University of California at Berkeley, Haas business school.
This review was submitted on 2/11/2010 at 2:56:27 by a student who studied full-time in the program from 3/2009-3/2010*
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
I studied science/engineering and worked in the engineering field for 2-3 years before undertaking the MFE program.
Did you get admitted to other programs?
No
Why did you choose this program (over others, if applicable)?
Housed in business school. Accelerated 1 year program. Embedded internship
Tell us about the application process at this program
Comprehensive application followed with phone/in-person interview.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the accessibility of the faculty and staff?
4
Programs like Baruch MFE, UCB MFE have refresher courses for incoming students. Does this program offer such courses? How useful was it?
Yes, preparation programs were offered in math, statistics, and computer programing. These courses were useful to prepare for the program
On a scale of 0-10, how would you grade the usefulness of these refresher courses?
8
Tell us about the courses selection in this program. Any special courses you like?
There was a financial innovation course that was taught by a professor who gave interesting insights and perspectives.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the flexibility of the curriculum?
5
Tell us about the quality of teaching
Most of the instructors are working practitioners. Thus, class schedules are arranged to fit their schedule and often require late evening or weekend classes. Furthermore, availability of practitioner instructors is essentially non-existent.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the quality of teaching?
2
Materials used in the program
Poor choices of text books. We used a pre-print edition for one text, it was full of typos, notational errors, and did not include a table of contents. Course books were essentially useless during the MFE study and you are dependent on instructor’s lecture notes.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the practicality of the curriculum?
5
Programming component of the program
Mainly matlab. Although students have the flexibility to use whatever they wish in most situations. Most courses are very programming intensive. More effort is spent on coding than learning underlying financial concepts.
Projects
There is a applied finance project that all students must undertake. It is an individual project designed to hone the students ability to attach a real-world financial problem.
Career service
The MFE office helps secure internship and full-time positions.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the career service for internship and full-time job?
5
Can you comment on the social interaction between students of different ethnics, nationalities in the program?
Great diversity in ethnicities. Although, most people still work/socialize with their own ethnicity. This is particularly true for foreign students (i.e. no other academic study in US).
What do you like about the program?
Interesting curriculum.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the value of the program for the price tag?
4
What DON’T you like about the program?
Too much useless material. Program administrators are generally unprofessional in their duties. Genuine learning takes a back seat to internship, employment statistics. Too expensive.
Suggestions for the program to make it better
Better instructors and design of course curriculum.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade your experience in the program?
4
What are your current job status? What are you looking for?
No current full time job offers. Open to most all fields.
On a scale of 1-10, would you recommend this program to others?
3
This review was submitted on 2/12/2010 at 3:12:58 by a student who studied full-time in the program from 3/2009-3/2010*
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
Some financial experience, but not a lot.
Did you get admitted to other programs?
Only applied to one other masters program, and got rejected.
Why did you choose this program (over others, if applicable)?
Initially, professors like Rubinstein and Longstaff made the program attractive. Longstaff left, therefore so much for that. I had studied Rubinstein’s model before and was quite intrigued by the guy, But the decision was mostly made because it’s a one year program and I knew ex-ante that the quality of incoming students is very high. Location was also a consideration.
Tell us about the application process at this program
Quite disorganized. Many of my classmates found out they were accepted only one or two weeks before starting. Very expensive entry fee and security deposit.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the accessibility of the faculty and staff?
8
Programs like Baruch MFE, UCB MFE have refresher courses for incoming students. Does this program offer such courses? How useful was it?
C++ was too fast and almost never used during the masters (MatLab used for almost all classes). Perhaps it should be offered at the end, given that most jobs do require C++
Math refresher was excellent, very practical. Well worth the money. I took the course remotely and had no problem following the material.
Statistics course overlapped a lot with Math course. Of the three, it’s the one you could do without.
On a scale of 0-10, how would you grade the usefulness of these refresher courses?
9
Tell us about the courses selection in this program. Any special courses you like?
No one can beat Rubinstein to teach you about derivatives. He is an old-school teacher who cares more about the intuition than the math (the way it should be, in my opinion). You are learning from the guy who developed CRR, he knows the topic inside and out and can respond to any question you may have.
