COMPARE NYU Courant MSMF vs Oxford MSMCF

[GrandSisesonianEmpire]

Hello,

I have received offers from NYU Courant MSMF and Oxford MSMCF for Fall 2023 entry
and am waiting on NYU Tandon MSFE and Columbia MSFE. (I was rejected from CMU MSCF and MIT MFin)

I would like to ask the QuantNet community for some insight into these two programs
as I am unsure which one would be a better choice for me given only the information available on their websites and etc.

My undergraduate majors were mathematics and computer science
and I have experience in stochastic calculus (elementary) and deep learning (projects / paper(s) in financial applications).
Initially, my career interest was to get into a buy-side quant role in a major hedge fund or asset management firm.
(Still leaning towards this goal, but recently began considering doing a phd in applied math or CS as well)

From what I know,
NYU Courant has the location advantage and its curriculum is more buy-side material
while Oxford provides a heavy brand name and more theoretically rigorous experience.

It seems that Oxford would be a better choice if I lean more towards a phd
but due to their program being only 10 months I am not sure whether
time would be sufficient to produce good papers that can lead to phds at
Oxford or other top US universities.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[CourantMathFinance]

Here's a comment I just made on another post:

Since it's obvious which is the best program to choose, I won't bother to say any more about that.

I also wanted to observe that all of these programs are professional masters programs, designed specifically for careers in finance. So neither the degrees nor the courses will provide much benefit for an application to a PhD program. Your PhD application will be judged primarily on the basis of your undergraduate education and letters from professors who taught you then.

On the other hand, it's not uncommon to work for a few years before applying to a PhD program in math or stats, so there's no harm in doing that.

 

[GrandSisesonianEmpire]

Thank you very much for your kind reply.

I would also like to ask the following about the NYU MSMF program:
(1) Are internship opportunities at major firms reachable for students who have no
prior official intern or full-time work experience? (The internship placement rate for 2020 was 72%, and
I would like to ask if prior work experience was a major factor for this result as well as more recent
statistics if available)
(2) Do all admitted students receive detailed information regarding finances (total tuition and living costs)
or is this provided upon acceptance?
(3) Is the masters project topic chosen by each student?

Thank you!