New York - Quantnet today released the 2011 edition of its MFE rankings which rank the top masters programs in Financial Engineering, Mathematical Finance, Quantitative Finance in North America. The 2011 Quantnet ranking is the most comprehensive ranking of such programs to date.

The 2011 ranking surveyed programs on admission, placement, career services. 86% of those surveyed provided the neccessary information for the ranking. Hiring managers and recruiters from many financial institutions were also surveyed on their records of hiring graduates from programs in the ranking.

The CMU’s Computational Finance program is ranked #1 in the latest ranking, followed by Princeton’s Master in Finance and Columbia’s Financial Engineering program. The full ranking of 22 programs can be found here.

Founded in 2003, Quantnet.com has grown to be the most comprehensive research tool online for graduate students considering education and career opportunities in the field of quantitative finance.

As many of you have heard, I have decided not to attend Illinois Institute of Technology’s Master in Finance program, and instead opted to enroll at Baruch College in their Masters of Science in Financial Engineering program. I am not going to get into the details of the application process, and so on.  As it is obvious, the decision of admission came in at the 11^th hour. I was all set to move to Chicago and then ‘it’ happened. In a short span all that could happen, happened, and I was set to move to New York. I was admitted to Baruch College in their MS in Financial Engineering program. It took me less than 4 hours to reply back with a decision to opt for Baruch program.

In this post, I will outline, as to what it is about Baruch that made me go for this big switch. I lost more than $2000 overall in the switch, but well worth it. We all know that Baruch is one of the top programs in the Financial Engineering in the world, but I will outline in particular the reasoning behind the switching and WHY I believe that they are such a great program.

I will not be flat out comparing, IIT MS Finance with the Baruch MFE, program although a subtle comparison can be seen at times. I hope that the post of mine here could be helpful to those of you, the prospective students to evaluate which school to attend. Compare your program using these factors and decide which place is the optimal for you to attend.

1) Curriculum:

My goal, as can be seen from my previous posts, was to enter a program where I can really develop and enhance my mathematical and programming skills with strong application to financial applications. I had a particular set of classes that I was particularly interested in taking for my graduate studies. These included: Stochastic Processes, Object Oriented Programming, Algorithmic Trading Development, Commodities Trading, and Time Series Analysis. I wanted some variation of these courses in my program. In addition, I had other interests that I wanted to pursue, for example, taking electives in Volatility Trading, Structured Finance, Statistical Arbitrage and Risk Management. To my luck and great surprise, Baruch just released a BRAND NEW Curriculum. The program requires one to take 7 core classes and the rest of the 5 courses are ELECTIVES that we can pick from a range of courses. Such curriculum makes Baruch one of the most flexible programs out there. One can basically pick one whole semester at their discretion to specialize in certain areas. Not only, am I able to get all the courses I wanted, I will have the opportunity of learning it from some of the top practitioners in the field, who have equally very strong research credentials. The curriculum is effectively set up to prepare you for a large range of jobs in the field, from Quant Developers, Statistical Arb Quants, Structured Financial Analyst, to Quantitative Strategists. Such spectrum is just enormous making Baruch program very unique. The computational and mathematical components are at par with the other Top schools offering similar programs. This was one big difference between the MS Finance program and the MS. Financial Engineering program. For me to take additional mathematical courses elsewhere, I had to go out of the program, register in courses with the Mathematics department, and fulfill the requirements. Having the ability to pick from a range of courses within one single housed program is truly great at Baruch. There is no job within the Trading and Quant world of Finance that Baruch curriculum does not prepare you for whether you want to become a Structured Finance Quantitative Analyst at a top consulting firm, or an IT analyst at a brokerage or get together with your friends from Baruch MFE and open your own Quant Hedge Fund. (BTW, those are all things Baruch alumni of the program are doing).

In addition, the program has refresher seminars. I think EVERY program should have a refresher set of courses. If you have a look at programs like CMU,Columbia,UChicago, Berkeley, etc, they all have refresher courses offered to their students to prepare them for the rigors of the program so that the students can truly succeed and learn effectively throughout the program. A program with refresher courses is a must for the discipline like financial engineering.

