Hello,I am curious about Columbia University's IEOR department. From one side it's Ivy Leage and AFAIK there is a good MFE program. There are also some renowned faculty and they hold regular seminars with Street professionals on this department. From the other side, US News Report says that Columbia is #19 in the US Engineering grad schools ranking.My question is - how good in your opinion is their PhD program (focus on financial engineering)? Is it really top tier? How would you rank it among other top tier PhD programs in QF/FE? How marketable would I be after it?Also, it would be great to hear an opinion from Columbia's alumni..Thank you in advance!

That's where Wall street looking for quantDo you think it is good or not?

Derman's there.

"Top tier" is a tricky term without a good definition.However, if someone made the assertion that Colombia was not top tier, I would find that strange.Marketability will be good relative to the market, but of course I cannot predict the market the level 4-5 years from now.In the Guide we have a section on "Which Phd Should I do ?"

As a graduate of that department, I would say if your intention is to find a quant job after graduation, this is the best Phd program for you. Professors are well known and well connected. Majority of the graduates from Phd program (not only Finance Phd) find Wall Street jobs every year.

Thank you for your responses!I hope I'll get there As for the other US schools - which have PhD programs in QF/FE of comparable quality? Chicago, NYU, CMU, Princeton, Cornell, Stanford ... others?QuoteAs a graduate of that department, I would say if your intention is to find a quant job after graduation, this is the best Phd program for you. FBNY, do I correctly understand you that Columbia is more a practical than theoretical school? Actually, my objective is to do academic research (which is why I applied for PhD, not MFE), but maybe after several years I'll look for a job. Would you recommend Columbia for this (research then work)?P.S. Seems like US News report = trash when it comes to comparing QF programs

QuoteOriginally posted by: GuestFBNY, do I correctly understand you that Columbia is more a practical than theoretical school? Actually, my objective is to do academic research (which is why I applied for PhD, not MFE), but maybe after several years I'll look for a job. Would you recommend Columbia for this (research then work)?No, I am not saying that Columbia is more practical. That will depend on who you are working with. Throughout my years at that department, I never saw anybody who wrote a thesis on Finance go to academia after graduation. Maybe this is because they get very good offers from Wall Street after graduation.

QuoteOriginally posted by: FBNYQuoteOriginally posted by: GuestThroughout my years at that department, I never saw anybody who wrote a thesis on Finance go to academia after graduation. Maybe this is because they get very good offers from Wall Street after graduation.==============Jeremy Staum Columbia 2001 ? Now at Northwestern U.From other schools Roger Lee Stanford, to U.Chicago Peter Carr. UCLA, to Cornell for X years etc., etc. there are lots of people who went to academia

Another point to consider: Columbia IEOR and the DRO department under business school basically run their PhD programs jointly. Each program is considered top 10, and jointly they are a force to be reckoned with.There are some brand names of quant-finance like Paul Glasserman and Mark Broadie at DRO, and IEOR PhDs can work with them as well; a close friend of mine just did that. and, yes, I am from Columbia (DRO), and got a job in Wall St., and I didn't do my PhD in FE (although had the option to choose).But, you're talking about a tough (very tough) competition here: e.g. DRO excepts only 3 students/year among hundreds of qualified applications.

I’m not a Columbia alumni but IEOR is definitely top tier.The only problem with Columbia is your paycheck ... pretty bad compare to other schools. Cornell or Princeton will pay you the same amount but you’ll live in much cheaper area.A good point for Columbia is that IEOR is huge! (well, I’m not sure it’s a good point but…)