University Admission Decision URGENT!!!

Question

Dear everyone,

I really need some helps.
Now, I'm deciding on choosing MSF program.
I got admit in these followings:
- UIUC
- Purdue
- Rochester (Simon)
- Boston College (Carroll)
And I'm waiting for the responses from
- Wash Univ St Louis (Olin)
- Vanderbilt
Can anyone rank all of these university's MS Finance program for me.

Thank you very much

nbd52 · Answer

Hi, congrats on your admits. All of these schools are definitely great, however, I would say the top four are WashU, Vandy, BC and Rochester. I have some concerns about the large class size/job placement at UIUC and Purdue's program is relatively young. Of those top four that I mentioned it depends on what you're looking for post-graduation. BC students tend to have more work exp and receive higher salary jobs. WashU and Vandy are both great for recent grads. Rochester has a solid reputation in finance. Personally, I think if you have work exp already go to BC. if you don't your decision should be between WashU and Vandy (unless your preference is going to school in the northeast US). I am attending WashU in the Fall. Maybe I'll see you there. Good luck with your decision!

Posted from my mobile device

Posted from my mobile device

arunmohan · Answer

Hey nbd,

I have received admits from the following universities:

1) UIUC (with 6200$ scholarship)
2) Illinois Institute of Technology (4000$ per sem aid)
3) SUNY Buffalo
4) Washington University at St. Louis (Olin Business School)
5) Rochester Institute of Technology (55% aid)
6) University of Maryland, College Park
7) Case Western Reserve University (6000$ per year aid)
8) University of Houston, Clear Lake
9) NYU Poly (10000$ per year scholarship)

I am currently considering WashU Olin, RIT(since it is cheap) and UIUC in that order. I am all for Olin, but the expenses are bothering me..Anyways, it would be nice to be in touch with u nbd. please pass on ur e-mail so that i can be in touch with u. COngrats on ur admit.

nbd52 · Answer

Hey Arun, I PM'ed you my email address. Definitely keep in touch. I'd like to keep in contact with potential future classmates :-)

. Good luck with your decision. Posted from my mobile device

singtoloco · Answer

Dear everyone,

Thank you very much for your response.
I noticed that many people in GMATclub rank Vandy and WashU in high place.
I only got few information for my decision. For example, US news ranking, Financial times, and Business week.
However, I want to know why MSF at Vandy and Wash U are better than those at UIUC.

Consider Year MSF programme started:
Purdue and Rochester: 2008
Vandy and WashU: 2005
Boston College: 1984
UIUC: 1958

Consider MBA: Finance Top 20 (from US news ranking 2009)
13. Rochester
14. Boston College
21. (2-3 universities in the same ranking) UIUC
But there is no Vandy or WashU in the list.

Consider courses (From my friends opinion)
UIUC: Most wide range, Corporate, Asset management, Quantitative, and others.
Boston College: Similar to UIUC but less quant
Rochester: Focus on investment and may be no quant
Purdue: Same as its own MBA finance courses
Wash: Some quant ??? can anyone suggest?
Vandy: ??? ?? can anyone suggest?

Thank you

nbd52 · Answer

Using MBA rankings to judge MSF programs probably isn't a good idea. To start, the top MSF program in the country is generally considered to be Princeton, and they don't even have an MBA program. Typically, students looking for jobs post-MSF are not looking for the same jobs as MBA students. This is especially true for programs where the majority of students have less work experience (programs such as Vandy and WashU). As far as MBA rankings are concerned, I haven't looked at the MBA - finance concentration rankings, however, for overall MBA rankings WashU is #22 and Vandy is around #30. I'm not sure where BC and UIUC were but I believe they are much lower. This should be enough to put the MBA rankings discussion to rest - both WashU and Vandy are top 30 programs.

I think the best way to determine what program is best for you is to speak to the schools directly. Even more important, ask the schools for e-mail addresses of current students and speak to them. Each school is obviously trying to market their program as being the best, however, students will generally give you a pretty good review of their experiences. In addition, numbers don't lie. Ask the schools for job placement reports, companies that are recruiting on campus, percentage of students placed in fields/industries you are interested in, etc. Each school has advantages and disadvantages. If you do enough research you can determine what school is best for you.