2) Faculty:

The faculty at Baruch has the perfect blend of practitioners and academicians. Over the years, Baruch program has evolved and the credit MUST go to its administration. Now, the teaching faculty of Baruch program is one of the BEST lot of bright, experienced, and personal achievers. I am providing you with achievements of only some (there are great many more) Baruch faculty in financial engineering program below:

1. Dan Stefanica (Author of A Primer for the Mathematics of Financial Engineering)
2. Sylvain Raynes (Author of The Analysis of Structured Securities: Precise Risk Measurement and Capital Allocation and The Elements of Structured Finance)
3. Jim Gatheral (Author of The Volatility Surface: A Practitioner’s Guide (Wiley Finance))

The program is full with extraordinary people (http://mfe.baruch.cuny.edu/faculty). I mean honestly, who wouldn’t want to be taught by Jim Gatheral? He is one of the most famous quant in the world. The faculty range from current Managing Directors at Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, to Research head at Bloomberg, etc. At the same time there are academicians teaching the core theory classes that is so imperative to the MFE base education The concentration of knowledge at the MFE Faculty at Baruch is unimaginable. The proximity to Wall street also attracts some amazing guest speakers, and adjunct lecturers. Having a great faculty like this, with deep connections in the industry is a dream comes true for any student.

3) Overall University Impact:

This is a very subjective criterion. Yes, it can be understood that a layperson might not know who/what Baruch College is, but does that really matter? Baruch is very well established in New York City and its MFE program is well entrenched in the financial world through its alumni and faculty. Do the Wall Street decision makers know about Baruch MFE? The answer is a definite, yes. Baruch MFE has grown into a very established program with strong placements on Wall Street. People know how selective Baruch is and what quality of students it produces. Students usually have multiple interviews/job offers upon graduation for a reason. As long as the hiring manager at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BNP Paribas know about your program, that’s all that matters. And yes, they know it VERY well. If you search through some old articles on Google, you will see how strong the program is in the eyes of people who matter. It is a general understanding now in the eyes of people who matter, that Baruch MFE is a top program now along the ranks of NYU, CMU, Princeton, Berkeley, and Columbia.

4) Placements:

Do I really even have to say anything here… Let the facts speak for themselves…

First Year Starting Salary for Students with No Work Experience

I mean, honestly, who puts up stats of students with no work experience? I have not seen such an open and transparent display of statistics anywhere. It is amazing to see the high numbers nonetheless.

While at Baruch, I will not be looking to settle with ‘any job’ as I would have to if I was elsewhere. Here, at Baruch, I will be aiming as high as one can possibly imagine, and why shouldn’t I? The students have all gone on to do great things, at some of the biggest companies in the world. It’s not too much to think about getting a quant position at Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, or Bank of America as a student at Baruch.

The one good thing about Baruch is that, I don’t have to be worried anymore about getting a job upon graduation. All I have to do is focus on my studies and try to learn as much as I can during the program, as the job…will follow. I haven’t even started the program, and I have already had emails forwarded to me regarding trading related jobs at Bloomberg and various other banks by the program director at Baruch.

Although, Baruch has VERY high placement rates with very high starting salaries, it does not mean that I have a guaranteed job and nor should anyone think that they will have a guaranteed job. It does however mean that the probability of me getting a good job increases considerably compared to other universities; I will still have to work hard to get a good job.

5) Active Alumni Network

One of the things that REALLY set apart Baruch from most programs is the strong alumni network of the MFE program. One of the reasons for such high placement rate is its alumni network of the graduates holding high positions. This friendly family attitude of alumni with students is something that can only be seen at very few Ivy League schools. Baruch MFE program alumni and regular students have several social networking events throughout the year where alumni and students get to meet and discuss career plans. In addition, there is a one-on-one alumnus mentoring program which I have not seen offered anywhere. If I am interested in some field, and an alumni works in that area, he/she can offer me one on one personal mentoring so that I can work on my interview skills and job application to target positions within that sector of the industry. No career center can provide this invaluable assistance, to the best of my knowledge. The alumni also frequently email the program director of positions within their firm, which the director forwards to the students. This helps getting past a few barriers in the recruitment process and increases the chance of attaining an interview/job within the firm.

Alumni know what it takes to get into the Baruch program in first place and help create this brotherly/family atmosphere very rare to find. It is almost like being part of a fraternity.

