MIT MFin Program - Is it worth it? ($1/10 of a Million for the program)
I feel this program is extremely expensive. I dont really know how people consider it on the street.
Any inputs?
THanks!
Trending Content
Career Resources
WSO Free Modeling Series - Now Open Through
May 31, 2024
9 Free Financial Modeling Lessons
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
In my opinion of the few mfin programs that is actually worth the money.
agreed
MIT is a very good program. Admission is more competitive than Harvard Business School and the coursework in an MFin/MFE program would make most business students cry.
It's hard to mention MIT's MFin program without also mentioning Princeton's. The program is a bit more competitive in terms of admission, but it costs less in terms of tuition, the program is more flexible, and it boasts a 100% placement rate. People who are admitted at both schools tend to choose Princeton, but reasonable people can choose MIT, too. Often there's an obvious cultural choice to be made.
It's also hard not to mention Cornell, CMU, and Stanford's programs in MFEs/MSCFs.
Both MFin programs are tough. My first homework in behavioral finance was 14 pages of calculus and probability. You should come in really knowing your linear algebra and stats. I suspect that MIT's course schedule would come at an even more grueling pace.
Andy Nguyen on QuantNet.com is the defacto expert on all things MFE and MFin. He will tell you it's a tough market for quants right now and that you should do this because you enjoy finance, not because you enjoy money.
I am also interested in this subject. What are the cultural differences between Princeton's and MIT's MFin programs?
I think (out of ignorance mainly) that I'd choose MIT because Boston is a great place.
I think MIT's program could be a little more intense in terms of the workload. You may not get to enjoy Boston all that much. I think Princeton students have it a little bit easier.
Princeton is unique in that it doesn't really see itself as offering a bunch of professional graduate programs. It tries to get all of the grad students to be, well grad students. We have a graduate dorm, with a graduate bar in the basement, and some of your friends will be from the Math, Econ History, and CS departments. And we pay the same tuition as every other undergraduate and graduate student who hasn't been guaranteed an assistanceship.
Princeton is a slightly older program, also. I think our median age is around 26, but we have a few people with PhDs in their early to mid '30s. One person even has kids (that he wasn't afraid of corrupting by bringing them to the graduate bar with him.) About half of us have work experience, mostly in the US, mostly in the front office of banks and hedge funds. Probably 1/3 of the students are straight out of undergrad. I would wager this would be 50% at MIT. It's an eclectic mix, but it's fun. I get to work on a corporate finance project with a kid straight out of the University of Helsinki one day (who is always trying to get into eating clubs to party with undergrads), and study behavioral finance with a 34 year old Econ PhD who spent some time in trading the next day.
I get the sense it's the kind of people and stories you'd find at an M7 business school; it's just people who are also very good at math.
I'm not sure what the experience is for a Sloan MFin or what their social life is like. I suspect you get the same kinds of people. I believe their program is twice as big as ours'. I have heard that they are even more international than us. My hunch is that some of the differences will be dominated by the fact that they're in their own school and they have 100 students rather than 40 from the US.
MIT's program is over 100 students. It is more in line with an MSF than say Princeton's program is, but it still has higher end mathematics elements. The MSF at MIT is more of a junior program since MIT also has a top rated MBA. Princeton benefits from their MFin being the main graduate business degree. i.e. No MBA program.
Without the OP saying what they want to do, their stats, etc it is really just up in the air.
Is MIT worth it? Sure, if you want to work in FO finance, can't get in otherwise, can handle the material and pay the nearly $100K price tag. MIT is one of the best brands in finance and the program boasts some amazing professors and classes. IT has good placements for international students also (which make up a decent chunk of the class).
Princeton's material is going to be much harder than MIT's (IMO). Princeton is more in line with an MFE/Financial Math program whereas MIT is a quant-ish MSF. A good comparison was WUSTL's MSF before they split the tracks into quant and corp finance.
Id doloremque sapiente distinctio numquam sunt sit. Et cupiditate fugit vel. Consequuntur tenetur in repudiandae eos enim omnis quae molestiae. Reiciendis eos incidunt consequatur ut.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...