Electives are not many, but remember, this is a one-year program and a there is no time to diversify a lot.
Credit Risk Modeling was very practical. I thought it was a useless course until I found myself impressing my internship colleagues with cute little bits of information.
There is no course on commodity trading, which is a shame, and this year’s High Frequency Trading seminar looks like a fast and somewhat slapdash attempt to catch up with the times.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the flexibility of the curriculum?
7
Tell us about the quality of teaching
There is a high variance in the quality of teaching. Besides the in-house teachers, who are very good, there are others that are brought in from the private sector to complement the program with a practitioner point of view. This is where the variance originates.
BlackRock is the largest sell-side firm in the area; thus they provide many of the private-sector professors. Most of them are very good (Melvin, Grinold are gurus of their field), some of them do lack on experience as teachers and were easily intimidated by some of our more incisive classmates.
BTW, the caliber of the cohort is quite high; some of my classmates are attack dogs that smell fear on professors and prey on them without any prejudice. Suits them well.
As I mentioned before, the in-house professors (Haas faculty) are top-notch: Wallace, Leland, O’Brien, Stanton. Just look at their CVs. Leland goes through dynamic asset management with authority. You expect, at a minimum, that teachers are confident at what they teach, even if it’s boring or irrelevant. There is no shortage of confidence here.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the quality of teaching?
8
Materials used in the program
I’m too lazy to write the list. Two things stand out: Hull is not used, and Wilmott’s books are only suggested readings (I loved the Wilmott book, and thought that I would be the best in class just because I read it before starting the program).
Most professors bring their own stuff. As with all teaching materials, some of it is very good, some of it is useless. No different from any other place.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the practicality of the curriculum?
8
Programming component of the program
You make it as programming intensive as you want. If you are into the heavy programming, there is no shortage of projects, classes (Advanced Quantitative Methods) to knock yourself out. At the very least, you leave the program knowing Matlab very well.
Other languages, such as SAS and R are allowed but no one really uses them. Matlab seems to be the current lingua prima of financial analysis (not financial development, that is C++) .
Projects
Most are group projects, except for one final project (graduation requirement) that has to be undertaken alone.
Career service
So everyone wants a job in Wall Street. We are not Ph.D students here looking for tenure. And you WILL get a job after this program. Yes, there is this obnoxious fetish for jobs that permeates the MFE office and students, which forces us to do stupid mock interviews, re-do resumes n times and apply to jobs with 2-hour deadlines. This environment easily makes people jealous of others who seem to get more interviews than you, because the office is very open in letting you know who is getting what.
But I guess that is a small price to pay for having access to what is perhaps the best career service in the business. I am not overstating this, the placement office works day and night trying to place you, no matter how bad you are interviewing.
At the end of the 3rd quarter, people who wanted internships had internships, and people who didn’t want internships simply stopped interviewing.
I am not in the top quartile of my class; with luck I close to the median. And still I have interviewed with about quite a few number firms, including two large American banks (yes, that one that starts with a G and ends with an s, for those of you who want to work there) and several well-known European banks.
The program opens the doors; it’s up to you to get in.
If your priority is learning above placement, I guess you have other options: go for the Ph.D or go for a more theoretical masters program.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the career service for internship and full-time job?
9
Can you comment on the social interaction between students of different ethnics, nationalities in the program?
More than the nationality or ethnicity, the relevant variable here is age. We have classmates who are as young as 24 and as old as 40, so groups seem to form around age groups. Ethnicity or nationality seem not to be a problem inside or outside the classroom.
What do you like about the program?
I always felt quite smart wherever I went. I don’t anymore. The ability of my classmates to find insightful questions where I thought that certainty was complete is just amazing. More than anything, it’s the quality of the cohorts year after year that makes this program special. Of course, that also means egos run a muck. But in finance that is the rule, not the exception.
Access to Bloomberg is easy, the computing facilities are top-notch and libraries have all necessary material.
Many graduates decide to forgo the New York life after experiencing the Bay Area. I don’t blame them.
It’s a one-year program, so at the end, your student loan debt will be much lower than an equivalent two-year program.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the value of the program for the price tag?
