Claremont McKenna's MSF program will not be accepting application from students outside of the Claremont College. The program is going to be run like Florida's MSF program, pulling directly from its undergraduate students.
I personally think this is a huge loss as the program was one of the best. Not sure the full reasoning, but I will try and find out. I expected something like this when they hit pause while the program was under review, but this is still a shock.
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Wow! I'm actually really disappointed by this. I was planning on applying there to start either Spring or Fall '19 if I don't get a solid FT offer out of undergrad. Hopefully they will change their policy before then but CMC is a pretty small school.
I don't think the policy is changing any time soon. They will still be able to build a class from their UG students, just like Florida does. School was always a little uneasy with the program, guess they finally decided to shut it down. Real shame to the overall MSF scene.
Why were they uneasy? I don't think they had any problem in placing internationals, a lot of them found great jobs in northern cali. Or is it the competition, since USC is a little stronger brand? Still, CMC was like second best MFin after MIT, with Vanderbilt catching up.
This is some BS, CMC! I was planning on applying there too. Now it's only MIT, Vanderbilt, with UTA, & UMN as safeties.
The program really isn't in line with the schools liberal arts focus. Program stuck around as long as it did because it was so successful. Unfortunately it didn't last. Sucks because the program really understood how to provide a great education and also prepare students for jobs once they graduate.
That's understandable, but I think they should've announced that a year or two in advance. Do you think USC will as good as CMC for West Coast?
So who has semi-target/target presence in California now for MSF, Mfin, & MFE programs @TNA" ? I'm from the West Coast so it would be nice to have some schools in my region with decent presence. I know USC has a new MSF and but can you speak on UCB's or any other notables in the west?
UCB is a Financial Engineering program. Despite the fact that CMC was a general finance program, a little quantitative, they competed directly with UCB MFE for some quantitative jobs. I talked to a couple of CMC grads at Moody's about this. I don't think USC can do that. It'll be a big accomplishment for them to place at least 70% of the class, forget about top jobs! They're so reluctant to even share information about their last class.
I think we'll be seeing more of this with schools trying to set it up as a 5th yr program like MACCs. Especially top schools like Claremont. Really unfortunate as we need more prestigious MSFs not less.
I don't think so. UTA has ECON-MSF for their econ students as a 5th year program, but they have not discontinued it. It's still open to everyone. Vanderbilt's program is so successful, I don't think they're going to discontinue it. The reason for cmc closing could be what TNA said. They are liberal arts school, and this whole business school idea was weird, but successful. I think they will discontinue the MSF after some years, for everyone.
I don't think USC will be as strong because first, they're a new program, second, their other MS placements suck. Claremont had a clout and competed directly with UCLA and Berkeley. Some top northern cali jobs went to CMC kids.
Look into UCB's MFE program. They are much more "quanty" than other programs but have really good presence and Berkeley is pretty close to SF and Menlo Park.
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Yeah. This was sudden. I don't know why, and I can't find anything about it on the Internet. @TNA", how did you find out?
They posted it on their home page as of like a day ago, http://mastersinfinance.cmc.edu/
I knew the program was being reviewed for a while. I suspected that this was going to happen because the school was never really comfortable with this degree program. A friend of mine that was applying got an email from admissions yesterday saying the program was being closed to outside applicants.
USC is a great program, but it will be up to the student to get the placements. IMO, if you do well in the program and can network, you should be able to land top IB jobs. I know a guy who did the MAcc and got a great MM IBD placement using the alumni network alone.
Outside of that, not too many West Coast programs. I believe San Diego has an MSF, but the main schools in Cali really are USC, Berkeley, UCLA. Berk and UCLA have good MFE programs, not sure if we will see them roll out an MSF any time soon. UCLA would be the one that does it if you ask me.
Sucks all around. I loved the Claremont program.
I think the USC program is also very good and shows potential in the future for growth, the only problem is that for current applicants, it is not as valuable of a rebranding because of the alumni.
From a friend at the program right now their OCR is separated from undergraduate and graduate pools. They have had to recently hire an individual to help facilitate the hiring / information session of students for the 15/16 cohort. It is a very academically rigorous program as it is run by the professors and attempts to cram 2 years of financial material into 1 year.
They are similar to CMC in the sense that many USC graduates do end up shifting towards the program and this is a statistic from their 14/15 presentation: only 60% were placed into jobs by graduation. This is officially from an alumnus from the program who attended an information session post graduation. I could be hearing the wrong information, but it is regardless a great school and still has a while to go before building reputation in the west.
most of their international candidates had to return to their home country also.
I knew! I think all these specialized MS programs, other than maybe Macc, are revenue generating tools for Marshall. They don't focus on placements at all. Hell, they didn't even place 70%. That's a shame. Maybe why they are so reluctant to post placements report. Utah and OSU MSF are, I think, better than USC, if your only focus is on placements! I remember when ClareMont rolled out MSF, they achieved 80+%. Plus USC staff is rude and not very helpful. They gave me bad vibes when I talked to them in June.
well.. UGs has one year to prepare recruiting.... MSFs technically has two years to do so. also MSFs aren't really conditioned by the school for 4 years before they go out and use the network - quality and reputation can vary quickly.
I think the fear of quality control is quite relevant when they note that @TNA" they will take students from Yonsei, CUHK and some other LAC partners. Yonsei and CUHK are some better schools within the region.
It's almost like how MIT Sloan only allows some MBA students from "partner schools" overseas to finish dual degree MBA and 1-year MSMS at MIT Sloan.
I had heard about this program for several years, it seems they do put applicants in to some considerably impressive firms post graduation but looking through their enrolled / alumni you can see before even applying there is a strong bias towards CMC applicants. The % as a rough guess from one year is 90% from CMC and so it shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone applying that you're fighting for a 10% of the actual admittance rate. Practically speaking, it wouldn't be wise to gamble anyways. Best of luck to the rest of you applicants.
I don't get all the clamoring for USC placements. The USC brand is huge in Cali. If you can network at all you should be fine. If the program half asses placements and admits students who can't get jobs that makes it better for those who can network.
If you are looking for a lot of OCR and hand holding, USC might not be a good fit right now. But their brand, the OCR they have and the reputation that USC has should be enough for you to land a job upon graduation.
You have to always network to get a job. OCR is a help, but not that big. All I am saying USC isn't as strong as Claremont. Plus their curriculum sucks. What if someone wants to break into Asset Management, or trading upon graduation? Good luck with that because it's going to be very very hard with all the competition from UCB and UCLA MFEs.
it goes the same for all MSFs. they won't cannabolize their existing undergrad and MBAs. if somebody makes it, he/she works very hard. Otherwise it's just a cash cow setup!
What effect do you guys think the CMC closure will have on other top programs? MIT will likely be unaffected, but what about Vanderbilt? I'm specifically talking about admissions and placements.
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