. I think math finance major is the right one to choose to specialize myself in a certain area in finance. MBA could do similar thing, but I need working experience to apply the top ones, and in terms of education in finance management, MBA cannot provide the equivalent value in comparison with math finance.

i hope i have answered your questions.

 

[MikeK]

Rutgers Math Finance: Program Ranking 22nd out of 28 schools; Year to finish 1.5year; Cost per year for tuition $24,000; Program Difficulty Tough; Location 1.5 hrs drive to NYC; Applications: Finance; Values in the program Broad but not professional; sufficient master degree with engineering background are dominant

While those rankings are probably garbage anyway, did you know that Rutgers also has a Quantitative Finance program? It is slightly older than their Math Finance program. Andy had a good post on this recently....do a search for it on this site.

 

[alain]

thank you for asking. when i was in medical school, i was in a research track instead of being a doctor, so i should have been in biomed research for graduate school, it just happened that bioengineering is another name to stand for it. after couple of years doing bench work, i felt my needs not met. being an intern in bain gave me a different perspective of career choices, i want to be a management consultant in the future. due to lack of knowledge in the field, i chose to change major. M&A was where I fell, however, I had strong interest in it since then. I think math finance major is the right one to choose to specialize myself in a certain area in finance. MBA could do similar thing, but I need working experience to apply the top ones, and in terms of education in finance management, MBA cannot provide the equivalent value in comparison with math finance.

i hope i have answered your questions.

Mangement consultant like McKinsey? I don't know if a MFE dregree will help you as much as you think.

 

[zzfaithlizz]

yes, like McKinsey. They do hire people who has IB skills, but indeed, I'm not 100% sure if MFE can lead to that.

 

[alain]

yes, like McKinsey. They do hire people who has IB skills, but indeed, I'm not 100% sure if MFE can lead to that.

I know couple of people on McKinsey and they graduated from Haverford College and I don't recall if they have an MBA but they are extremely smart.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I have a hard time trying to see where a financial engineering/stats degree fits into McKinsey typical job profiles.
I have a friend who works there but he got his MBA from Wharton. And the few people I know working in consulting all have MBA.

so maybe now you should reevaluate your career goal and come up with up an alternate path ?

 

[zzfaithlizz]

Yah. It's a long day for me. I had been overwhelmed by changing major. I had regretted for not changing my major during my sophomore year in college, and now new offers came in my second year of grad school, I thought I shouldn't let it go as before...Oh, how I wish I could start working in a company with opportunities to reach management tasks, and thus, I can apply for a good MBA program later. I think that's what I should do. Thank you, guys!