10
What DON’T you like about the program?
It’s a one-year program. You are supposed to learn all about fixed income in two-and-a-half months. Same with derivatives, credit, mortgages, and so on. It feels not like drinking water from a hose, but rather like drinking champagne from an open hydrant. You wonder if perhaps it wouldn’t be better to take it easier and go a bit slower on the subjects. You use your weekends and holidays here to study, and still, you feel like you missed a lot of stuff.
Suggestions for the program to make it better
I don’t like the March starting date. It’s rainy and most companies do their hiring for the end of the summer, so you feel you are always either too early or too late. And yet most companies come to Berkeley despite the wacky schedule, so they probably trust the program so much that they are willing to hire off-season.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade your experience in the program?
9
What are your current job status? What are you looking for?
Have a job offer, a good one that I prefer to not to disclose. But I am still interviewing.
On a scale of 1-10, would you recommend this program to others?
9
Other comments
Weather in California provides more utility units than any option in the Northeast, especially this time of the year. Living in Berkeley is an experience that everyone should try.
Click here to submit a review of your program
This review was submitted on 2/13/2010 at 19:04:22 by a student who studied full-time in the program from 3/2009-3/2010*
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
I hold a Bachelor’s degree and have a little experience in finance
Did you get admitted to other programs?
No
Why did you choose this program (over others, if applicable)?
The program’s reputation, situation within a business school and placement record sealed the deal for me.
Tell us about the application process at this program
I applied just before the very last deadline. Within a couple of weeks I had had a 10 minute “interview” with the program director and was granted admission. Communication throughout the process was excellent and I have no qualms with any aspect.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the accessibility of the faculty and staff?
10
Programs like Baruch MFE, UCB MFE have refresher courses for incoming students. Does this program offer such courses? How useful was it?
I enrolled in all three of the pre-program courses: math, statistics and C++. Having never had any exposure to C++ before, this course was challenging but nonetheless valuable. The value of the others came as much from a reminder of the hard work required in education as for their content specifically!
On a scale of 0-10, how would you grade the usefulness of these refresher courses?
7
Tell us about the courses selection in this program. Any special courses you like?
The program covers all major asset classes bar commodities. Although there are only a handful of opportunities to be selective with regards to module options, there is enough variety to keep most people happy.
Mark Rubinstein’s course on derivatives was brilliant. He was energetic, enthusiastic, knowledgable and even had the best set of lecture slides I have ever seen. Where other programs may produce students who know mathematical option theory well, I believe that not only do I now have this but that I can also “feel” options.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the flexibility of the curriculum?
8
Tell us about the quality of teaching
The overwhelming majority of the teaching was top quality. I congratulate Alexei Tchistyi for successfully teaching me stochastic calculus (something I originally thought may be an impossible task for anyone!). Further excellent instruction was delivered by individuals such as Domingo Tavella, Richard Stanton, Suneel Udpa, Jeff Shen and Michael Melvin, and the contributions from the GSIs were invaluable.
It would be remiss of me not to mention that there was a problem perhaps with one course early on which soured the first impression of the program. The response from the program office however has been very encouraging and the material was re-covered by the likes of Rubinstein, Ron Khan and Hayne Leland. Future applicants need not worry as the issue has been comprehensively rectified.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the quality of teaching?
8
Materials used in the program
I have tended to prefer to use the lectures and notes provided during the courses so I’m not really in a position to comment on the quality of the backup reading material.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the practicality of the curriculum?
9
Programming component of the program
At different times I have used C++, Matlab and VBA for homeworks and projects. Most students settled on a language of choice (usually Matlab but in some cases C++). A few of the compulsory courses are very programming-heavy: Empirical Methods, Fixed Income and Quantitative Methods in Derivatives Pricing.
Projects
There are a number of group projects and a liberal smattering of individual projects. Topics vary, and include the creation and pricing of new derivative instruments and the design and backtesting of trading strategies.The Applied Finance Project has been referred to as the “final exam” for the MFE program, and is an individual project attempting to answer a topical quantitative financial question using the quantitative techniques taught in the course.
