QuanNet released the latest 2019 ranking of all financial engineering programs in North America. Princeton University's Master of Finance surpassed Baruch College to rank first, and several other programs saw significant rank changes:
- NYU Tandon School of Engineering's Financial Engineering program jumped from 12th in 2018 into the top 10, ranking 9th, tied with MIT.
- New entrant JHU's Financial Mathematics program rose from no ranking last year to 21st this year.
2. Ranking Criteria
QuanNet's ranking considers two decisive factors: "Employment" and "Student Feedback." The ranking criteria are:
1. Peer Assessment (20%)
2. Employment Success (55%)
- Graduate Employment Rate (10%)
- Employment Rate Within Three Months of Graduation (15%)
- Starting Salary (20%)
- Employer Satisfaction (10%)
3. Student Quality (25%)
- GRE Score (15%)
- Undergraduate GPA (7.5%)
- Acceptance Rate (2.5%)
It can be seen that this ranking is of crucial guiding significance for financial engineering students, especially those planning to work in the U.S. for some time. Taking NYU Tandon as an example, according to the school's graduate employment statistics:
- Average annual salary for NYU graduates: $91,000
- Graduate employment rate: 75%
- Employment rate within 90 days after graduation: 87%
We can also find that in the statistics of companies where graduates are employed, in addition to traditional U.S. investment banks, brokerages, consulting firms, and financial companies such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Bloomberg, etc.
many Chinese companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, CICC, and Bank of China are also prominently listed. It is not difficult to infer that the job prospects for Chinese graduates of this program are also very bright.
King of Cost-Effectiveness in Financial Engineering: NYU Tandon MFE (Want to learn more about the NYU MFE program? Click here)
In this year's ranking, NYU Tandon's Financial Engineering rapidly gained prominence, undoubtedly the most dazzling program of 2019. Moreover, according to industry insiders, the program's prospects in the coming years are even more boundless.
Students admitted to this program can truly be said to be: winning the future.
As early as 2016, when Peter Carr first moved to Tandon, CheersYou（清柚教育） was very optimistic about the MFE program's prospects and helped many students apply and get admitted to this major. Now these students say: It's like our stocks went up!!!
So, here are some inside stories that are not widely known — why we recommend you apply to this program quickly.
It all starts with these two people:
Students interested in applying to NYU MFE must remember this person: Peter Carr, who became the director of Tandon MFE in 2016. It's no exaggeration to say that he might be the most important man for you in the next two years.
Peter Carr is the former director of the Mathematics in Finance program at NYU Courant, former head of the Modelling Group at Morgan Stanley, and former head of Bloomberg Quant Research.
Then the most important woman is probably her, Sara Tomeo, the career replacement director of the program. She was the industry relations director at last year's top financial engineering program (this year's second) at Baruch College, and also the campus recruiting head at Morgan Stanley. When Peter Carr recruited her, Baruch College strongly obstructed because she brought too many resources. But Peter had enough clout, and she still came.
These two people have directly paved the way for MFE students' employment, making it a smooth path.
Students, when choosing schools, note:
For those planning to work back home, choose schools by ranking;
For those planning to stay in the U.S., choose schools by employment prospects;
And Peter and Sarah can be said to have joined forces to create an unparalleled employment network for Tandon MFE students:
1. Exclusive Employment Platform
In addition to NYU's university-wide career system, MFE students can access a specialized financial industry employment platform built by Peter and Sarah. The positions posted are all from their internal resources. Major players like Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Barclays—essentially any financial giant you can think of—are all there, and most lead to interviews.
2. Exclusive Internal Referral Opportunities
Sarah's career guidance for students is truly exhaustive, from summer internships to full-time positions after graduation, she does her best to provide internal referrals. And in referrals, Sarah strives for fairness and impartiality; as long as you are qualified, she generally manages to take care of each student.
3. Nanny-Style Job Search Service
The program admits about 160 students each year, and Sarah is deeply concerned about each student's employment, frequently organizing small lectures, seminars, mock interviews, and more.
CheersYou（清柚教育） student Kevin Zhang, during his MFE studies, planned to return to China for work and hadn't registered for school-organized career activities for a long time. As a result, Sarah called Kevin in for a talk!!!
Events organized by Sarah
With such strong employment support from the school, every year students in the MFE program receive full-time or internship offers from Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, RBC, Wells Fargo, American Express, EY, PwC, and more.
Academic Excellence
Although there are course arrangements for MFE online, the actual curriculum is very flexible. Beyond core courses, students have a wide range of electives, with new courses offered almost every semester to keep up with industry trends. Additionally, students can take courses at NYU's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and the prestige of Courant's Mathematical Finance program speaks for itself—each year, about 40 students secure job offers before graduation.
Moreover, Peter Carr brings in numerous industry heavyweights to teach in the department. He himself teaches a course on Continuous Time Finance, a genuine popular course. Even if you don't manage to enroll, you can write to the department to request access, and they will try to accommodate you.
Additional Benefits
Another point to mention is that the MFE department is very generous; almost everyone gets a scholarship of $7,000-$8,000 per year, and as long as you maintain a GPA above 3.3, you can basically receive it each year. This shows their sincerity.
Admission Requirements
As the program ranking continues to rise, it's no wonder many NYU Tandon MFE students feel lucky, like their stocks went up. However, it must be noted that the program's admission difficulty is bound to increase.
In 2017, the MFE program admitted 162 students
Average GPA: 3.82
Average GRE: 330
Average GRE Quant Score: 168.9
The MFE program used to favor top Chinese university students, with admissions officer Barry stating a GPA boost for students from 211/985 universities; applicants from these schools could succeed with a GPA around 3.5. Unfortunately, with the increase in applicants, this benefit was discontinued.
Therefore, given the MFE program's development trend and the growing number of applicants, we have to say the obvious: "Apply quickly!"
The MFE example tells us that having a discerning eye in choosing schools and programs is very important—you need to see the program's prospects and development trends to avoid graduating into unemployment and to win the future.
