Number of applicants in 08 vs 09?

[wong]

Is it that the number of applicants of MFE in 09 is less than that in 08?
If it is true, do you think that it is good or bad?
Less applicants mean students do not want to be FE anymore?
Or it mean that many people get a job and do not need to study?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

It is true the total number of applicants to mfe programs in 09 is smaller compared to years past. Many programs saw a drop of 30% or more. Would this be the norm in coming years? Nobody knows. We all have to sit and wait to see how the next few years go.
Does all this mean anything? It may turn out to be similar to how the number of computer science majors drop after the tech bubble burst.
And more importantly, why does this matter to YOU?
Are you a herd follower and do what everyone else doing? Or are you someone who can decide for himself?

 

[alain]

Less applicants mean students do not want to be FE anymore?
Or it mean that many people get a job and do not need to study?

Probably more the former than the latter, but... are you worried? what's your concerned exactly?

 

[FourthQuattro]

many people have told me that because of the "financial meltdown" that I shouldn't go into this area of study. I just nod my head and dont listen to it. Some people just want to make money others want to actually learn and make a difference. Iam sort of glad because it weeds out people who are not genuinely focused to become a quant.

 

[quantyst]

Is it that the number of applicants of MFE in 09 is less than that in 08?
If it is true, do you think that it is good or bad?
Less applicants mean students do not want to be FE anymore?
Or it mean that many people get a job and do not need to study?

As of this writing, wong's post above has received -4 rating (or thumbs down). So, I gather a net of 4 people think that wong's post was WHAT? Not "helpful"? If I understand what the word "helpful" means, then most posts are not helpful to most of us. So, just about every post should receive a huge negative number. So, that is not what people do when they rate a post. The raters seem to express their agreement or disagreement with the post. So, let's be honest about this, and accordingly let's have the ratings clearly reflect our agreements/disagreements by changing the entire phrase including the word "helpful".

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Do we all agree with every Digg's rating? Absolutely not.
It's just how the net is. Some people would just abuse the system, however advanced.
If you have some suggestion of how to make this more useful, I'm all ears.

Actually, I have something in mind that I will implement in the near future that will encourage the posting of useful posting. It may work, it may not. It's just how it is.