My personal rankings of schools is:

WashU > Vandy > BC > UIUC > RIT

However, if I had significant work experience prior to the program I would throw in Princeton and George Washington University and rank them:

Princeton > BC/GWU > WashU > Vandy > UIUC > RIT

It's all dependent on what your situation is and what you are looking for from the program. Talk to people at each school and until an official MSF ranking is published don't pay so much attention to MBA rankings. Good luck with your decision.

nbd52 · Answer

I was curious so I looked up the MBA rankings. UIUC is #38 and BC is #44. So it seems UIUC is in Vandy's ballpark and UIUC and BC are below WashU by 16 spots and 22 spots, respectively. Regardless, I think MBA rankings are not a good indicator of the quality of MSF programs.

singtoloco · Answer

Dear nbd52,

I'm very appreciated your responses, thank you very much.
I have professional exp 1 year and family business almost 1 year.

I'm very confused because I found these followings from MSF 2009 listing of Financial times

-->Employed at 3 months - fulltimeprogramme (%) 
Boston College: 82
Purdue University: n/a
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: 71
University of Rochester: 92
Vanderbilt University: 64
Washington University: 87

-->International full-time students (%)
Boston College: 54
Purdue University: 60
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: 77
University of Rochester: 90
Vanderbilt University: 11
Washington University: 49

??? Rochester has highest employment rate but also highest %International students???

Speaking of which, nbd52, where you're from?
I come from Thailand.

clamapinto · Answer

Hi I've been admitted to the following universities for their MSF program.

1) Purdue
2) UIUC
3) Tulane
4) Depaul

I'm keen on joining Purdue. Any opinion/suggestion on the program? Could you pass on e-mail ids?

arunmohan · Answer

Hey Singtoloco,

Could you please share with me the link from where you got the information of students placed from MSF programs? It seems to be very useful.

Cheers.

arunmohan · Answer

Hey, I got the listing..Thanks..

nbd52 · Answer

Hey Singtoloco,

I am from the US (born and raised here).

I can't really comment on the financial times listings. The only thing I can say is it looks accurate for job placement and international students for WashU and Vandy. Those job placement numbers are exactly what I received from the schools when I asked them. Also, the percentage of international students seems accurate. However, I find it hard to believe that Rochester is 90% international unless their program caters more to international students. That seems way too high...

Posted from my mobile device

singtoloco · Answer

Dear everyone,

Sorry for my delay, I've just got back home. Anyway, thank you for all your responses!

Dear arunmohan, here's the financial times link in case you can't find it: (sorry gmatclub doesn't allow to post urls)
Google: financial times master finance 2009 listing
Also, you can use "available fields" function on its website and then use comparison option that the website provided.
Moreover, you export your comparison into pdf files.

Dear clamapinto, I think that Purdue is great, especially its reputation because even in Thailand, Purdue's reputation is stand out. However, my friend told me that Purdue's MBA is good but its MSF is too similar to its MBA. As a result, he recommend to MSF of the other universities that has more quant courses.

Dear nbd52, is there anyway that we can find out why Rochester's job placement is very high with high proportion of international students.

Thanks

clamapinto · Answer

thanks for the reply.

so given the option of four admits that i have, i should choose purdue over the rest, especially over uiuc is what you suggest, right?

i'm keen on purdue, one reason being the class size and the other, the brand name, as you rightly said! 
purdue's is 22 students whereas at uiuc it's 110 students!

please advice!

clamapinto · Answer

also are you planning on purdue?

or let me put it this way -> would you choose uiuc over purdue or vice versa?

singtoloco · Answer

Dear clamapinto,

From my friends' advice and my own opinion, my choice would be as following respectively
1. UIUC or Boston College. Now, I'm still put UIUC a little bit over BC because UIUC has more breath of courses and BC's evening class. Moreover, UIUC, Purdue, and Rochester are in 2nd tier on businessweek ranking but BC was in Non-ranking.
2. Purdue. b/c its curriculum is too simple (similar to its MBA's) and its MSF program is very very new. 
3. Rochester. Also, it seems to be like its own MBA; its courses is focus on investment management and few quantitative subject. Bad location and Unknown in Thailand. However, it has a lot good potential according to business school ranking website.

