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As I mentioned in another thread, I'm biased because I go to Princeton.

That said I think that the Princeton program is a little different than the others. Its a master in FINANCE. not math. I chose it because I thought it would give me a little bit of flexibility later on -- it doesn't have as narrow a specification as mathematical finance degree. Also, the degree of class customization is very nice. I sort of don't buy the opinion "all the classes customized for the program", such as at Carnegie. I think that most of the people on here would agree that "you can pick up the finance applications if you are versed in the math, but not the other way around". that argument works for other disciplines. i.e. I am taking an advanced computer science course from Kernighan. Is he heavy on finance? No. Will I become a damn improved C++ programmer? yes. besides, I can choose a finance app for my final project. I think its better to master the fundamentals in a lot of cases. just study the fundamentals that are relevant for finance. You can really structure the program here how you like? Want to understand Wavelets? Debauchies is teaching a course this semester. How about Continuous Time Financial Economics? Yacine Ait-Sahalia is an excellent teacher. Plus there is a full selection of MBA-esque courses. Take Corporate Finance from Malkiel.

There are also a lot of classes structured just for MiF students, as you can see from the website.

I realize that I'm tooting my own horn, in a way, but hey its the 1st year of the program and I gotta get the word out.

(p.s. the quality of students here is very high)

Does anyone who has attended any of the aforementioned programs (or others) have anything to say about the degree to which PhD candidates in the sponsoring department(s) and masters students cross paths?

For example, Princeton's ORFE department offers both the masters and PhD degrees. Same for CMU's Mathematics of Finance program. Sloan has a PhD in Finance, and other departments at MIT seem to intersect with Sloan quite a bit (OR program in particular). NYU has a huge MF Master's program but I see a lot of the Math PhD students and graduates actually are quite involved in finance.

Thoughts?

I was interested in the CMU certificate program and started the Stats and Finance tracks about 2 years back. However, what I found was the 7 week mini-semester approach that CMU uses was too demanding relative to my work schedule. If you don't work, it shouldn't be an issue. But if you work 10-12 hours/day as I do, and class meets both once a weekday at night and one weekend day per week, it might be tough. I found that school was taking up way too much of my time, as I had little left over for anything else.

On the plus side, my short time there did expose me to some top notch profs, and the program was very interesting to say the least. I would consider going back if the 7-week minis were done away with. Personally, I need a normal 3 month semester with one class meeting per week. Hope to start at NYU next Fall. What I like about NYU is that you have the opportunity to take regular math courses besides just the finance related ones. I have interests in certain math subject areas outside of finance, and I simply couldn't take those courses via CMU's video teleconferencing course delivery method...they just don't offer them that way.

I have a Masters in Computer Science from USA and have good Quantitative background . I did bachelors in Chemical Engg. from I.T.BHU India ( a reputed Univ). I am currently working on my MS thesis on the application of Genetic Algorithms on the stock Market. Currently I have admission for MS Finance ( 2002 session March) from Illinois Institute of Tech. Chicago . I am waiting to hear from Berkeley , [MS in Financial Engg.]for the 2003 session [ please note its for 2003] . But, evenutally I would like to get into research in quant based finance. Do you think an MS in Financial Engg. would be better say from a school like Berkeley after one year than an MS in Finance . Or it would be better to do go for MSF from IIT ,which is just a year program and would give me good background in Finance , to which am a fresher . Later I can do a Phd. Also,I am interested in knowing Univs that admit "freshers" into quant focussed Finance Phd programs in the United States . Text

At Princeton, if, for instance, you take the course in Portfolio Theory, will you have sufficient background in portfolio optimization? Or will you have to take more courses just to learn everything about portfolio theory.

The NYU Math department is ranked number 1 in applied mathematics in the US. Take a look at the teaching staff and adjunct lecturer at the department. You will find some interesting people and significant people from Wall Street. It may help you to decide.