Carnegie Mellon University Master of Science in Computational Finance (MSCF) program

I graduated from MSCF in December 2019.

Background: Stats undergrad from a non top tier US school and worked for a year at a large bank in a back office role.

Goals: I wanted to make the switch to a front office position without having to wait several years for my career to develop. Also, networking was never one of my strengths to leverage. Finally, I always wanted to get more quant training and CMU’s program had been my top choice.

My experience in the MSCF was excellent. I was challenged both academically and physically – I couldn’t avoid putting on a few pounds. Ultimately, I achieved all the goals I had set up for myself.

I chose MSCF for a few reasons, which were all validated after I attended the program. First, the location in New York provides real value not only in terms of networking but also because most firms are also located in NY. Second, the reputation of the program is nonpareil. Everyone I spoke to from the industry had a positive opinion of MSCF which speaks to the quality of the graduates. Most importantly, however, the curriculum is a constant work in progress. As Jordan mentioned previously, the school actively solicits the student’s opinion to make classes as relevant as possible to current industry trends without neglecting core skills that are necessary for every quant.

I had a great time in the MSCF. Looking back, I can safely say I came out with an invaluable experience that I will always cherish. I’ve made a lot of friends and as a bonus, I did end up learning a bit of Mandarin from my classmates – mostly bad words, but certainly due to no fault of mine!

As an experienced student who just graduated, I love this program and enjoyed every minute of it very much. I got enrolled as a part-time student with years of experience as a quant in the financial industry. However, I still found the program very informative and it broadened my knowledge horizon with up-to-date materials and topics taught in the classes. The course design is always trying to catch if not lead the trend of this industry. I felt it very worthy to go back to school for this program after so many years of profession.

I have also learned and harvested a lot from the people of this program. Professors and other faculties do care about each of the students. They know each of our names, backgrounds, and to some extent, personalities. Professors and academic faculties spare no efforts on teaching, trying to prepare us as much as possible, while the career service faculties do whatever they can to help students locate their ideal positions. I am very grateful to them for their endless commitment. Also, I really feel amazed at the resources this program provided. I got my internship from a start-up by one of our alumni, and a full-time job offer from another one too!

Peer classmates are even more lovely. Each of the ~100 students has his/her own strengths worthy of appreciation. This brought pretty much fun when we worked on group projects/homework. What could be more touching to you when your team members provided to back you up and encouraged you when they knew you had a job interview tomorrow? I think that is the partial reason why in this highly competitive industry, MSCF network could stay strong and last for long.

I graduated from the MSCF program in December 2018 and I was on the NYC campus. My experience with the MSCF program was very positive. I joined the program hoping to gain more quantitative knowledge and technical skills to peruse a career in a pure quant filed, and I’m now working as a Data Scientist in Silicon Valley.


Background: I graduated from the UC system with BS degrees in Business and Statistics, and directly joined the program without full-time experience. I had a variety of internship experience in financial services, such as commercial banking, brokerage and risk consulting.

Curriculum: The program curriculum can be split into four branches: financial mathematics, Statistics and Machine Learning, Computer Science, and Finance and Business. This curriculum is very updated to reflect the change in the financial industry and it aims to equip MSCF students with not only quantitative skills but also soft skills such as communication and presentation.

Career Service: Each campus has their assigned career counselors who are available for 1-on-1 appointment for resume editing, mock interviews, and general career guidance. In addition, the MSCF program offers many career opportunities through on-campus interviews, which are exclusive to MSCF students. The program also helps students to connect with alumni, which adds more career opportunities.

Personal Experience:
1. The Staff on campus really cares for every student. Going through this program is very stressful: hard classes, heavy workload, pressure for finding jobs, etc. It is very helpful that there are people there to help you with any issue you have, either on an academic level or personal level.
2. Due to lack to strong math foundation, I was having a very hard time during both stochastic calculus classes. My professors and academic advisor noticed the problem and offered me weekly tutoring sessions with a department Ph.D. candidate free of charge. Moreover, almost every difficult class has tutoring sessions offered by the TA. This program is really trying to help us succeed.
3. The program takes students and alumni opinion very seriously. There are multiple Town Hall meetings where you can go to make your voice heard about any issues you have with the program, and MSCF also updates its curriculum based on alumni feedback after every year.
4. The broad curriculum of the MSCF really makes it possible for its graduates to peruse a career outside of quant finance. For me, what’s covered in Data Science and Machine Learning classes, together with the strong CS classes, was good enough for me to land a job in tech.

