Dear Forum,I have been offered a place for the MSc in Investment Management (IM) @Cass, but i am also considering the MSc in Mathematical Trading & Finance (MTF).It's very hard to make my choice and some advice would be greatly appreciated !I will graduate this summer from a French Grande Ecole with an equivalent of a MSc in Advanced Computer Science. I have chosen the Math and Business specialisation options.Now i work on a stat arb desk (basket trading) for a 7 month internship.So having a scientific background, and being more interested in quant trading than in fundamental finance trading, i should choose MTF. But the MSc in Investment Management being much older and having much more graduates is more popular and more recognised.I have some weakness in economics and fundamental finance that the MSc in IM would fill.Besides, i am afraid of being classified as a quant with the MTF and being proposed only research jobs with no trading opportunities.So i think IM would open more doors than MTF. On the other hand, I am more attracted by maths than economics so I should be more suited to MTF than IM and i think I could be able to fill my weaknesses in fundamental finance on my own with good books (I think it would be easier to self-improve in general knowledge of the capital markets than in maths, even if I have a science background).Then I think I would be more interested in joining some quant desk for trading than fundamental desks, so maybe MTF would be more appreciated and relevant for those desks, even though theoretically, when using a pricer, you don't really need to know how it works.And to complicate it further, in the syllabus of the two MSc, there are elective courses that can be chosen from each other.So I would say that if the MSc IM is also appreciated for joining quant desks, i would choose it and choose the elective modules from MTF to get a sort of mix of both programs and get the pros of both degrees.There it is.So please, your opinion would be highly appreciated, and all the more from former students from these degrees.Thank you very very much for your help.Best regards,Velkro )

I did my BSC at city and know people who have done both courses, and know many ofthe lecturers very well.Go for the MTF. Far superior in many ways. Definitely a pure quant degree but the techniques you will learn and the opportunites you will gain from it is very good. Excellent emplyment afterwards too.The IM course is more basic and really only looks at the fundamental side, and like you said you can learn from a book. People on the IM course are looking to get into fund management where as the MTF are gonna be traders/quants.

Thanks !And what about the popularity of Cass ?Is it worth 16,500 £...?I mean is City University popular in the States too ?Are the tuition fees an investment that will give such return that it is worth it ?In term of career opportunities worldwide in big banks, of interesting jobs, of high standard salary.... Comparing with The Imperial College, even tough Imperial seems to be more popular, I think that since being in the City and having much more graduates, Cass is therefore much valuable, because job opportunities and personal network seems to be the most important features nowadays...Do you agree ?

im doing a msc finance at imperial, i its not up to scratch. im very dissappointed with it, and the teaching at city is much better. all degress cost 16k so depends how you view your utility function on that one! i rather spend it on beer ;-)dont know about city uni in the states, but it has a great reputation in the city of london, and the networking there is very good if not from anything its proximity to the city.send me an email if you like and we can discuss matthewcheung50@hotmail.com

I've got a similar dilemma. I've been offered a place at Cass for the MTF and at Imperial for the Maths & Finance and not sure which one to go for. Whilst Imperial is a top university, it seems like the Cass MTF gives a higher chance of employment due to it very applied material and connections in the City. What do you think? I've heard a lot of great things about Cass, and a lot of people say it's a fun course.Do you know any people at Imperial doing the Maths and Finance? How are they finding it? Has it been easy for them to get jobs? I would be grateful if you can give me their email so I can ask them more about it.It's a tough decision to make because of the high costs (£16K) involved, so your help is much appreciated.

I think IC MSc in Math-Finance involves summer project at i-banks such as citibank Lehman, etc... if you perform well, high chance of staying there after the summer project... Once you are an insider of the firm in any form, job hunting gets much much easier from my experience. So, I personally think this project aspect of the course is a big plus.I don't know much about Cass so cannot commment on it.....

Im on the MSc Finance at IC. Not very impressed with it to be quite honest! Imperial has a fantastic reputation as a university, but the course for me is not up to scratch. We do quite a few joint electives with Maths and Finance, but dont know much about it really, but I do know that City MTF is a great course with 100% employment opportunites when your done there. Im not aware of the summer job thing with the Maths and finance.

You say that the MTF is a great course with 100% employment opportunities, but how did you come to that conclusion? Do you know people that have done it and what they've gone on to do? Also, what do academics think of it? Does it provide good grounding for a Phd at a top university later?I'm also quite shocked that you don't think the MSc Finance at IC is up to scratch. I've read and heard that it's one of the best courses of it's kind. What is it about the course that you don't like?Your feedback is much appreciated.

i'm studying at Cass doing the MTF. great course - very practical and thorough. only problem with it - no C++ programming which seems to be a pre-requisite for Quant jobs these days - though it is possible to learn c++ via the Computing department at very low student rates. re grounding for a Phd...i know of PhD students at LBS and Oxford who went straight from doing the MTF programme. I'm sure there are many more.re what academics think of it....there are some top-notch lectures/academics on the programme: Barone-Adesi, Staunton, Harry Kat (just joined the school but not lecturing at the moment)...the financial econometrics department also is very well known/respected.fellow students on the programme include graduates/PhDs from top universities.facilities (library, computing, trading room) in new $75m Business School building are outstanding + state-of-the-art. I DEFINITELY RECOMMEND THE PROGRAMME.

hmm, after reading this, I'm considering applying as a back-up (my 1st choice is USC).

AliMIsnt Hadjioannidis teaching at MTF?

Anthis, yes he is! Is he famous in the field?(seems like a wannabe SSB 80s bond trader to me )

He has been my instructor in Fixed income portfolio management. He has been one of the best professors i ever had, and he was a nice guy as well

Hi AnthisWhere is the web page of Hadjioannidis?Alim,Does Prof. Webber give VBA and credit derivatives courses to you? Is there not any crash course for C++ for you?

hi there John H is the course director on the programme. great lecturer + nice guy as you say. he teaches Mathematical Finance, 5 weeks of Derivatives II, Fixed Income Arb + Trading, Advanced Financial Engineering.Prof Webber doesnt teach the first yr (of the part-time course at least). Mike Staunton takes us for Numerical Methods (excel VBA etc).Re credit derivs, John H again!A