6) Selectivity

Baruch is one of the most selective programs with very low admission rate. This year was 7% making it one of the most selective cohorts ever in the program. The selectivity makes one so proud to be a part of this program. This was one of the most attractive things to me. To be considered to be part of this amazing group is truly flattering. I have been talking to some of my co-students and it is great to see the diversity. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and we all complement each other in some way. There are people with work experience of NASA, PhD’s, people who work/worked for the big Investment Banks, people who worked for other large financial and non-financial firms, and even someone who worked for Ren Tech. The few people I have spoken too are amazing, and I cannot wait to make new friends while at Baruch. I will be rooming with another incoming Baruch student (William) and that is also going to be awesome!

7) Location:

This is quite an important factor in choosing a program. Chicago is the second largest financial hub of North America. The only way, is upward, and New York being the Financial Capital of the world, it is the epitome of financial engineering.  All the top programs in the world with satellite campuses pick New York to have their alternate campus. They don’t pick Toronto, Boston, San Francisco, or Chicago, but pick New York. I do not have to justify this point. We all want to end up in New York at some point, so going to a school in New York is the best decision.

6) Internship:

Being able to do an internship is one of the most important criteria for me. I have no previous financial experience so I need to be able to gain some in the form of a Summer internship. An advice for students reading this…If an internship is not offered and you don’t have any experience, re-think your decision about the school. Also, see if you can switch your schedule around to do an internship anyways and graduate a semester or so later. Many programs do not offer internships or placement services for internships. Baruch has a 100% placement rate basically for internships. Also, the great thing is that if there is a class offered in the summer that one can take in the evening while working so as to reduce the workload in the upcoming semester. This year (upcoming summer) almost all the students have got internships, with a few still being interviewed. The students have achieved internships at a range of companies like Barclays, JPMorgan, Ernst & Young, Morgan Stanley, Numerix, Quantitative Brokers, R&R Consulting, Susquehanna, etc.

7) Cost

In my previous post, as many of you remember, I did not give cost a big consideration. When you compare majority of the programs, top or not top, they are all around the 55-60K ball-park except some are 70K upwards. However, when you are given the choice of 20K tuition for the entire program, it was just unbelievable. It is the MOST AFFORDABLE program out there in this field. The RATE OF RETURN on an investment of 20K for education and say another 25K for living expenses through the program, is the highest out of ANY program.

Conclusion:

As you can see, my decision to switch was serious and highly considered rather than a spontaneous impulse. Yes, I did switch 3 days before moving to Chicago but for very good reasons. I sacrificed and will be sacrificing quite a bit by not going to Chicago. I gave up an internship offer (though obtained by own efforts); I gave up the $1500 deposit on my apartment; my deposit at the university, and the possibility to make several good friends in Chicago. What I got in return, is the chance to make several new friends in New York, attain more/better internship opportunities, and start a new life in New York, the largest financial center in the world. I believe my life definitely has moved for the better. The opportunities that I would have as a Baruch graduate are truly enormous. The familial atmosphere that Dr. Dan Stefanica has created in the Baruch MFE program is incomparable to any. It is basically as I said before like being part of a sought after fraternity/family.

The decision to go to Baruch has already opened up lots of opportunities for me. I am already in talks with Dr. Liew of JKL Capital Management on a big potential project on Statistical Arbitrage. He will also be teaching the Time Series Analysis-Algorithmic Trading course this Spring at Baruch. I have also made some good friends who are part of the incoming Baruch MFE class(William, Amanda, David).I have been assigned an alumni-mentor/adviser who has been very helpful with any question I have had and has advised me on several topics already.

All things taken, I did not pick Baruch only because the program excels in all the factors mentioned above. I picked Baruch because it also fits me best. Only time will tell what the future holds for me…but I am very excited to find out.

As many of you know the Baruch program has a set of refresher seminars to prepare for the rigorous curriculum. I have switched my preparation 10 folds also, and am basically on an accelerated preparation schedule for the refresher seminars and fall semester. The new schedule has been VERY beneficial to me. I will be making a “How I am Preparing for Financial Engineering Programs Part 2” soon. It will include more advanced and specific topics that I will be preparing.  I move to New York June 11^th, so I will post a few pictures/videos possibly on my first week in New York with footage of the university, the other students, and maybe some interviews with the faculty and alumni that I run into.

You can find out more about the Baruch MFE program at their new website: mfe.baruch.cuny.edu/

Until next time…

Feel free to download my Finance research paper “What Determines Capital Structure of Listed Firms in India?“, It was ranked Top 10 by several e-journals for this month. http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1561145

Follow me on Twitter: @joypathak