Hi All,I worked in a European bank for 2.5 years in structuring till third quarter of 2008. After that I was made redundant and have had trouble finding a job since. In the meantime I applied for a masters in finance at various US universities. I just got admission into Columbia MFE (IE & OR dept.) and am awaiting results from Princeton/CMU/Cornell/Stanford/Chicago/NYU Courant.I would like to have an opinion on the feasibility of such a degree in the current environment. Also, what is the perception of the various MFE programmes (sort of a ranking etc.) on the street ? Lastly, any specific comments on Columbia would be highly appreciated.

QuoteOriginally posted by: sandracheimHi All,I worked in a European bank for 2.5 years in structuring till third quarter of 2008. After that I was made redundant and have had trouble finding a job since. In the meantime I applied for a masters in finance at various US universities. I just got admission into Columbia MFE (IE & OR dept.) and am awaiting results from Princeton/CMU/Cornell/Stanford/Chicago/NYU Courant.I would like to have an opinion on the feasibility of such a degree in the current environment. Also, what is the perception of the various MFE programmes (sort of a ranking etc.) on the street ? Lastly, any specific comments on Columbia would be highly appreciated.http://www.quantnet.org/forum/showthrea ... bia+mfeMay be helpful.

Congrats on getting accepted to Columbia.Specific comment: Derman could be your teacher. How cool is that!

Looks like CMU/Berkeley/Princeton/ are the best (ie good education + great career services).

NYU, berkeley, Princeton are the best IMHO

QuoteOriginally posted by: sandracheimHi All,I worked in a European bank for 2.5 years in structuring till third quarter of 2008. After that I was made redundant and have had trouble finding a job since. In the meantime I applied for a masters in finance at various US universities. I just got admission into Columbia MFE (IE & OR dept.) and am awaiting results from Princeton/CMU/Cornell/Stanford/Chicago/NYU Courant.I would like to have an opinion on the feasibility of such a degree in the current environment. Also, what is the perception of the various MFE programmes (sort of a ranking etc.) on the street ? Lastly, any specific comments on Columbia would be highly appreciated.Congratulations on getting into Columbia.Out of curiosity, did you receive an e-mail or a letter in the mail notifying you of admission?

I agree with pgeek1 based on the profiles I saw on the sites it seems that the most selective are Princeton, UCB, and NYU. The curriculum seems fairly standard across the board.

how are the grads of princeton and ucb doing this year in this job market? i heard many had trouble getting even summer internships.

I'm hearing that most were able to find internships. The trouble is converting those to full time jobs.I guess many will have to settle for a crappy job or go back home.

QuoteOriginally posted by: pgeek1NYU, berkeley, Princeton are the best IMHONyu has great faculty and a great program. But career services is not as good as cmu. I have a feeling that althoug nyu grads are better, the cmu guys are getting better jobs on average.

QuoteOriginally posted by: KackToodleshow are the grads of princeton and ucb doing this year in this job market? i heard many had trouble getting even summer internships. The UCB class had their internships from October 2008 to January 2009. The statistics are published on their website - 100% took on paid internships.