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Hi all, As the title says, as prospective students should be making their decisions, I would like to use this platform to interact with students who might be interested in the career path. Who Am I: I’m a senior quantitative researcher working in systematic equities. I’m what some might call a “full-stack” quant leading a team on the entire pipeline from data exploration to generating the trades …

Hi all, In the spirit of sharing and helping prospective students, I thought I’d do an AMA. I recently broke into quant trading and would have found something like this quite useful a year ago. who am I: I’m about to join a semi-systematic pod at a hedge fund as an analyst. My background is in pure mathematics (non-target for undergrad) followed by Part III at University of Cambridge, where I foc…

Hi all, In the spirit of sharing and helping prospective students ( I'm a senior buy side quant researcher. AMA ), it's my honor to use this platform to interact with students who might be interested in this career path. Who Am I : I'm a quantitative researcher working in systematic trading. I develop alpha signals to forecast the future prices of various financial instruments. I first learned C+…

The leading C++ course for aspiring quants — master the programming foundations of quantitative finance. Trusted by over 4,000 students worldwideThe leading C++ course for aspiring quants — master the programming foundations of quantitative finance. Trusted by over 4,000 students worldwideOur "C++ Programming for Financial Engineering" certificate has propelled thousands of graduates into top-ran…

Hi everyone! I’m currently a Junior Quantitative Researcher at a multi-manager hedge fund in New York. I’m part of a central team - though interestingly we trade our own strategies rather than supporting other pods, so it feels a bit like running our own mini-pod within the firm. Before starting this role, I completed my MFE at Baruch College. I’ve had internship experience on both mid-frequency …

By Linda Kreitzman, Executive Director of the Master of Financial Engineering Program at Berkeley Master of Financial Engineering programs’ students have, in my view, a very wide array of job opportunities in front of them, and not just in traditional quantitative finance with roles as strats at an I-bank, or researchers/portfolio managers at a hedge fund, derivatives traders, or in high frequenc…

​ In the 2026 ranking, we introduced several updates to our methodology to more accurately reflect the strengths of each program: Increased emphasis on placement success: The weight for this category has been raised from 55% to 60% , with the 3-month placement rate now weighted at 20% (up from 15%). Adjusted weight of student selectivity: The student selectivity category has been reduced from 25%…

You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. 2025 QuantNet Ranking of Best UK Quant Programs The QuantNet ranking of Financial Mathematics and Quantitative Finance MSc programs in the UK offers comprehensive insights into placement and admission statistics from the nation's premier programs, making it …

This article will be updated frequently. If you are a student of the programs below, please feel free to contribute to the course name, link to the course as well as the programming used. To apply to MFE programs, you have to demonstrate a programming proficiency. Some programs are very specific on what would meet the requirement Others are more lenient. Below is a look at how different languages…

​ Risk.net interviews Dan Stefanica, director of Baruch MFE program and Jim Gatheral, presidential professor about the program's success and how it is evolving with the changing technology. They discuss how large language models (LLMs) are already being integrated: students are encouraged to use them for coding, reflecting a shift where “every quant has become a better coder.” According to Gather…

​ This article has been updated in November 2025. What are the most selective MFE programs? There is no single metric that will definitely answer this question. Undergraduate GPAs, GRE scores are important indicators. But for many, the following are popular metrics of admission selectivity: acceptance rates, yield rate and applicants per available classroom seat. When it comes to acceptance rates…

​ Recruiting season is here, so here are my top 3 content mistakes I see on MFE and new-quant resumes — plus how to fix them. To keep things concise and clear, I used ChatGPT to draft and refine my examples — but the common mistakes and recommendations you see here come from 5 years of reviewing MFE and quant resumes, including my experience working at MSCF in Career Services. Mistake #1: Overemp…

​ In the last ten years, the number of graduate programs in quant finance has exploded, as has the number of MFE grads with an eye on top jobs at big-name firms. A decade ago there were seven graduate level quant programs in the United States; today there are close to a hundred – each cranking out anywhere from twenty to a hundred graduates a year. Just as their students see a MFE degree as a sur…

Two of the best things about writing a book are the people you meet and the things you learn when you send drafts around for comments. My new book, Red-Blooded Risk: The Secret History of Wall Street , was no exception. I expected to get the most controversy over the historical material about how Wall Street quantified in the 1980s, as there were a lot of strong personalities involved and credit …

Remember in Hamlet when King Claudius discovers Laertes has been buying naked CDS protection on Danish government bonds? Polonius, the royal treasurer, fears it will increase funding costs and bring on a fiscal crisis. The king laughs off the threat with the famous line, “There's such divinity doth hedge a king, that treason can but peep to what it would, acts little of his will.” Few modern CEOs…

Hello QuantNet Community, I wanted to share my journey to getting accepted into Columbia's MAFN program, NYU's MFE, NCSU's Mathematical Finance, and Nanyang Business School's MFE in Singapore. I'm still waiting on decisions from Columbia's MFE and GaTech's QCF. My hope is that this post helps those who feel limited by a low CGPA but are passionate about breaking into the world of quantitative fin…

Start early. Submitting a grad school application takes time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will it take a day to complete your application. Plan accordingly. Know your 'why'. Why you want to get an MFE degree – Going to grad school is a big decision. It’s expensive and if you’re already working, it can be hard to go back to school when you’re making money. Applying to grad school becau…

You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. 2026 QuantNet Ranking of Best Financial Engineering Programs The definitive guide to U.S. graduate programs in quantitative finance—trusted placement and admission insights for your next career move. The QuantNet Ranking of U.S. Financial Engineering, Mathem…

You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. 2024 QuantNet Ranking of Best Financial Engineering Programs The 2024 QuantNet MFE ranking is the most authoritative and comprehensive ranking of best Financial Engineering (MFE), Mathematical Finance programs in the continental USA. The QuantNet ranking of …

You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. 2025 QuantNet Ranking of Best Financial Engineering Programs The QuantNet ranking of Financial Engineering, Mathematical, and Quantitative Finance master's programs in the US offers detailed insights into placement and admission statistics from the nation's …