COMPARE Toronto MMF vs Waterloo MQF and future prospects

[mitchieyy]

Any one know about the M-Phimac(math finance) program at Mcmaster? Does it have any reputation in Canada? I have an offer from mcmaster

 

[eclipseYan]

hi J-R good to know you've made the decision. now i'm faced with the same choice. just got the offer from mmf this afternoon. my friends are talking me into mmf but i am still thinking that maybe mqf would taught more which may turned out to be useful later. Anyway, enjoy your stay in Waterloo! That's a really tough 16 month

 

[awais]

Hi
I am a junior year student thinking about pursuing a Masters in mathematical finance/quantitative finance/financial engineering in a Canadian university. Any one know what is a competitive undergrad GPA ( in percentage) for these program ( beyond just the min stated)..Would a GPA in low to mid 80s be too low to be competitive?
thanks

 

[eclipseYan]

Hi
I am a junior year student thinking about pursuing a Masters in mathematical finance/quantitative finance/financial engineering in a Canadian university. Any one know what is a competitive undergrad GPA ( in percentage) for these program ( beyond just the min stated)..Would a GPA in low to mid 80s be too low to be competitive?
thanks

From what I know , MQF focus mainly on GPA. most UW MQF students have a GPA around 4 or even higher. Toronto MMF may take other things into account like your work experience, but generally 3.7 is a must.

If you can get a 3.9 or 4 that would be enough, I guess. Math and statstics is most important. Good luck：）

 

[MichaelZhang]

Hi, I don't know MQF before. But right now Master of Quantitative program is the most terrible master program "in the world". The course design is not change for almost 20 years, yes, you can learn something if you work hard. But then what? you can not find a good job after you graduate. Because staffs in this program are not responsible for students and their connection to financial industry is really terrible. when you want to get help from staffs in this program, you will feel helpless, because they don't care about your study and problems you meet in this program. I heard from my friend that one previous director ask my friend to leave his office when my friend wanted some help from this director. He felt so disappointed for both this program and staffs in this program. Please remember: their ranking just represent for their previous reputation not now. Because all staffs changed, founder of this program even leave university of Waterloo and coordinator has retired 1 year ago.

 

[IntoDarkness]

Hi, I don't know MQF before. But right now Master of Quantitative program is the most terrible master program "in the world". The course design is not change for almost 20 years, yes, you can learn something if you work hard. But then what? you can not find a good job after you graduate. Because staffs in this program are not responsible for students and their connection to financial industry is really terrible. when you want to get help from staffs in this program, you will feel helpless, because they don't care about your study and problems you meet in this program. I heard from my friend that one previous director ask my friend to leave his office when my friend wanted some help from this director. He felt so disappointed for both this program and staffs in this program. Please remember: their ranking just represent for their previous reputation not now. Because all staffs changed, founder of this program even leave university of Waterloo and coordinator has retired 1 year ago.

how come i don't even feel surprised...

 

[rohitr]

There are many posts about Toronto MMF and Waterloo MQF, and I thought it could be useful to make a short summary of what I found and see if people agree with it. I also have a follow up question concerning the importance of "brand" and future prospects...

My main conclusion is that the difference between the two programs is of order epsilon. The tuition at Waterloo is cheaper (3 X $3,605) vs $41,300 at Toronto, but Toronto is 3 terms vs 4 terms at Waterloo, so your extra 4 months income working probably make up the difference. Both include a one term internship (pretty much a guarantee... on Bay Street) which should give you back around $16,000-$20,000. Toronto seems to be more applied with a focus on risk management while Waterloo is more theoretical. People that intend to pursue a PhD tend to prefer Waterloo. I am also under the impression that Waterloo is more diverse in what it teaches and covers more given that it has an extra term to do so. Both have an excellent reputation in Canada. The main reason Toronto seems to be preferred by most students is its international reputation. Waterloo really doesn't seem to resonate much on Wall Street versus Toronto (which is ranked 14 in the 2011 QuantNet ranking).

Here is my question now. How important is the last point: international recognition? My goal is to work on Bay Street initially, so it should not matter too much a priori. However, I am scared that if I desire to move to Wall Street in the future, a lesser known program as Waterloo might hurt me. Is it fair to say that the "brand" of your MFE program doesn't matter after few years of experience?

I got accepted at Waterloo this morning and I am still waiting the hear from Toronto. I tend to favor Waterloo, but this last point is bugging me a bit.

U or Waterloo's program is of 2 years?
I've read somewhere that if an International student pursues masters in canada of less than 2 years,then he/she will not get a job in canada. Is it true?