[These are Advanced Trading's 2008 Quant School Rankings. Click here to jump to our 2012 Quant School rankings.]

Stanford University

Degree:

Master of Science in Financial Math (M.S.F.M.)

Program Description:

The curriculum is a mix of math and business courses. The M.S.F.M. program falls under the math department, and graduates are focused toward jobs in the finance industry. Alumni are employed by companies such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Barclays, JPMorgan, Citi and UBS, as well as hedge funds and banks. Roughly 15 percent of applicants are admitted to the program.

Location:

Palo Alto, Calif.

Program Age:

9 years

Term:

15 to 16 classes, over 15 to 18 months

Class Size:

Placement:

Of program graduates, 15 to 20 percent continue on to higher education (Ph.D. or faculty positions), while 80 percent to 85 percent assume positions in the financial industry, typically as quantitative modelers or traders.

Web Site:

http://finmath.stanford.edu

Director:

Tze Leung Lai. Lai received a B.A. with first-class honors from the University of Hong Kong, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1970 and 1971. His research interests include sequential experimentation, adaptive inference and control, stochastic optimization, time series analysis and forecasting, regression analysis of censored and truncated failure time data, design and analysis of clinical trials, probability theory, and stochastic dynamical systems.

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