Career service
Exemplary. At one stage during my internship search I was emailed out of the blue by a trader at a leading Investment Bank requesting an interview for something closely resembling my dream job. I had not seen the position advertised anywhere else – he had apparently just received my resume from the program office. This is the kind of opportunity not afforded by other MFE programs lacking dedicated placement teams. In the end I interned at a different bulge bracket IB in New York after having turned down another offer elsewhere.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the career service for internship and full-time job?
10
Can you comment on the social interaction between students of different ethnics, nationalities in the program?
There are bound to be friendship groups amongst people sharing common first languages, but at UCB these were easily pierced. I will leave the program with 62 new friends, ALL of whom I feel I know well and have interacted with socially outside the MFE program.
What do you like about the program?
The commitment to placement is second to none. The program director works day and night for her students and the reaction to student feedback is swift and decisive.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the value of the program for the price tag?
9
What DON’T you like about the program?
Because the program is off-cycle, some students find it difficult to get on to companies’ graduate programs which run from July/August.
Suggestions for the program to make it better
Each concern I have had during the program was raised to the office, and each has been acted upon already.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade your experience in the program?
10
What are your current job status? What are you looking for?
I have turned down one full time offer from a bulge bracked IB and will wait patiently for my dream job. I am quite sure it is not far away, given the efforts of the placement team on my behalf.
On a scale of 1-10, would you recommend this program to others?
10
Other comments
Side note: my bald spot appears to have shrunk during the MFE program. Perhaps there is some kind of “inverse-stress” aspect at work from the knowledge of having made the right decision in joining the program!
Click here to submit a review of your program
This review was submitted on 2/15/2010 at 4:21:26 by a student who studied full-time in the program from 3/2008-3/2009*
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
Joined the program right after completing undergraduate with no finance experience.
Did you get admitted to other programs?
Yes – applied to another major program, got accepted.
Why did you choose this program (over others, if applicable)?
1 year accelerated program, required internship, more focus on finance than some of the other programs, and a 100% placement record for the program.
Tell us about the application process at this program
Application process was straightforward. The admissions staff was quick in responding to questions and the application to decision took lot less than I anticipated. I was interviewed by Linda K. (the executive director) during the process and after being admitted, she even advised me on what I could do to get the most out of the program.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the accessibility of the faculty and staff?
8
Programs like Baruch MFE, UCB MFE have refresher courses for incoming students. Does this program offer such courses? How useful was it?
I only took Math course. I was pretty good at math and didn’t want to take it (the admissions committee required that I take it before joining the program), but some of the topics covered in the refresher helped a lot. The pre-program courses were geared toward MFE admits which made some of the math in the program a little easier, even for me. Also, the webcast of lectures was a great feature.
On a scale of 0-10, how would you grade the usefulness of these refresher courses?
7
Tell us about the courses selection in this program. Any special courses you like?
The MFE program covers a broad range of courses covering everything from basics to complex securities in the fixed income, and equity asset classes. The courses do a good job of covering basic materials, for those who might need a review, to advanced modeling and derivatives pricing for those interested in the most quantitative side of the program. The program is well designed for preparing students to solve different problems by giving a broad set of tools.
The curriculum was somewhat more flexible than the website might suggest as students got a special course in advanced modeling on request in the last term. There is also an option to get credit by assisting some professors in their research (aside from the applied finance project) or working for a firm if the project is considered rigorous enough.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the flexibility of the curriculum?
8
Tell us about the quality of teaching
We had a lot of classes taught by leading practitioners in their fields – Longstaff for FI, Kahn for Equity, Rubinstein for the fundamental concepts. A lot of our instructors were really good at teaching and explaining the concepts. Just like any other program, not all instructors are good, but all of them were helpful and usually accessible (even on appointment basis for those working in the field). There were separate help sessions conducted by the GSIs (TAs) and they were also very accessible.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the quality of teaching?
8
Materials used in the program
Some professors had their own notes prepared for the lecture. Some relied on the textbooks (sometimes written by themselves). Sometimes it’s great, or sometimes it’s not required as much, just depends on the instructor’s style of teaching. Hull book isn’t used but people are expected to know the basics and even refer to those if necessary.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the practicality of the curriculum?