Can anyone could help with my decision??
PLEASE!!!!

clamapinto · Answer

thanks!

i have been in touch with a couple of current students, both from uiuc and purdue in the past 1-2 days.
from what i've spoken to them, they say purdue's career services is not all that great, uiuc is a bit better, in terms of attracting companies. also the course is well-known as compared to purdue's!

if you make a decision, do let me know. i'm in the same situation as you are! thanks once again!
and yes, it's urgent.

papagoose · Answer

Alright, I am currently a MSF student at UIUC

130 students, humongous, mostly international. You will have even more this upcoming year

Empoloyment rate from 2009 class : 6% overall. NOT KIDDING this year only 2 out of 130 have gotten placed ( and one of them did MAcc also . )

Boston has a better reputation in Finance than UIUC. Though program is old, there is NO alumni network. Chicago is 3 hours away .

positives: breath of courses is indeed pretty good. If you are here to learn then this is a great program for someone who doesn't have a background in finance. I did ugrad in finance and felt the first half of the year was a complete waste. Some professors are very good ( esp in quant ) . Some not so much.

**** career services, dont expect much

so yea

BC> ROCHESTER>>>> UIUC . Only reason BC is higher than rochester is because its an older and more established program

singtoloco · Answer

Dear clamapinto, from your information about UIUC vs Purdue, I with my friends strongly encourage you to choose UIUC instead of Purdue. Anyway, if there is any information that could change our decision please let me know. Good luck to you too!!

Dear papagoose, thank you for your information about employment (this is very useful).
- I'm wondering that why employment rate that I found on Financial times website is very different from yours?

from MSF 2009 listing of Financial times

-->Employed at 3 months - fulltimeprogramme (%) 
Boston College: 82
Purdue University: n/a
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: 71
University of Rochester: 92
Vanderbilt University: 64
Washington University: 87

-->International full-time students (%)
Boston College: 54
Purdue University: 60
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: 77
University of Rochester: 90
Vanderbilt University: 11
Washington University: 49

- How did you get your number? and How can I find these numbers of other universities?
- I'm from Thailand (you?) Bachelor degree in Engineering.
- I'm totally agree with you that "Boston has a better reputation in Finance than UIUC."
From US news MBA: finance ranking in 2009
13 University of Rochester (Simon) Rochester, NY
14 Boston College (Carroll) Chestnut Hill, MA
21 University of Illinois--Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL
- consider distance of each university?
UIUC: almost 3 hrs from Chicago
BC: 4 hrs from New york city
Rochester: 6 hrs from New york city
- (I want to study MSF that have some quantitative subject; can you recommend for me) Quant: UIUC > BC >> Rochester ????
- How many courses that you study in one year at UIUC? and can I study more than degree requirement in the second year at UIUC? (Ex 12 courses in 1st year and then 5 courses in 2nd year)
- Why you consider BC> ROCHESTER >>>> UIUC?
- Do you consider MSF of WashU and Vanderbilt better than MSF of BC, Rochester, and UIUC?

Thank you

papagoose · Answer

I went with the Financial times stats too

, however I got my stats from the professors and former students from the program. I also presented stats at the time of graduation. Point is employment stats after 3 months is not a good indicator because you are getting the job through your own means. Networking and countless apps online are the norm. What I liked about Rochester is that they have 2 recruiting trips to new york each year. That is they take students to meet the employers rather than the latter making the long trip. If you want a job in new york, you better go to columbia or stern or MIT. None of the schools you mentioned will help you get a job there. That is the honest truth. If you want a quantitative education, Rochester is a top top school for it. If you want to do quant I suggest the MFE program at uiuc. The UIUC is very general at least for the first 60 % of the year. bc has a great reputation academically in the field of finance.( so does rochester) And its an older program. Thats why I felt its better than Rochester. I do consider Vanderbilt msf better than the other 4. Don;'t know much about WashU though. I had a business background. You can study more than the degree requirements I think because a couple of students are staying back. You should email the msf office about htis.

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