Hey skyblue,Congrats! It looks like both are awesome deals. I can't help you on making a decision, but I also want to comment that if you let go of the offer from Citedal, you might never have a chance to work there as well (not just Columbia's MAFN program). In fact, I think you already have the credentials to get accepted by Columbia's MAFN program so the chances of you being accepted again by Columbia after a few years of work experience at Citedal might even be better and it also give you a bigger picture of what is it like to be a quant. Then, you can determine if this is the path you want to go. Again, my point is, job opportunities are rare and hard to find, whereas for schools, they are always there and you can always go back. Just my $0.02. Good luck!Note: I had this dilemma when I graduated from college. I had to choose between job offers and graduate schools. I took my job offer and walked away.

I know

Hey,I am not that evil, am I? Whether you accept the offer from Columbia or not will not make a huge difference on my final decision, i.e. there are many more students that are waiting and if you don't go, that just frees up 1 space, what's the probability of me taking that spot right there?I knew it would sound bad when I typed my response, but I still wanted to give you my $0.02. Again, the decision is yours and I am not trying to persuade you to pick the job offer. I simply let you know what I did when I faced the dilemma. I hope you will accept the offer from Columbia so maybe I can meet you there. I am pretty much confident that I will end up at Columbia, and the thing is whether it's MAFN or MA Statistics program. Again, good luck to you.

I would tend to support skyblue's view. Considering the high selectivity of Citadel, your being extended an offer already suggests you have been deemed sufficiently skilled on the fin math side to be part of this kind of company. So would you really NEED an MSc program in addition? Plus you could always attend a part time program in Chicago some time later, and that could even be paid for by the company Just my 2c...

Skyblue is the offer at Citadel's Chicago office?