Master of Financial Engineering

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theKing

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Bored of my current job working in Finance for a Wall street firm. Undecided between doing a MBA or Master of Financial Engineering.

Is there anyone here has done the Master of Financial Engineering before or has any recommendation on which school is the best to follow? I currently live in London and would prefer to go to the US or Singapore to study.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks
 
According to my research from FT:

The options are:

US: UC Berkley and UCLA

Singapore: Nayang BS
 
That FT special on finance education was a good read, even though the CFA charter got talked down a bit.
 
Very true, the suggestion seems that CFA is a nice to have only if you already hold something like a MBA or MFE
 
King - I work on wall street and I have both degrees. MBA from University of Chicago and just finished the MSFE from Columbia. If you are thinking of the US, I highly recommend the Columbia MSFE, but it depends on what you want to ultimately do. I love both of the degrees and both have been helpful, but having a very recent Columbia degree seems to help a lot on interviews, since some of the things you'll pick up aren't all that widely disseminated yet. Also we have the monthly quantitative finance seminar (it's open to the public so everyone is welcome) where guest speakers present topics of interest and other programs. I know that NYU also has an excellent program.

You might like to have a read of Emanual Derman's book, My Life as a Quant. It's pretty amazing and he is the director of the program at Columbia. You can even take a class from him, which you won't get anywhere else!

One funny story (at least it was funny to me), I was on a phone interview a few weeks ago and the hiring manager asked me at the end of the interview "I will be looking at other candidates before making my decision. I have two resumes here: one is from Chicago and one from Columbia, since you have both degrees, which program do you think is better? I can't bring both candidates in." Of course, I said "both programs are outstanding but since I already have both, why worry about it, just hire me!" :)

Good luck King.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 08:50AM by DoubleDip.
 
DoubleDip Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> King - I work on wall street and I have both
> degrees. MBA from University of Chicago and just
> finished the MSFE from Columbia. If you are
> thinking of the US, I highly recommend the
> Columbia masters in financial engineering, but it
> depends on what you want to ultimately do. I love
> both of the degrees and both have been helpful,
> but having a very recent Columbia degree seems to
> help a lot on interviews, since some of the things
> you'll pick up aren't all that widely disseminated
> yet. Also we have the monthly quantitative
> finance seminar that anyone can come to from the
> general public. I know that NYU also has an
> excellent program.
>
> You might like to have a read of Emanual Derman's
> book, My Life as a Quant. It's pretty amazing and
> he is the director of the program at Columbia.
> You can even take a class from him, which you
> won't get anywhere else!
>
> One funny story (at least it was funny to me), I
> was on a phone interview a few weeks ago and the
> hiring manager asked me at the end of the
> interview "I will be looking at other candidates
> before making my decision. I have two resumes
> here: one is from Chicago and one from Columbia,
> since you have both degrees, which program do you
> think is better? I can't bring both candidates
> in." Of course, I said "both programs are
> outstanding but since I already have both, why
> worry about it, just hire me!" :)
>
> Good luck King.



forget columbia, go to Cornell and learn HJM from Mr. "J".

(i may be bias)
 
DoubleDip, thanks for this. Very tempted to read the book to find out more about how is it like to be a quant.
 
Why would you go to suicide land in Cornell in lieu of being in great cities like New York, SF or LA? You have some fine options; choose wisely avoid a place like Cornell for graduate school.
 
If you don't mind me asking.. What was your first position after Columbia MFE?

DoubleDip Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> King - I work on wall street and I have both
> degrees. MBA from University of Chicago and just
> finished the MSFE from Columbia. If you are
> thinking of the US, I highly recommend the
> Columbia MSFE, but it depends on what you want to
> ultimately do. I love both of the degrees and
> both have been helpful, but having a very recent
> Columbia degree seems to help a lot on interviews,
> since some of the things you'll pick up aren't all
> that widely disseminated yet. Also we have the
> monthly quantitative finance seminar (it's open to
> the public so everyone is welcome) where guest
> speakers present topics of interest and other
> programs. I know that NYU also has an excellent
> program.
>
> You might like to have a read of Emanual Derman's
> book, My Life as a Quant. It's pretty amazing and
> he is the director of the program at Columbia.
> You can even take a class from him, which you
> won't get anywhere else!
>
> One funny story (at least it was funny to me), I
> was on a phone interview a few weeks ago and the
> hiring manager asked me at the end of the
> interview "I will be looking at other candidates
> before making my decision. I have two resumes
> here: one is from Chicago and one from Columbia,
> since you have both degrees, which program do you
> think is better? I can't bring both candidates
> in." Of course, I said "both programs are
> outstanding but since I already have both, why
> worry about it, just hire me!" :)
>
> Good luck King.
 
What are the average credentials for acceptance at these top 10 MFE schools? I'm aiming for UCB and curious to know what the competition is for these programs.
 
I am preparing GRE right now. Maybe applying for a MFE program next fall.
I think top 6 in no particular order are:
UC Berkeley
NYU Courant
CMU
Columbia
Chicago
Cornell

I am really not sure if this is correct. It is just my impression by reading from this board and Wilmont.com.
 
DoubleDip Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> krnyc2008 - I am at a large wall street ibank.
> you?


I am on the buy side (~200bln AUM) in ABS group. Thinking MFE in my case could be more applicable than MBA. In which department of the i-bank did you start working after MFE?
 
There are many more options than those listed above, many from quality programs.

Check out the following link for a worldwide listing with general info on each program.

http://www.global-derivatives.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55&Itemid=36
 
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