9
Programming component of the program
There’s a fair amount of programming for derivative pricing courses. C++ is preferred for option pricing, but not required. Matlab is the other language used the most. People can use VBA or SAS, but usually it’s not very common. There’s usually at least one class in each term that requires programming.
Projects
There’s group projects in a lot of classes, beginning with empirical finance in the first term. Most projects are group projects (with a big exception of the final Applied Finance Project), to be done in groups of 3-4 students. Projects are a big component of the final grade and can be quite demanding. I found most projects were a great way to apply the techniques learned in that (or even other) course.
Some project examples were designing and pricing a complex derivative, doing econometric study, evaluating and hedging risks in a trade etc.
The Applied Finance Project is done individually and is expected to be the toughest and biggest project in the program, akin to master level thesis.
Career service
The program was very helpful in finding opportunities for the students and placing them for both internship and full-time jobs. The executive director (Linda K.) has a lot of contacts enabling her to find a lot of opportunities for the students. Even though the internship is from October to January, a lot of firms, big and small, have special relations with the program to offer internships during that time.
The staff works regularly with the students to place them, helping them with interviewing skills, resume critique, etc. Students also have access to a consult to do mock interviews with or to get help on cover letters or other writing material. Even in 2008, amid the financial crisis, most of the students got internships and full time jobs. They also helped negotiate a lot of offers if the employer offered a job with low salary. The career service doesn’t just stop at graduation either – alums can go back and get a lot of help if they are looking for a new job.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the career service for internship and full-time job?
10
Can you comment on the social interaction between students of different ethnics, nationalities in the program?
The program had a lot of international students, mostly from China, SE Asia and India. There were a few Europeans as well as some from other cultures. The students do form their own groups but being in groups forced students to study with others.
What do you like about the program?
I think having students from different backgrounds is one of the biggest positives of the program. While the curriculum is well structures and instructors are very good and know their materials, interacting with others in your class makes it a great learning experience. There were people with no experience at all, people with PhDs in science or engineering, or even people with a strong background in finance. Bouncing ideas back and forth between different people meant a great learning experience for everyone.
The students were also helpful when it came to getting internships and jobs. Even though everyone in reality was competing with each other to get a job, most students helped each other out by prepare them for interviews. The career service offered by the program is also top-notch.
The program is extremely intense and prepares you well for the real world.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade the value of the program for the price tag?
9
What DON’T you like about the program?
I wish we had a longer break during the program, since a good chunk of the 1 week break after each term was used up doing projects.
Also, scholarships would’ve made it a bit better financially, although considering it’s only one year, it’s a lot cheaper and better than other programs.
Suggestions for the program to make it better
Make sure students know that the staff is available for any help and guidance and encourage them to make use of it as much as they want.
A lot of students start the program expecting they’ll become a trader right away and make millions in their first year. If you don’t have much experience, the odds of that happening are against you (except maybe in High Frequency trading shops) and students need to know this. Instead people will have to work their way through to get in that position, and the program helps out with that to ensure you achieve your goal.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you grade your experience in the program?
9
What are your current job status? What are you looking for?
Working at an asset management firm as an analyst.
On a scale of 1-10, would you recommend this program to others?
10
Other comments
Even though Berkeley is far from NY, the students have a lot of opportunities to work in New York, although some people decide to stay in the Bay Area because of the weather.
The whole class gets a budget to organize social events such as pub nights, weekend trips (e.g. Lake Tahoe) and other fun activities.
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Tags: berkeley, haas, mfe, program review, ucb
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I wonder how much to discount the review of someone who attends UCB and has no full time offers. They’re placement is usually well above 90%?
physEcon, 1 year agoI wonder how much to discount the review of someone who attends UCB and has no full time offers. They’re placement is usually well above 90%?
physEcon, 1 year agoSounds pretty bad for an expensive and well-known program.
kwlmy, 1 year agoSounds pretty bad for an expensive and well-known program.
kwlmy, 1 year agoKeep in mind that the reviewer will not be graduated until March. I have no reason to doubt the info/points raised in the review. I’d like to see current students at UCB comment on the review so we can hear it from both side.
