Anyone on the board here with MS in Fin Math from Chicago? How would you rate this program? Thanks.
go to the quantnet forum for this type of info. http://www.quantnet.com/forum/ I know the program can be done part time.
cool thx.
I know some people who have done it. They have said very good things about it. Most of the professors are heads of Quant at hedge funds in the Chicago area, and the program is very competitive.
ranked 2nd after Haas.
Not sure anyone would comment: I want to be more in a quantitative finance role, may be work at a hedge fund. I was thinking of doing CQF (still am) as a crash course in quant finance. I have a solid math background. Today I was talking to a Booth graduate and she said I should look into MSFM. Its prestigious. Moreover, the advantage is the networking and new connections I could make. Chicago is a finance hub. So I started thinking about it, and yes, I think one huge advantage of Haas or Chicago is the entry into an exclusive club. Would CQF offer that? Then is started looking at the MSFM program and unfortunately I have missed the deadline. I then looked at Haas and their late application deadline is October 1. So I can either put together something in a hurry, take GRE in a week and apply. Or I can do CQF. Or I can wait a year and try and get into one of the 2 programs. It wouldn’t make sense to do both CQF and go to school. The CQF would cost me $16K. MFE or MSFM would cost multiples of that. I am going to the NYC info session for CQF and I would ask them about this networking advantage the schools seem to have. Also, the school would help with placement. Would CQF?
maybe ranked #2 in terms of difficulty and rigor of the program, though I would think you’d more likely be hired from Chicago than Haas, all else equal.
don’t do CQF - still doesn’t have much notable value in the field. MSFM will go a lot further in the field. If you do take GRE, then I’d recommend taking the Math subject GRE since the program is competitive, and an 800 Quant (you shouldn’t get lower than that on the main GRE) is attained by many applicants. You could try calling admissions and see if they will take a late application, wouldn’t hurt to try.
mp2438, may i ask what your background is? thx.
Look at the Haas placement record. Its ridiculous. Chicago doesn’t even publish its record. Chicago would be awesome. You can tap into the fantastic Booth alumni base. The program is taught by hf manager/phds. I wish i could get into that program but i don’t have the math background. The bare minimum math required is not that bad, but I think you have to be pretty sick to be truly competitive. Needhelp - look into haas. The CFA is desired there, in addition to the quant/programming skills.
needhelp, shoot me a message at mp2438 at gmail. More than happy to discuss.
mp2438 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > don’t do CQF - still doesn’t have much notable > value in the field. MSFM will go a lot further in > the field. If you do take GRE, then I’d recommend > taking the Math subject GRE since the program is > competitive, and an 800 Quant (you shouldn’t get > lower than that on the main GRE) is attained by > many applicants. > > You could try calling admissions and see if they > will take a late application, wouldn’t hurt to > try. I second that, CQF is useless and most investments banks wont consider you a “quant” if you just go and obtain a certification. Financial mathematics will take you much further, the coursework is intense and will help you in the interview (unlike CQF , where people may just call you for an interview just to fun of you or destress themselves by stressing you)
mp2438 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > needhelp, shoot me a message at mp2438 at gmail. > More than happy to discuss. shot
Im going to throw out a story here: Several years ago, Morgan Stanley FI recruited analyst from Chicago the undergrad and the financial math program all in the same pool. At the end of the day, only one undergrad was hired. One of the financial math people was fuming about how much money he doughed out on this.
phBOOM Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Im going to throw out a story here: > > Several years ago, Morgan Stanley FI recruited > analyst from Chicago the undergrad and the > financial math program all in the same pool. At > the end of the day, only one undergrad was hired. > One of the financial math people was fuming about > how much money he doughed out on this. +1. My friend got a MSF from BC and they recruited undergrads in the same pool then several companies dinged all the MSFs for being “overqualified”. He was unemployed for about 9months after getting the MSF.
so in summary, CQF is useless, and MFE is useless. Instead get an undergrad? Thanks guys. you are awesome.
You can’t ding Master’s programs in general based on individual cases. I’m not sure what the placement rate is at UChicago, but it’s reasonable to assume that it’s close to that of Haas MFE. I bet the placement rate for undergraduates going into finance is nowhere close to 90%.
needhelp Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > so in summary, CQF is useless, and MFE is useless. > Instead get an undergrad? > > Thanks guys. you are awesome. MFE is not useless, and undergrad wont help you either. If you want to work as a quant (200k +) you need to have higher degree , at least masters in maths/physics/engineering, phd is the common standard but MS candidates get job easily too If you do MFE from one of the top programs you will end up at a good place earning decent money. People here site a couple of failures but those are outliers, you will definitely get hired after top notch MFE. I keep hearing this BS about MFE not being valuable, but every MFE I know is earning 250k+
^ agreed.
The glory days are over for a while (many of those $250K jobs were for structired credit and the like) but top MFE programs will still be placing people on wall street. BTW: a BC MSF is light years from a berkely/chicago MFE/MSFM.