Hi,As the thread topic suggests, I am facing a choice between these three universities (all MSc FinMath programs, MTF for Cass) for a September 2004 entry. Some background info: EU citizen, BSchool with majors in finance and currently statistics school, about 2 years financial experience through internships, some programming (especially SAS and C++). I'd be glad to hear your pros & cons on these three programs, especially from alumni or current students.Tks

Choice getting narrower, as Cass' MTF is no longer part of the equation...What I see now for KCL :PROS = nice reputation, not that expensive, London based (not far from France...), interesting program on both Finance and Maths, does not sound as difficult as ChicagoCONS = limited scope in terms of being well-known (maybe IC would rank higher), limited number of electives (I must admit that I only browsed through their website so I do not even know whether there is a required internship at the end or similar stuff)For Chicago :PROS = well, international scope and faculty, nice city (potentially more enjoyable to live as London... wow, I'm not getting friends on this one...), higher meansCONS = tougher, more expensive, farther awayAny insight?Tks

KCL's undergrad maths dept. isn't highly regarded (I remember looking at Times seeing at 30th place), and is the butt of many jokes from UCL maths dept, although there is nearly 200 years history between the 2 colleges and great rivalry. The KCL MSc. is however very good and run by a top prof. Also, KCL is a Russell Group university (group of about 20 UK universities that lead the UK university research efforts). KCL tends to specialize more in humanities, for which it is very good.At any college of the University of London (e.g IC, KCL, UCL, LSE etc.) you will have access to all college libraries. So, 2 minutes walk from KCL campus are the brand new KCL (Chancery Lane) and LSE (Portugal Street) libraries. KCL and LSE are right next to Waterloo (so Eurostar/Heathrow) and is next to Fleet Street, e.g. 750 metres from GS so should get some GS guys visit you. Imperial has a better international reputation than KCL, but lower than that of LSE.

ok, thanks for this info. I didn't apply to IC as their application process was really annoying, and their program was about twice the price of that of KCL, without (as you say) having the reputation of LSE (hey, for French people accustomed to almost free graduate programs, or even getting paid in the case of X or ENS, money actually is an important criterion, especially as funding time has now past for the year ...)

If you end up at KCL make sure you make a good attempt at grabbing ALL of Jeremy Bentham's body. I understand the last time his mumified head was stolen by KCL was in 1989. UCL didn't appreaciate KCL playing football with it in their Quad (then moving swifty down Gower Street). I've been told the real head is now locked in a vault under UCL and there's a wax replacement in his 'autoicon' cabinet. The UCL response was to steal the KCL mascot, Reggie the Tiger (which is not a dead body, unlike UCL). They returned him minus bollocks.I did mention the rivalry between the colleges didn't I?

Chicago is very tough, but the effort will be worth it. The city also has a huge QOL edge over London.