All in all, the MSCF program really is a program that cares and tries its best to help students to be successful. I highly recommend it.

I graduated MSCF in December 2018. I had a tremendous experience at Carnegie Mellon and thank classmates, teachers, counselors, and administrators for making my schooling memorable.

Before going into the top ranked program, I was expecting excellent teachers and career services. My expectations were exceeded, and I can confidently say this program is worth every penny. Beyond my expectations, I further found that the academic advisors and administrators provided a feeling of home by offering in depth and personalized guidance, passion for each individual's journey, and an environment to breed success.

I have attained my dream job through the program and strongly suggest undergraduates and early career professionals to consider the opportunities MSCF can provide.

Recent grad grateful to have chosen CMU. This program is fantastic on account of the caliber of student across both Pittsburgh and New York campuses. As someone with a more entrepreneurial and less quant/finance background coming in, I understood how effective teams depend on a diverse set of skills often coming from different people. As part of this program, I had the opportunity to work with an incredible number of highly intelligent and motivated young professionals. Not only did that make group projects very enjoyable, but it also opened up the possibility for collaboration on projects outside of class as well. For example, two colleagues and I applied some of the material learned in our Machine Learning course to a crypto trading project, which has produced interesting results! To add to it, this program has a fantastic Machine Learning curricula. 1) Because along with Stanford, Berkeley and MIT you are at a center of AI and Machine Learning itself 2) Professor G'Sell is amazing and helps transition students from very limited knowledge of ML to interesting applications with more serious treatment of the material and programs.

I graduated from MSCF in December 2019. The best part about MSCF at CMU is that they value student feedback and make changes to the curriculum every year. MSCF steering committee and the faculty are always in touch with industry practitioners.

Having worked for a few years after my undergraduate degree, going back for my Masters felt like a huge investment. I was giving up my career, current salary, and on top of that would be paying rent and tuition. I knew that if I was going to switch careers and give up everything I was making now that I would not settle for the best program and school. I was looking to maximize my return.

I quickly realized that CMU's MSCF program offered the best focus on career services while integrating industry relevant education in the coursework. It was evident from the breadth of information and transparency about their employment statistics that I could ensure this switch would work out net positive for me. I'm incredibly happy that I ended up at MSCF and feel that the investment has already paid off two-fold.

I just graduated from the MSCF Pittsburgh campus in December 2019. I went straight from my undergraduate study to this program. Having an engineering undergraduate background, I am very grateful to have joined the program. I did not have any experience in finance, financial mathematics and economic study at all. This program well-exposed me to these areas and well-prepared me to find a quant job on the investment banking side. The program's focus on presentation and communication classes help me stand out in my internship program.

After gaining a few years of working experience in accounting and business valuation, I decided to switch my career to quantitative. Joining MSCF is one of the best choices that I ever made.
This is a totally new field for me. Before the program, I thought I learned enough for finance, which turned out to be not true. There is a lot more to learn in the program. MSCF provides a wide range of subjects to every student and prepares students well in academics for their careers. MSCF also adjusts the curriculum to meet the needs of the industries, such as multiple machine learning courses are in the curriculum.
MSCF career services are also extraordinary, comparing to some other schools' programs from what I observed.
Even the tuition is a bit higher, MSCF is totally worthy, considering the value I got from this program.

I graduated from MSCF in December 2019, and I highly recommend anyone who's considering an MFE program to apply for MSCF.

My favorite thing about MSCF is the curriculum. During my summer internship, I truly was using everything I learned in class. The curriculum is always up to date and practical to ensure the students' success in their careers. In addition, the career service is exceptional. The staff will do everything to help you secure a job.

MSCF is also highly selective so you'll take classes with some of the smartest and brightest students from all over the world. It takes a lot of effort to succeed in the program, but by the time you graduate, you'll be 100% prepared for your career and build friendships that will last life time!

