COMPARE NCSU vs Stony Brook

[Darren C]

I get admitted by these two programs and it is hard for me to choose one since both are not famous enough to find some valuable remarks. Can anyone help me or just give me advice? I really need your help as deadline is approaching.

Stony Brook can not be found in every rankings, however it issaid that their faculties who have WALL STREET background can place the students in internships. And that's quite appealing for international students like me. Besides their campus locates quite near to the NYC.

NSCU is better for reputation in rankings but some information imply that most their students have to find their jobs on their own for a lack of connection with financial industry. Is that true?

So what’s your key point for making this decision? Location , reputation or internship? Wait for your wise and far-sighted answers. Thank you!

 

[myampol]

The Stony Brook program was started by Robert Frey, who spent many years working for Jim Simons at Renaissance Technologies, which is located just down the road, and is now run by Zari Rachev, who has written numerous books and articles in the field.

https://www.quantnet.com/svetlozar-rachev-appointed-frey-professor-in-quantitative-finance/

Jim Simons was the chairman of the Stony Brook Mathematics department in the 1960s and 1970s, and is the university's most generous benefactor.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/nyregion/stony-brook-university-given-150-million.html

While Stony Brook is "near" NYC, it is actually about 60 miles away. There is a train which runs from the campus to Manhattan, but it takes between 90 minutes and 120 minutes, depending upon the time of day, and costs $16.25 for a one-way ticket, $107 for a weekly pass, or $334 for a monthly pass.

As for North Carolina State, that program was started years ago by Jean-Pierre Fouque, who has also published numerous books and articles in the field. However, he decamped for UC Santa Barbara about 6 years ago. I'm sorry but I don't recognize the names of any of the the current NCSU faculty members, so I can't say anything about them.

 

[Darren C]

Thank you a lot myampol !It's amazing to make my final decision with your valuable information ! My choice is SUNY and thank you again!

The Stony Brook program was started by Robert Frey, who spent many years working for Jim Simons at Renaissance Technologies, which is located just down the road, and is now run by Zari Rachev, who has written numerous books and articles in the field.

https://www.quantnet.com/svetlozar-rachev-appointed-frey-professor-in-quantitative-finance/

Jim Simons was the chairman of the Stony Brook Mathematics department in the 1960s and 1970s, and is the university's most generous benefactor.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/nyregion/stony-brook-university-given-150-million.html

While Stony Brook is "near" NYC, it is actually about 60 miles away. There is a train which runs from the campus to Manhattan, but it takes between 90 minutes and 120 minutes, depending upon the time of day, and costs $16.25 for a one-way ticket, $107 for a weekly pass, or $334 for a monthly pass.

As for North Carolina State, that program was started years ago by Jean-Pierre Fouque, who has also published numerous books and articles in the field. However, he decamped for UC Santa Barbara about 6 years ago. I'm sorry but I don't recognize the names of any of the the current NCSU faculty members, so I can't say anything about them.

 

[gongzhike.david]

I want to apply for the SUNY Stony Brook Quantitative Finance program. Can you please update some new information about the faculty, courses, internship and employment rate ?

 

[ygmwy]

I did not graduate from the Graduate program, but I studied there as an undergrad and got to know the students and the program quite well. I took a few of the masters level courses as well. The program is good because it has a few really smart hedge fund people working there. Take a look at the profiles of the professors. Everyone knows James (Jim) Simons, and they also have other really great practitioners, and are hiring more, so the program is developing.
However, most of the good news ends there. I studied with the masters students there, and they sadly, don't get jobs. Half of the PhD students have a good internship, and there are an abnormally large amount of PhDs for a program of its size. (About 12 last time I checked). Career services is no help, and Stony Brook isn't really a target school, so you will have to go find your own internship, or start your own hedge fund/prop firm (which is almost a culture at Stony Brook QF). That being said, Stony Brook's program is quite different from the programs of others. The courses it offers are not that demanding, but there are a few interesting ones such as "Important Papers in Quantitative Finance", and "Case Studies in Quantitative Finance" what you won't really see elsewhere.

The courses themselves are foolishly easy. However, this will be to your detriment when seeking jobs and going on quant interviews as the program lacks rigor when compared with the top quant programs, and the culture there isn't extremely motivated. You can see many of the alumni have tried to work for startups, or went in completely different directions (other than quant finance). You will however, be getting a bargain as Stony Brook tuition is extremely cheap.

The program is not selective at all. I know a stock broker who had no math background at all that got in. 99% of the masters students are Chinese, and don't speak English well enough to pass an interview. I spoke with the director of the program about this one day in his office, and he said "Honestly, I feel sorry for them. They won't really get anywhere."

That being said, the top 3 or 4 PhD students are doing really really well. If you can become one of those people, then you have a chance to do something with your life. I also know one Masters student who is currently interning at CME in New York. That's it. After graduating from undergrad, I felt like I really needed to get out, so I went to a different quant program, and my oh my, there are leagues and leagues of difference between the program I am in now, and what Stony Brook offered me.

 

[C S]

I get admitted by these two programs and it is hard for me to choose one since both are not famous enough to find some valuable remarks. Can anyone help me or just give me advice? I really need your help as deadline is approaching.

Stony Brook can not be found in every rankings, however it issaid that their faculties who have WALL STREET background can place the students in internships. And that's quite appealing for international students like me. Besides their campus locates quite near to the NYC.

NSCU is better for reputation in rankings but some information imply that most their students have to find their jobs on their own for a lack of connection with financial industry. Is that true?

So what’s your key point for making this decision? Location , reputation or internship? Wait for your wise and far-sighted answers. Thank you!

It seems like you are putting Stony Brook in the "location" category and NCSU in the "reputation" category. I assume you're going to be looking for jobs around New York City. If so, people there know about Stony Brook. If you say NCSU, you're going to get a lot of puzzled faces. So actually for NYC, Stony Brook goes in the "reputation" category too. It actually has a much-inflated reputation locally, so there's no need to feel bad about going there. It might be that the NCSU program is actually more rigorous though (I have no idea). That might actually matter when you go for interviews.