How will you guys compare these three programs? And why? THank you very much!

Go Michigan, Baruch is an out of question

QuoteOriginally posted by: GillGo Michigan, Baruch is an out of questionnot correct, that is the case with MBA not so with the MFE, which I think is what is referring to. Michigan's placement is quite good but Baruch's placement is better. How I know? I have met grads from all three programs in the NYU career fair and personally know MU grads. However internationally Baruch is not as well known as either Michigan or USC, on a brand name basis.

this would have been better posted in either "careers" or "student" (on checking, you've doubled it to student)Baruch is a lowly school, but what it's got going for it is location: NYC and proximity to employers.Michigan and SoCal are far superior as schools, but the objective is not so much to go to a good school as to get a good a good job.If placement is good, you should consider it, but you should ask a lot of questions about placement before enrolling there.I got a kick out of the fact that Baruch website repeatedly refer to their "prestigious Zicklin School of Business": as a rule of thumb, if you need to keep telling people something is prestigious, it isn't,and a quick check of the businessweek US MBA rankings reveals that this "prestigious" school isn't listed as one of the top 30 US fulltime MBAs, nor does it make USNews&WorldReport's top 50 US Business Schools. Looking at Baruch's faculty from their program website:Neftci is a well-known big name, but none of the others ring a bellTuran G. BaliLev BorodovskyWarren B. GordonC. Douglas Howard Elena Kosygina'sSusan H. MaTerrence F. Martell Anita Mayo Carlos J. MorenoSalih Neftci Sylvain Raynes Dan StefanicaSherman Wong Mona Zamfirescu

Thank you guys. Then what about USC's replacement? I'm wondering if its location will make the replacement a bit weaker. And I heard that most students go to Commercial Banks instead of Investment Banks, Fund, and Consulting companies.

While not relevant to the Financial masters program, Vladimir Piterbarg [then went to Bank of America and now Barclays] did get a PhD in mathematics there and his [brother?] Victor [Bank of America] did go through the financial masters program.

Baruch's MFE is run out of the math dept, not the b-school. The teachers listed above are almost all mathematicians.They get practitioners to teach also - Lev Borodovsky used to be chairman of GARP, works at Tribeca Global. Other speakers come - Thomas Ho, Peter Carr, Andrew Kalotay, and others just recently.

I heard Peter Carr also gave a few lectures as guest instructor

QuoteOriginally posted by: PatrickMBaruch's MFE is run out of the math dept, not the b-school. no one said otherwiseQuoteThe teachers listed above are almost all mathematicians.there are 14 listed and (without regard to whether the remainder are mathematicians) I would class these 5 as other than mathematicians. That would leave 9 out of 14. That's not really "almost all" is it, in fact less than 2/3rdsTuran Bali is on the faculty of the Department of Economics and Finance in Baruch's "prestigious" Zicklin School of BusinessLev Borodovsky serves as a senior risk officer for a leading European investment bank. Dr. Borodovsky is the co-founder of GARPSusan H. Ma is a Manager at Enterprise Risk Management at American International Group Terrence F. Martell is on the faculty of the finance department in Baruch's "prestigious" Zicklin School of Business Sylvain Raynes is one of the two principals of R&R Consulting, a New York based consulting firm specializing in structured financial analysis in all asset types. QuoteThey get practitioners to teach also - Lev Borodovsky used to be chairman of GARP, works at Tribeca Global. ah, that's where I've seen that name....>>In the midst of the GARP scandal, RISK Magazine reported that the wives ("outsiders") of Lore and Borodovsky ("insiders") >>set up their own conference management firm. >>Lore and Borodovsky then funneled GARP's conferences to their wives business. >>Officially, GARP made no profit on the conferences. Money in equaled money out! The wives' firm made all the money.

"...I would class these 5 as other than mathematicians. That would leave 9 out of 14. That's not really "almost all" is it, in fact less than 2/3rds..."I said in the very next sentence that practictioners were there. There was no mistake and no spin - it was an honest answer - there are mathematicians, and practictioners.It's a mix, much like several other schools, exactly what I said, full disclosure. That's what you want as a student.The teaching is solid, the admissions competitive, the placement in the 95%+ range, above six figures. This is verifiable. It's all on the web site for all to see. No one is hiding anything or making false claims.Admittedly, Manhattan has everything to do with it, but there is no shame in that. They are doing a very respectable job. DCFC and others attest to this here on Wilmott on other threads, and elsewhere. Borodovsky was a bad boy 10 years ago, but are you saying that thus he can't teach a class on risk management? He has a PhD in physics, and has published a book and some articles on risk. Your objection is not on point to show that Baruch somehow is a terrible school because of it, or that they are unethical. Not true.

QuoteOriginally posted by: PatrickM"...I would class these 5 as other than mathematicians. That would leave 9 out of 14. That's not really "almost all" is it, in fact less than 2/3rds..."I said in the very next sentence that practictioners were there. There was no mistake and no spin - it was an honest answer - there are mathematicians, and practictioners.It's a mix, much like several other schools, exactly what I saidagreed, it's a mix, and agreed there are practitioners, but as I said before, the assertion that "The teachers listed above are almost all mathematicians" is inaccurate. "Mostly" perhaps, but not "almost all" Quotethe placement in the 95%+ range, above six figures. that is impressive, and like I said, he should consider Baruch just for thatQuoteBorodovsky was a bad boy 10 years ago, but are you saying that thus he can't teach a class on risk management?No, but if I were a student in one of his classes, I'd hang on to my pocketbook as it were QuoteYour objection is not on point to show that Baruch somehow is a terrible school because of it, or that they are unethical. Not true.In my initial post, I said Baruch was a lowly school in a superb location which reportedly has good placement and I noted that the "objective is not so much to go to a good school as to get a good job".In my second post, I corrected an exaggeration on your part about the proportion of the teachers who were mathematicians, and noted that Borodovsky is, oh let's say ethically challenged.What I've said was true.

Thank you guys. Then what about USC's replacement?

Did you know that UCLA is starting an MFE program too? It looks similiar to Berkeley's, probably because the UCLA faculty teach at Berkeley. It looks very competitive. check it out: www.anderson.ucla.edu/mfe.xml

QuoteOriginally posted by: k007Did you know that UCLA is starting an MFE program too? It looks similiar to Berkeley's, probably because the UCLA faculty teach at Berkeley. It looks very competitive. check it out: www.anderson.ucla.edu/mfe.xml>> the UCLA faculty teach at Berkeley explain !you mean that UCLA have poached the faculty (can't blame the faculty, who wouldn't want to live in LA as opposed to amid a bunch of hippies) ?or they commute ? (which is a heck of a long commute !)