Andy, 1 year agoKeep in mind that the reviewer will not be graduated until March. I have no reason to doubt the info/points raised in the review. I’d like to see current students at UCB comment on the review so we can hear it from both side.
Andy, 1 year agoSounds pretty bad for an expensive and well-known program.
comp_math, 1 year agoIts pretty hard to believe such a bad review for a reputed program like UCB..
vivekj, 1 year agoIts pretty hard to believe such a bad review for a reputed program like UCB..
vivekj, 1 year agoAndy: this review is just from one student..so there is an element of doubt here…
Comp_math: its not as bad, if you look at placements and compensation out of Berkeley MFE
Career service is definitely one of the best..i would say one of the top 5 ..definitely better than columbia, cornell and may be better than NYU
As for me, I am a current student at Berkeley MFE..
rakeshpilania, 1 year agoAndy: this review is just from one student..so there is an element of doubt here…
Comp_math: its not as bad, if you look at placements and compensation out of Berkeley MFE
Career service is definitely one of the best..i would say one of the top 5 ..definitely better than columbia, cornell and may be better than NYU
As for me, I am a current student at Berkeley MFE..
rakeshpilania, 1 year agoRAKESHPILANIA maybe you should write a review to give people a more balanced view.
atreides, 1 year agoRAKESHPILANIA maybe you should write a review to give people a more balanced view.
atreides, 1 year agoIm a curr berk mfe student. There is a contingent of approx 10% of our class who has grown very bitter toward the program bc they couldn’t handle the workload & are now bitter that they don’t have jobs.
I’ll be honest: the program is VERY intensive. Most of the great programs are. If you can’t hack it, don’t come! You will get out of this program what you put into it. If you’re expecting to only work 40 hrs/wk, you won’t learn much & you won’t have a job coming out. if you’re ready for the 80 hrs/wk commitment, you’ll learn a LOT & will have great likelihood of having a great job!
Biggest selling points of berk mfe: 1) berk has WORLDWIDE reputation as being a leader in scientific & engineering disciplines, 2) program is housed in a top 10 bus school so after you graduate you’re part of a worldwide network of Haas bus school alumni, 3) BEST career services on the planet! Linda doesn’t ever sleep. She’s working 24/7 to find students positions. Think I’m kidding? Enroll & find out. you get emails from her with job openings at 3 am on Sunday mornings. Everyone who’s been here knows it’s true!, 4) diversity of curriculum: exposure to almost every asset class, 5) AMAZING professors. Seriously, rubinstein, tavella, leland, cox, kahn, stanton, wallace, jaffee. These are the names you read about in OTHERS’ textbooks, & the names the govt comes calling to help them in the current crisis! (sorry, previous reviewer, if the fact that our profs are constantly flying all over the globe to help domestic & foreign govts with the subprime crisis; I suppose that does make them slightly inaccessible. You’d rather have a group of classroom-bound professors??)
And re: this reviewer’s comments about textbooks: perhaps if he/she had bothered to open any of them, they would see that the texts were often nice additions to the lecture notes, that provided more in-depth discussions of certain topics (and, yes, we did use a pre-print edition for 1 text, in order to stay on the cutting edge. Yes, there were some typos. Sorry, you’d rather be at a school where courses are taught from 5 yr old texts??)
1 final comment: something to beware of, in both the Berkeley mfe AND any OTHER mfe program: if you go to a quant program expecting to be guaranteed a trading position… that’s risky. Everyone graduating from the berk MFE can get a QUANT position. that’s not a problem. There are a finite # of trading positions, however. Most people are fine with that. but if it’s gonna make you jealous to see some of your classmates get trading positions while you’re “stuck” in a quant role for a couple yrs, then you probably shouldn’t attend ANY mfe program.
berkeley quant, 1 year agoIm a curr berk mfe student. There is a contingent of approx 10% of our class who has grown very bitter toward the program bc they couldn’t handle the workload & are now bitter that they don’t have jobs.
I’ll be honest: the program is VERY intensive. Most of the great programs are. If you can’t hack it, don’t come! You will get out of this program what you put into it. If you’re expecting to only work 40 hrs/wk, you won’t learn much & you won’t have a job coming out. if you’re ready for the 80 hrs/wk commitment, you’ll learn a LOT & will have great likelihood of having a great job!
