OSU or UIUC MSF

Hello there,

After months of test preparation and interviews, I finally received admission decisions from : 1. Ohio State University(OSU), Master of Science in Finance 2. University of Illinois(UIUC), Master of Science in Finance

I am an international student and do not really know how US citizens and employers perceive these programs. My reesearch tells me that OSU is on the rise due to the thriving economy in Columbus and generaous funding from state government. Furthermore, the program has a larger portion of domestic students which makes job placement more favorable. As for UIUC, it has better overall ranking, but the program's quality is a main concern for me since it takes in more 100+ Chinese Students each year and some graduate courses are taught by TA rather than professors.

My ambition is to enter academia thus I will need to pursue PHD afterward. Which program will be a better choice overall? Can someone give me advice on this?

4 Comments
 

Both programs are good, but in this case I would lean towards OSU. Columbus is a decent city and the program has a mixture of students which will benefit you since the last thing you want is a homogenous international classroom environment. Ohio State also has placements available which is beneficial since the program is putting an effort into actually placing students.

Are you getting any scholarship money from either school?

 

I am currently getting my undergrad at OSU. From a lifestyle perspective OSU is great, people are nice and there is plenty to do, and Columbus is a great city. I would say one of the biggest benefits of going to Ohio State is taking advantage of the massive alumni base. In terms of perception, I would say Fisher College of Business and UIUC are very close so I wouldn't let that be what your decision is based on.

 

probably advise Ohio State for its employability... UIUC is an engineering school, so if you're planning to do a PhD on the quant side, maybe UIUC could be a better bet.

UIUC MSF though, has about 50% employment rate on int'l students. Should you find that you don't want to pursue a PhD and wants to get a job instead, UIUC would probably leave you more in risk

 

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