Quant Guide 2021: Boston University (Questrom School of Business)

Boston, Massachusetts, US

 

 

Boston University’s MS in Mathematical Finance and Financial Technology is one of the most popular programmes in this edition of Risk.net’s Quant Guide. Receiving 1,270 applications in total, it’s made significant gains on last year, where it reported receiving 1,067.

The programme returns to the guide for the fourth time this year – although it has had a revamp from its former iteration as the Master of Science in Mathematical Finance, the name change reflecting a steady refocusing of its content. The programme, housed in Boston’s Questrom School of Business, is still led by lecturer in finance Anton Theunissen.

The last year has also seen a number of new instructors joining the MS, course director Theunissen tells Risk.net. Max Reppen, who recently earned a PhD from ETH Zurich, has been appointed to the permanent faculty, and teaches classes in advanced computational methods and machine learning. Roza Galeeva, formerly of Morgan Stanley, has joined as a guest lecturer and teaches a class in credit risk. Severin Boussie, founder of New York data science firm Kitquant, is a guest lecturer in advance machine learning applications for finance. And BlackRock’s Sheldon Chan is a guest lecturer in advanced programming for finance, focusing on data structures and algorithms. A number of visiting speakers have given presentations to the cohort, too, such as MassMutual’s Mark Coleman and Bloomberg’s Harvey Stein.

Theunissen adds that Boston’s shift to hybrid teaching – allowing students to attend in-person classes if they wish, with others taking part remotely – has proven a success.

“Overall, feedback was very positive,” he tells Risk.net. “Students appreciate the investments the university made in technology to make the remote classroom experience engaging. The in-person option is possible thanks to the extensive Covid-19 testing regime and safety protocols Boston has instituted.”

Students receive two tests a week and faculty who teach on campus receive one, adds Theunissen.

View this institution’s entry in the 2020 guide

View other universities and a guide to the metrics tables