Biggest selling points of berk mfe: 1) berk has WORLDWIDE reputation as being a leader in scientific & engineering disciplines, 2) program is housed in a top 10 bus school so after you graduate you’re part of a worldwide network of Haas bus school alumni, 3) BEST career services on the planet! Linda doesn’t ever sleep. She’s working 24/7 to find students positions. Think I’m kidding? Enroll & find out. you get emails from her with job openings at 3 am on Sunday mornings. Everyone who’s been here knows it’s true!, 4) diversity of curriculum: exposure to almost every asset class, 5) AMAZING professors. Seriously, rubinstein, tavella, leland, cox, kahn, stanton, wallace, jaffee. These are the names you read about in OTHERS’ textbooks, & the names the govt comes calling to help them in the current crisis! (sorry, previous reviewer, if the fact that our profs are constantly flying all over the globe to help domestic & foreign govts with the subprime crisis; I suppose that does make them slightly inaccessible. You’d rather have a group of classroom-bound professors??)
And re: this reviewer’s comments about textbooks: perhaps if he/she had bothered to open any of them, they would see that the texts were often nice additions to the lecture notes, that provided more in-depth discussions of certain topics (and, yes, we did use a pre-print edition for 1 text, in order to stay on the cutting edge. Yes, there were some typos. Sorry, you’d rather be at a school where courses are taught from 5 yr old texts??)
1 final comment: something to beware of, in both the Berkeley mfe AND any OTHER mfe program: if you go to a quant program expecting to be guaranteed a trading position… that’s risky. Everyone graduating from the berk MFE can get a QUANT position. that’s not a problem. There are a finite # of trading positions, however. Most people are fine with that. but if it’s gonna make you jealous to see some of your classmates get trading positions while you’re “stuck” in a quant role for a couple yrs, then you probably shouldn’t attend ANY mfe program.
berkeley quant, 1 year agoHello aspiring MFE students,
My name is Munish and I am a current Berkeley MFE student. I worked in the investment modeling group of D.E. Shaw before coming to Berkeley. I had a CFA background, but did not have quantitative exposure. The MFE program at Berkeley was then the best choice because it combined my finance skills with quant skills and allow me to prepare me for a more responsible front office role. My experience in this program has been great. I learnt a lot of things ranging from stochastic math to interest rate modeling to common trading strategies. I was able to successfully design a new currency strategy in my econometrics course, which combined with my good GPA and finance background gave me opportunities to interview with Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, Sun Trading, Morgan Stanley, Moody’s KMV and PG&E for my internship.
I will say that it is only through Berkeley’s MFE reputation, outstanding high level contacts, constant availability and extreme hard work of our executive director that it made it possible for me to get exposure to high frequency trading strategies during my internship. Not only this, but for full time search I was interviewed by the best high frequency trading firms on wall street: GETCO LLC, Citadel Investments, Jump Trading, Citi’s automated trading desk, Goldman Sachs, Socgen. I had offers lined up but I have accepted a full time offer with Sun Trading as I worked with them for 3 months and the prospects to learn, grow and perform are unparalleled.
I will rate Berkeley MFE 10/10 in all the aspects. My many thanks to our executive director Linda, our MFE office, admission committee and MFE faculty for giving me this opportunity to add so much value in myself in just 1 year. In the end I will say that I salute the Berkeley MFE program.
Bottom line: don’t trust what is said on chat rooms, interview alumni and current students and you will realize the many strengths of this program.
OptionsMarketMaker, 1 year agoHello aspiring MFE students,
My name is Munish and I am a current Berkeley MFE student. I worked in the investment modeling group of D.E. Shaw before coming to Berkeley. I had a CFA background, but did not have quantitative exposure. The MFE program at Berkeley was then the best choice because it combined my finance skills with quant skills and allow me to prepare me for a more responsible front office role. My experience in this program has been great. I learnt a lot of things ranging from stochastic math to interest rate modeling to common trading strategies. I was able to successfully design a new currency strategy in my econometrics course, which combined with my good GPA and finance background gave me opportunities to interview with Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, Sun Trading, Morgan Stanley, Moody’s KMV and PG&E for my internship.