After working for a few years in the financial industry, I was looking for a master’s program that could teach me the quantitative tools required to advance in this field. I recently graduated from the MSCF program in December 2019, and I am not disappointed to have chosen this degree. The program helped me develop the skill sets and industry connections required to succeed in the ever-changing and increasingly complex financial industry. I found all the support I needed to succeed, both in terms of academics and career development. The program has a great team of dedicated professors, career and academic counselors, classmates and student clubs. As the previous reviews mention, the program is worth the time and money invested in it.

I graduated from the MSCF New York campus in December 2020. Prior to the program, I had been working as a research analyst for three years. The curriculum helped me build a stronger foundation in different mathematical financial modeling. The best thing I like is that almost every course involves some kind of coding (of course, some courses are dedicated to pure coding in python and C++). Since CMU is famous for its CS courses, it is one of the reasons why I chose CMU and I am definitely more confident about my programming skills in the workplace now.

It has been a hard year for everyone but we also received a lot of help from the program. Besides the prestige given by the school name in the street, professors and the career center also have put in a lot of effort and helped us secure placement for internships and jobs.

I highly encourage everyone to reach out to alumni on LinkedIn as well, especially those who share some similar background with you. We are all super nice people and would love to share our stories with you in detail. Cheers! :D

As a recent grad of CMU MCSF, I would highly recommend this program to anyone who is considering to get a MFE degree and land a job in financial industry specialized in the quantitative direction.

The curriculum is well-rounded and trying to prepared students with not only necessary technical skills and financial knowledge, but also communication and presentation skills to perform in an actual business setting.

Despite that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused some difficulties in job searching, the majority of students have started careers with a bright outlook. The steering committee and staffs have been working hard to continue providing us support and career advices.

It's pity that we spent about a half year studying remotely at home and failed to interacts with professors or classmates in person. Studying from most experiences professors and taking courses with smartest students definitely made it an enjoyable journey in MSCF!

Short summary: The MSCF program is fantastic.

Alumni: If you join the program, it quickly becomes apparent how strong the MSCF alumni network is. We receive one-on-one resume advice, mock interviewing, and insights into our preferred job function (trading, research, development, …). A quick search on LinkedIn for your desired company will reveal alumni at various levels of seniority due to the program’s impressive staying power (since the mid 90’s).

Faculty: The professors are awesome - they really care about the students and how relevant their content is for internships/fulltime. You’ll frequently find them soliciting feedback and working with the equally great staff to ensure every voice is heard.

Employment: The two points above lead to very strong career opportunities. The vast alumni network allows for hiring managers to be educated on the skillset MSCF students possess, and the passionate professors ensure you have the technical skills needed to succeed. On top of this, and a personal favorite of many MSCF students, is the additional focus on communication. The business communication and presentation classes offer a much-needed reprieve from technical studies, and dive into the importance of all types of communication in the workplace. They make a (very) noticeable difference in student confidence in front of crowds, both for native and non-native English speakers.

The price tags on these programs are steep, but worth it. They have a high ROI, and you are surrounded by incredibly bright classmates who quickly become friends. Everyone brings their own strengths and subject matter knowledge to the program. Although I’m biased, I wholeheartedly recommend the MSCF.

I am proud to be part of the big MSCF family!
Thanks to all the amazing professors, alumni and staff, I managed to realize my dream of undertaking a career in the hedge fund industry in quantitative research. I did my undergraduate degree in computer science in Switzerland and I didn't hesitate a second to travel to the US to receive the great education the MSCF offers. In this program, I managed to round off my background and learn how to apply all the cutting edge methods to financial data. From advanced financial modelling to statistical learning, every single class I attended turned out to be extremely useful in industry. In my opinion, the MSCF provides the best education to train the new generation of quants.
Beside academics, I am honored to have met through the program very interesting classmates which I can now call my friends.

I graduated from MSCF NY in December 2023.

Prior to the program, I graduated from a French engineering school and I worked as a quant trader for a little under a year.

