<p>The MSFM is one of the few, perhaps only, UChicago programs that allows no cross registration into its courses (in large part to keep out ill prepared MBA students and science PhD students looking to jump ship on their fields).</p>
<p>Additionally, as Columbiaa Financial Engineering Director Emanuel Derman recently noted about quant finance in general, there are few Americans in it at all, and even fewer from elite colleges. Prior to the market meltdown this year, top performing domestic UGs with mildly quantish backgrounds could easily land decent jobs in plain vanilla finance or consulting (i.e. no fancy math or programming), and after a few years tended to opt for the golden halo of a top tier MBA (stressing generic accounting, corporate finance, management strategy, etc.) </p>
<p>In contrast, very few opted to rack up relatively low paid experience in the applied sciences and also earn a related MS or PhD in fields like statistics or computer science, the combination of which is increasingly becoming a prerequisite for admission leading schools. I suggest looking at Berkeleys program (which vies for best in the world) site to get a better sense of what one is up against </p>
<p>[Master’s</a> in Financial Engineering Program - Haas School of Business - UC Berkeley](<a href=“http://mfe.haas.berkeley.edu/current/index.html]Master’s”>http://mfe.haas.berkeley.edu/current/index.html)</p>