COMPARE Columbia University MFE vs Columbia University MAFN

[financeguy]

Hmm.. I don't want to give you bad information. In this case, it's probably best if you called one or both of the departments anonymously and asked them yourself. If you can, get in touch with Mikhail Smirnov and/or Emanuel Derman - they'd have the highest authority in each department, respectively. Let us know what they say, but I'm sure they wouldn't care if you applied to both programs.

 

[Wilson Chou]

I will send them an email about that, thank yo so much !

 

[dalaohei]

which one has a better placement? ALso, is there an internship in the columbia MFE program? I'm deciding if i should apply MAFM if I have an offer from MFE.

Thanks

 

[atreides]

This has been discussed in detail before. Refer to this page some truth about the Columbia MSOR - QuantNetwork - Financial Engineering Forum or try searching the forum.

 

[johngalt]

Questions on Columbia MFE

Hi folks,

Does anyone know the names of the books used for the following courses in the Columbia MFE program -

IEOR E4701: Stochastic Models for Financial Engineering
IEOR E4702: Statistical Tools for Financial Engineering
IEOR E4706: Foundations of Financial Engineering

Also, is there a formal programming class (C++ etc) included in the curriculum, or are students expected to learn that on their own..?

Thanks!

 

[vikramsj]

which one has a better placement? ALso, is there an internship in the columbia MFE program? I'm deciding if i should apply MAFM if I have an offer from MFE.

Thanks

Each program at Columbia has its strong and weak points. I do not know about the other programs, but the MAFN is very much a "do it yourself" sort of deal. You will be informed about companies that come to campus for recruiting, but they are usually targeting a general audience not just Masters students. There is limited assistance as far as placement goes.

MAFN courses are open to the general public, and you need not neccessarily be a MAFN student to take them. Courses from other programs that are affiliated with the School of Enigneering can only be taken by those under that particular field of study.

If you are going to do MAFN , it would probably be wiser to do it partime while already working. That way, once you have already established good contacts in the industry you can leverage off them. For most fulltime students it is quite difficult to build these connections yourself.

 

[young]

I do not know about the other programs, but the MAFN is very much a "do it yourself" sort of deal. You will be informed about companies that come to campus for recruiting, but they are usually targeting a general audience not just Masters students. There is limited assistance as far as placement goes.
For most fulltime students it is quite difficult to build these connections yourself.

Hi. I was wondering if you speak from experience. Are you or have you been a Columbia MAFN student? I ask since in some of the other discussions, it seems to suggest that the Columbia MFE, MSOR, and MAFN students all receive generally the same career help or "facetime" with the companies... the only distinction being the individual degree titles. Thanks.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

He is a current Columbia MAFN student
Elective Courses - QuantNetwork - Financial Engineering Forum

 

[young]

He is a current Columbia MAFN student
Elective Courses - QuantNetwork - Financial Engineering Forum

Ok thanks. Its good to see a Columbia MAFN student/grad finally.

 

[vikramsj]

Yes, I am in my second term of the MAFN program so what I say is from first hand experience. Like I said before, I do not know about the other programs, perhaps they are similar as far as placements go. But I can say with a high level of confidence that any MAFN student that has gotten a job has done so by their own means.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Vikram,
Thanks a lot for providing first person account. I have been trying to reach MAFN alumni for quite sometimes with no success.
I emailed to all the contact info I can find on this site http://www.math.columbia.edu/~maalums/ but it seems they are all invisible.

Do you know if the alumni site is active and how I can reach them to solicit for reviews of the program? Their alum forum link is broken.

 

[vikramsj]

Vikram,
Thanks a lot for providing first person account. I have been trying to reach MAFN alumni for quite sometimes with no success.
I emailed to all the contact info I can find on this site http://www.math.columbia.edu/~maalums/ but it seems they are all invisible.

Do you know if the alumni site is active and how I can reach them to solicit for reviews of the program? Their alum forum link is broken.

Hi Andy,

I am not quite sure how active the alumni site is, having only used it a few times myself. If you are trying to reach past alumni, you might want to try to contact the program director as I'm sure he wouldn't mind providing some names to reach out to.

 

[young]

If the MAFN career services is not very helpful or effective, how effective is the "do it yourself" method? Do you see it working generally? More specifically, do you get interviews and calls when you send out resumes to companies? Thanks your your input.

 

[menovive]

@ alla : you are right. In their website they mention that 3 elective courses can be taken and If you dont want Linear Regression then a total of Four electives can be taken from Eng or B School. I think MAFN is more flexible to attain the necessary skill for a student.

"5. Elective. Can be Business School course with Business School approval, can be Economics department or SIPA course 4000 and higher, and any Math, Stat, Applied Math, Engineering course with course number 4000 and higher. Research seminars can not count as electives."

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Someone just left a comment on our review of the MAFN program
http://www.quantnet.com/review-columbia-mafn-program/

 

[Andy Nguyen]

More comment from the above link

Columbia MSFE isn’t too good on career support either. It all depends on the state of the financial markets at the time you are seeking employment. You are referred to general career services which supports undergrads and others. No one at Columbia is there to help you in the job search at all. They think the Columbia brand is enough and it is all on you to sell yourself. Getting interviews is a real challenge- whether you’re MAFN, MSFE, MSOR (finance). On-campus recruiting has two streams- undergrad (analyst) and MBA (associate). Quant masters doesn’t fit into either stream so there really isn’t a structured recruitment process.

Maybe my perspective is biased because I went to Columbia from 08-09 which was one of the worst times in history to be an MFE or MBA student with S&T/asset management interests. Hopefully the job market has recovered to some extent. I agree with the sentiment that among most Wall Street recruiters, Columbia has a bigger brand than CMU or NYU, just because of the overall prestige of the university. That said, unless you are French with prior internship experience, or American and already work at a bank/fund, you’re going to need some career help. CMU MSCF and NYU MathFin have much better career support. Columbia is like Chicago where staff doesn’t provide enough placement support to masters students.

On a bright note, most Columbia grads eventually get good jobs because they are smart and ambitious. Top MAFN grads are partners and executives at AQR, Bridgewater, Goldman Sachs, etc. (MSFE is a newer program so most alums haven’t reached the highest levels yet).

 

[Moumou]

I thought that MSFE was more highly regarded that MAFN on the Wall Street.
What do you think?

I am French and MAFN attracts several students from Polytechnique (most selective French engineering school) whereas there is usually no student from Polytechnique at MSFE.

Did someone ever heard about placement statistics at MAFN?

 

[menovive]

Both are slightly different but equally good..!! but MSFE has better career services in place which comes with the Extra $50K you pay!! Thats all i know. You can also go through the reviews.

 

[studdardpaul]

Whats the main difference of these two? What type of jobs would one get afterwards for these two? Any insight is appreciated.

 

[menovive]

MFE - 3 Terms, costs some $ more (10 courses, flexible and some really good Q/Engg courses), MAFN - 2 Terms (10 courses, 6 mandatory courses out of which some really good advanced math courses(None else has it- stat/mfe/msor), not easy to get into preferred electives in other departments) -I wish MAFN also has 3 terms with 2 more Q/Fin electives-can pay $12K extra.[only my suggestion]: About Job types-very good Ques especially at present !!. About Job Placement: MFE has separate placement coordinator, but don't know in detail; MAFN jobs - still hunting :-/ !!