I think the program was great in every aspect. On the academic side, all the courses offer an in-depth exploration of their respective subjects. The academic advisor was awesome – really helpful and always there when I needed advice.

On the professional side, the career services were great too, giving solid tips for getting into the finance world. I also think that one of the strengths of the program is the alumni network. I had the opportunity to meet a lot of former students, which was great for building my network and for getting insights into the industry.

Overall, I really enjoyed the program and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to get into quant finance.

I graduated from undergrad at UC Berkeley studying Math and Economics in 2022 and was looking for a graduate program where I could apply a lot of the technical skills I learned to quant finance. The MSCF program at CMU did all that and more for me. I was initially drawn to it due to the ML emphasis in the course load and the elective offerings (NLP, ML capstone project, Blockchain, etc) as well as the buyside placements it boasts compared to similar programs.

The opportunities I was afforded simply from being part of such a cohesive program and larger alumni community were unparalleled. There were very few companies I wasn’t passing initial resume reviews with and I had a plethora of opportunities that came directly through the career office (who are very supportive and help guide you through any technical or behavioral practice/tips you may need).

As for the academics, I got a well rounded education in traditional finance (options, investment theory, portfolio management), stats, and CS. The condensed course load was certainly challenging as we had 7 weeks or so to master material that could have been given double that time to learn. However we had a very strong community in the NY campus that would routinely study together and were highly motivated by intellectual curiosity and ambition. That sort of culture certainly influences and pushes you to get the most out of the program and prepares you well for the reality of the industry.

All in all, I felt the program exceeded my expectations all around and I learnt a lot, both in terms of hard and soft skills.

Hi, I graduated from this program recently. My experience has been very good.

The best thing about this program is that the curriculum is very thoughtfully tailored to meet industry needs, staying current with frequent updates that reflect the latest developments.

The faculty, particularly the professors specializing in Quant, are true legends in their field and they go above and beyond in creating the assignments and teaching the concepts.

On the career front, the availability of career services has been a game-changer. The continuous support provided in recruiting activities has been instrumental, ensuring that I had access to opportunities to the fullest extent possible.

In summary, it has been a great experience. I have learnt a lot, gained a lot of new skills and also secured a good job in line with my career ambitions and I would whole-heartedly recommend this program to anyone pursuing a career in quant finance.

Can you tell us a bit about your background?
I obtained dual degrees in Computer Science and Economics from my college in China. I did not have any full-time experience prior to coming to MSCF.
I studied full-time in the program from 8/2008-12/2009

Did you get admitted to other programs?
I also got admissions to Cornell MFE, U Chicago MSFM, U Mich MFE, and WUSTL MSF.

Why did you choose this program (over others, if applicable)?
First, from the information I collected at the time, MSCF has the best reputation, placement record, and career service among all the programs that I got admission to. Second, MSCF is an 1.5 year program, which allows the time for a summer internship that I think is important for a student as me that had no prior working experience. Third, MSCF has a very well organized curriculum and all courses are specially tailored for the program, contrasting to many other programs that are composed of a set of selective courses shared by students from other majors. Fourth, MSCF is known for programming intensive comparing to other programs, which I think better matches my Computer Science background.

Tell us about the application process at this program
The application process is easy and smooth. I just submitted my application online, and mailed out the recommendation letters and transcripts. I have applied to the first round, and the decision arrives at the end of January. One little difference to other program is that MSCF asks for 2 essays dedicated to career plan and background respectively.

Does this program offer refresher courses for incoming students? How useful was it?
MSCF offers a math preparatory course in summer before the fall semester starts. The prep course reviews mainly the calculus and probability theories that are relevant to later courses. I think it is useful especially for those who has been out of school for several years. Though I came directly from my undergraduate school to MSCF, I still find it helpful for me to remember what I have learned in my fresh year in college.

Tell us about the courses selection in this program. Any special courses you like?
There are mainly four modules of courses, namely Mathematics, Programming, Statistics, and Finance. Personally, there are a few courses that I like most:
Stochastic Calculus I, II & III, Monte-Carlo Simulation, Numerical Methods. I think these are the core courses for FE, and will be extremely useful in future works. They are also very interesting.
I also like the course Studies in FE, which asks students to team up and work on two case projects that are simplified real world structuring problems.

