Just call up David heath's office or e-mail him and he will give you the scoop.Checking out both programs briefly, I would go for CMU. QuoteOriginally posted by: sjian99Hi, I noticed that someone has compared Cornell and Columbia. I met a problem that I have to choose from Cornell and CMU. Lots of people talked CMU but few threads are about Cornell. As I know, CMU has great curriculum and MSCF program is in her b-school. But Cornell seems better reputation for the whole univ. And I checked some big firms in Wall street, such as lehman, CSFB, etc. They have on-campus recruiting events in Cornell but not in CMU. What do guys think?Thanks

Hi Fxislander, Thank you so much for you advice. I know David Heath will teach MSCF program for "time structure" from this Fall. As moogoogaigop said, both programs can not be wrong. I think both progroms have their own advantages. The point is what kind of advantage is more fit for me. It is great that I can utilize this oppertunity to re-think what I need.

The course is "Term Structure," as in the Term Structure of Interest rates. Well, having looked at the Cornell website and their curriculum more closely I noticed a few things.1. They do their programming in MATLAB, SAS, etc. There was no mention of C++.2. Stochastic Calculus is optional. 3. There is no summer internship. 4. The speakers they have coming to campus are nowhere near as impressive or numerous as those coming to CMU. 5. Investments, Derivatives, and Fixed Income are taken in the business school. Having taken these courses at the University of Chicago GSB and at CMU in the MSCF program, (I haven't taken Heath's Term Structure Modelling course yet), I can tell they will be trivial in the business school. At CMU in the MSCF program, they were challenging and my grade were not as good as they were at CHicago.6. The larger class size at CMU is a benefit since their will be more alumni contacts from the CMU program. 7. Cornell's website for the FE program iis not very impressive. 8. CMU's program is a three semester program, Cornell's is two semesters. I think all these reasons make CMU the obvious choice. CMU is not an Ivy League school.Some may consider the smaller class size at Cornell at advantage. But to me all thesereasons still add up to choosing CMU over Cornell. QuoteOriginally posted by: sjian99Hi Fxislander, Thank you so much for you advice. I know David Heath will teach MSCF program for "time structure" from this Fall. As moogoogaigop said, both programs can not be wrong. I think both progroms have their own advantages. The point is what kind of advantage is more fit for me. It is great that I can utilize this oppertunity to re-think what I need.