I am not a fin math student but I study Operations Research at NCSU and have had a decent interaction with fin-math students.
The fin math program at NCSU is decent, but in my opinion, suffers heavily (highlight heavily) from not being in or around NYC or Chicago, etc. Charlotte is a financial centre in ways if that is some compensation. Fin Math is one of the few programs at NCSU which does have career services, so I guess that helps. They are definitely improving in terms of placements but I still know that some students end up taking jobs in their native countries.
The program covers all esentials of a Financial Math program, note: not Financial Engineering. Many courses are mathematically rigorous and you will gain a level of mathematical understanding which you might not in other Fin Engg programs(including Columbia). There are courses which cover programming languages for financial math applications like pricing and interest rate models. People generally take up statistics courses and then get into risk analysis and the like.
Overall, I would say that one should prefer universities in and around NYC/Chicago/Boston because your main concern is getting a job, but the program here is showing potential and I do see better placements coming in the future.
Thanks