I will say that it is only through Berkeley’s MFE reputation, outstanding high level contacts, constant availability and extreme hard work of our executive director that it made it possible for me to get exposure to high frequency trading strategies during my internship. Not only this, but for full time search I was interviewed by the best high frequency trading firms on wall street: GETCO LLC, Citadel Investments, Jump Trading, Citi’s automated trading desk, Goldman Sachs, Socgen. I had offers lined up but I have accepted a full time offer with Sun Trading as I worked with them for 3 months and the prospects to learn, grow and perform are unparalleled.
I will rate Berkeley MFE 10/10 in all the aspects. My many thanks to our executive director Linda, our MFE office, admission committee and MFE faculty for giving me this opportunity to add so much value in myself in just 1 year. In the end I will say that I salute the Berkeley MFE program.
Bottom line: don’t trust what is said on chat rooms, interview alumni and current students and you will realize the many strengths of this program.
OptionsMarketMaker, 1 year agoI think this guy is reviewing berkeley too harshly. I dont attend that university but I bet is a good program.
shalie, 1 year agoI think this guy is reviewing berkeley too harshly. I dont attend that university but I bet is a good program.
shalie, 1 year agoHi Munish
sidindia, 1 year agoIs CFA helpful???
Hi Munish
sidindia, 1 year agoIs CFA helpful???
I just read this article and I don’t know what the student interviewed by quantnet is talking about. I’m a Haas MFE alumnus currently working in New York as a Quant for a top investment bank and, if I look around the trading floor and the quant research department, hands down there are more Berkeley MFE alumni as desk quants, traders and strategists than any other quantitative program across the country, even those from NY. The advantage of this program, compared to others, is that generally the target entry level and salary of the positions available through the career service is as of mid-career professionals. Regardless of being in your early twenties or late thirties you would skip the entry level stage and go directly as an associate or associate vice president.
Alumnus, 1 year agoThe disadvantage of the Berkeley MFE is that you have to work like hell, and that the competition among the students is cut-throat. Yes, there is team work, but that is only contingent on the specific class or project that you are working. Indeed, there was more competition among students during the MFE program than what I feel now with coworkers on the trading floor: in retrospect that was totally unjustified. I wonder if the program directors have noticed it at all, and if they are doing something about it. One explanation for it could be the emphasis on grades and relative grading, or the access to interviewing for the best positions available.
I just read this article and I don’t know what the student interviewed by quantnet is talking about. I’m a Haas MFE alumnus currently working in New York as a Quant for a top investment bank and, if I look around the trading floor and the quant research department, hands down there are more Berkeley MFE alumni as desk quants, traders and strategists than any other quantitative program across the country, even those from NY. The advantage of this program, compared to others, is that generally the target entry level and salary of the positions available through the career service is as of mid-career professionals. Regardless of being in your early twenties or late thirties you would skip the entry level stage and go directly as an associate or associate vice president.
Alumnus, 1 year agoThe disadvantage of the Berkeley MFE is that you have to work like hell, and that the competition among the students is cut-throat. Yes, there is team work, but that is only contingent on the specific class or project that you are working. Indeed, there was more competition among students during the MFE program than what I feel now with coworkers on the trading floor: in retrospect that was totally unjustified. I wonder if the program directors have noticed it at all, and if they are doing something about it. One explanation for it could be the emphasis on grades and relative grading, or the access to interviewing for the best positions available.
I had a strong impression after meeting with few people from the school that their MFE program is definitely over-rated and way too expensive for anyone to invest hard earned money ($51K for a one-year program) and time. You might find equally effective education elsewhere for less and still be able to find a job in the industry. It depends on your mindset to learn the materials. So I totally agree with the first reviewer’s HONEST opinion and his low recommendation rating on hyper expensive Berkeley Hass MFE school.
haas_$51K, 1 year agoSorry, but how can you judge the first reviewer as being HONEST when you have only met “few people”?
HS, 10 months agoYou have neither attended the program yourself, not do you have any details regarding your opinion.