Tell us about the quality of teaching
I would like to say almost all the professors are truly excellent. They are passionate, knowledgeable, and good at teaching. TA's are also very helpful. There are TA session every week for most courses, during which TA's explains some details that professors do not have time to cover in lectues, and are ready to answer your questions.
Each week, MSCF will invite some practitioners to the MSCF Speaker Series to give a speech on recent trends and real practices in the industry.

Materials used in the program
Stochastic Calculus, Steven E. Shreve
Fixed Income Securities, Bruce Tuckman
Monte Carlo Methods in Financial Engineering, Paul Glasserman
Credit Risk: Pricing, Measurement and Management, D. Duffie and K. Singleton

Programming component of the program
There are four courses namely Financial Computing I, II, III, IV for C++. VBA is also cover in Financial Computing III. Matlab is also used extensively in various course like Simulation, Credit Derivatives, Numerical Methods, etc. S-plus or R is used in statistics courses.

Projects
In the course Studies in FE, we have done two teamwork projects solving simplified real world structuring cases. For example, my team has done a structuring problem hedging a floating rate redeemable GNMA mortgage security with prepayment risk.
There are also more homework like projects in many courses like Monte Carlo Simulation, Statistical Arbitrage, Quantitative Asset Management, Stochastic Calculus III, Financial Computing IV, etc.

Career service
MSCF shares with MBA students the career service website for Tepper School of Business (And other CMU students do not have access to this website). MSCF students also have access to the career service website of CMU. Both websites are very helpful, and most students can get at least several on-campus interviews from these sources. Most major banks come to campus recruit through these websites.

MSCF also sends out resume books to a long list of firms, and these firm do give a lot of interviews in response to the resume book. These firms include many big names like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Nomura Securities, GETCO, etc.

The career service consultants are very helpful in providing advice on resume and cover letter writing, job hunting and interview preparation, mock interviews, etc. Many consultants are CMU alumni that has many years experience in the industry. e.g. Sondi has worked at Goldman for 12 years, and Jack at Barclays for 8 years.

Can you comment on the social interaction between students of different ethnics, nationalities in the program?
It is true that to some extent, students tend to work more closely with those coming from the same country. This is more obvious for American, Chinese, Indian, and Korean students, because each of these forms a large portion of student population in class. For students coming from other countries like Columbia, Argentina, Japan, etc, they usually interact more with other students because there are only one or two from their own country.

Having said so, if you want, you still have plenty of opportunities to reach out to students from other ethnic groups. Personally, I am Chinese, and I have cooperated with Indian and American students in several course projects, and I believe we all have learned a lot from each other.

What do you like about the program?
There are several things I like a lot. First, the curriculum is very well organized and courses are specially designed for the MSCF program, which form the basis of an excellent learning experience. Second, we have many famous professors teaching in the program including Steven Shreve, John Lehoczky, Duann Seppi, etc, and most professors are excellent in teaching. Third, staff at career services work really hard, and MSCF students do have a lot of on-campus interview opportunities with those big name firms. Last but not the least, the group of students in the program are extremely smart and hard working, and it is a great experience to spend the one and half year time with them.

What DON’T you like about the program?
Basically, I love the program, and don't have much to complain.

Suggestions for the program to make it better
I would provide some kind of flexibility to the program to fit the special needs for students coming from different backgrounds. For example, I would allow students with IT backgrounds to drop some of the basic programming courses, and insert more economic courses into their curriculum. On the other hand, students with business backgrounds should have more courses in basic programming to help them get through the remaining courses.

What are your current job status? What are you looking for?
I have got two offers from two major banks in NYC. One is an analyst position in the quantitative trading and analysis rotational program. The other is a second year analyst position in the IBD strategy group.

Other comments
It requires hard work to survive the program, but you will get rewarded handsomely if you can survive.

Can you tell us a bit about your background?
Prior Academic work: Economics & Math
2+ years in Financial Services: Technical Programming & Data Analysis
I studied full-time in the program from 8/2008-12/2009

Did you get admitted to other programs?
No

Why did you choose this program (over others, if applicable)?
Reputation and Course Work Listed

Tell us about the application process at this program
2 Essays, GRE score report & transcripts w/ 1 Phone interview. I hear though they now do video chat.

