Quant Guide 2022: University of Chicago

Chicago, Illinois, US

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With an impressive 1,428 applications recorded for its latest intake, the University of Chicago’s Master in Financial Mathematics programme is the third most popular degree in this year’s Risk.net Quant Guide and ranking, behind behemoth programmes at NYU Tandon and London’s Imperial College Business School. Despite receiving 70 more applications than last year, the master’s course – led by associate professor of mathematics Roger Lee – extended fewer offers, with 249 given for the latest cohort, versus 371 last year. The intake includes students who majored in subjects such as actuarial science, economics, physics and software engineering. A number of students arrive with master’s and PhD qualifications already under their belt.

Besides the uptick in applicant interest, the course has made gains in a number of other areas. There are now 24 teaching staff on the programme, and more contact hours – 398 for the latest course, compared with 375 in the last guide. The graduate employment rate has risen to 96%, creeping up one percentage point on last year’s figure. Average graduate salaries have also climbed, but not as rapidly as some other programmes in the 2022 guide. The course now reports a $102,129 average starting salary, an increase of $209, with a majority of graduates finding employment in banking and asset management. Hopefuls will be glad to learn that the cost of the programme has fallen, however: the 16-month course now costs $73,637, versus $75,645 for the most recent programme.

Students take classes in three key areas: 400 units belong to core courses, including topics in option pricing, regression analysis, risk management and stochastic calculus; computing courses, which have the same weighting, and include topics such as machine learning for finance and probabilistic programming; and 450 credits’ worth of elective courses, including multivariate data analysis, applied algorithmic trading, and foreign exchange.

View this institution’s entry in the 2021 guide

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