Does this program offer refresher courses for incoming students? What do they offer and how much it costs?
They offer a Math Prep Course that was about $250 for admitted students. It was mainly calculus-based probability, so not entirely useful given my background and it was eventually covered again in future coursework.

Courses selection
Initial Coursework can be consider Foundation courses where they cover the math, stat, and Comp Sci theories over applications with emphasis to Finance.

Later coursework got into detail to specific use to finance. The later more specific coursework was more interesting and enjoyable
Foundation Courses: Stochastic Calculus I-II, Probability & Stat Inference, Regression Analysis & Time Series Analysis, Financial Computing I-III, Basic Finance (Corp Finance & Economics)
Applied Courses: Multi Period Asset Pricing,Financial Computing IV, Stat Arbitrage, Monte-Carlo Simulation, Quant Asset Mgmt, Studies in FE, Credit Derivatives.

Again the applied course where the more fun and built upon the knowledge gained from the foundation coursework.
Sadly there was little flexibility in the program. You had the option to opt out of foundation courses with the instructors permission. Otherwise, you do the listed course sequence. It wasn't until the last session did they allow the students to choose 4 out 5 available classes.

Quality of teaching
Mostly the teachers came from Academic backgrounds. Though a few had industrial experience via directly working in the Investment Banking sector or indirectly by doing projects with Industry.
The program is supported mainly via each academic department, so TA are available to help from the Math, Stat, CS & Finance/Econ Departments. They held TA sessions & office hours and responded to e-mails.
Most professors have a few years experience teaching their specific courses, so are well versed on the subject matter.

Materials used in the program
For the Math classes the main book was Stochastic Calculus I&II (Shreve). With the applied courses having their own course notes/internal textbooks.
All of the Stat Courses mainly used their own internal course notes/reading materials. Optional readings from Probability and Statistics(Degroot), Glasserman's Monte Carlo Methods, Weisberg's Applied Linear Regression, Intro to Time Series and Forecasting (Brockwell&Davis)
CS Classes mainly focused on course notes with a number of reference materials.

Programming component of the program
Financial Computing used C++, mainly to teach OOP. R/S+ was used in the stat/simulation courses, Matlab was also used in Simulation and applied course work. A small amount of VBA Excel & SQL was taught. Programing is over 25% of the program.

Projects
Group Projects were assigned in the applied coursework.
The Studies of FE course is case-study style project.
Other classes such as Stat Arb & Quant Asset Mgmt had group projects that applied the course content requiring technical programing and financial analysis.

Career service
Career services is helpful and its quite strong for a Quant Finance program. Each student has a dedicated member of the Career Services center help with their cover letters, resume & mock interviews for internships and Full-time offers.
The career services is part of the Tepper Business School, so they are working to place both MBA & MSCF, using network contacts to bring recruiters on-campus. However, the unique nature of the MSCF can be challenge to a few in the Career Service Center.
In conjunction, the MSCF program director works to place students by sending MSCF only resume books targeted at firms with quant hiring needs.

What do you like about the program?
I liked the design of the program. First they set the table with the foundation coursework. Then, they give the students an understanding of the applications using the foundation knowledge.
The professors have vested a lot of time into the program and take pride in it. They are more than helpful to the students in terms of academic and professional advice.

What DON’T you like about the program?
I'd hope they could trim the amount of foundation coursework in favor of more applied coursework. This would be asking a lot since everyone's background is different, and they do their best to get every on the same solid ground before doing applied work.

Suggestions for the program to make it better
Add more flexibility to the program. If you opt out of a course, then you just have free time. It might be interesting to allow students to do independent self-study or group study on the topic (depending on how many students opt out). This might allow stronger professor-student relationships. As well, get to applied coursework faster. Might also be a feather in the cap for students for their resumes.
Also, for the refresher courses. Maybe add classes on MatLab and R/S+.

What are your current job status? What are you looking for?
Took a job offer in Quant Asset Mgmt