Hi guys, I currently have to choose between two one-year study exchange programs and I‘m kind of struggling to make a decision, would be awesome to get some opinions.

My background: BSc Mathematics from TU Berlin, was awarded a price for outstdanding achievements. Currently doing a MSc in maths and statistics, focusing on mathematical finance (very theory and probability focussed)

My exchange opportunities:

1) Year 4 (last year) of the MSci Mathematics of Imperial College London (taking courses in ML, stochastic simulation, computational PDEs and statistics)

2) 1 year MSc Financial Mathematics at University College London (courses in Computational Finance, Financial Numerics, a C++ course, Statistics of algorithmic trading)

My goal: Doing a PhD in mathematical finance, maybe related to ML. Later on either staying in academia or doing research at a trading company.

It feels like UCL is the obvious choice, but Imperial has a more outstanding reputation and offers good courses in ML, unfortunately offering almost no courses with a direct focus on financial applications (the courses are more theoretical).

What would you guys choose?

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Achtung Laienmeinung: UCL klingt für mich persönlich interessanter von den Inhalten her und würde besser matchen mit deinem geplanten PHD. Ist der Reputationsunterschied wirklich so ausschlaggebend?

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It is an exchange after all, doesn’t matter

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WiWi Gast schrieb am 14.01.2023:

Achtung Laienmeinung: UCL klingt für mich persönlich interessanter von den Inhalten her und würde besser matchen mit deinem geplanten PHD. Ist der Reputationsunterschied wirklich so ausschlaggebend?

Inwiefern die Reputation eine Rolle spielt weiß ich tatsächlich auch nicht.. Beide Unis spielen halt international bei den Top Unis mit.. Imperial ist aber besonders renommiert was Mathematik und Finanzmathematik angeht. :D

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WiWi Gast schrieb am 14.01.2023:

It is an exchange after all, doesn’t matter

I think on your resume it does matter. In the end you study there for one year and take exactly the same coures that the other students take during their one-year master's degrees.. you just didn't pay tuition fees to get the degree certificate that they get.

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Erstmal machst du mit beiden nichts falsch. ICL ist aber, wie du sagst, nochmal ein Stück renommierter. Gerade für Bewerbungen bei Trading-Firmen könnte das ein Name sein, der dir nochmal etwas mehr auf dem CV bringt. Man muss dazu auch sagen, dass deine genaue Kurswahl die Firmen überhaupt nicht interessiert. Deinen PhD Advisor vermutlich auch nicht, mit dem Werdegang wirst du da eh betreut.

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Falls Computer Science, dann ist die Wahl schwierig. Für alles andere Imperial College 100%, ist in London das Powerhouse schlechthin.

mathsboy schrieb am 13.01.2023:

Hi guys, I currently have to choose between two one-year study exchange programs and I‘m kind of struggling to make a decision, would be awesome to get some opinions.

My background: BSc Mathematics from TU Berlin, was awarded a price for outstdanding achievements. Currently doing a MSc in maths and statistics, focusing on mathematical finance (very theory and probability focussed)

My exchange opportunities:

1) Year 4 (last year) of the MSci Mathematics of Imperial College London (taking courses in ML, stochastic simulation, computational PDEs and statistics)

2) 1 year MSc Financial Mathematics at University College London (courses in Computational Finance, Financial Numerics, a C++ course, Statistics of algorithmic trading)

My goal: Doing a PhD in mathematical finance, maybe related to ML. Later on either staying in academia or doing research at a trading company.

It feels like UCL is the obvious choice, but Imperial has a more outstanding reputation and offers good courses in ML, unfortunately offering almost no courses with a direct focus on financial applications (the courses are more theoretical).

What would you guys choose?

antworten

mathsboy schrieb am 13.01.2023:

Hi guys, I currently have to choose between two one-year study exchange programs and I‘m kind of struggling to make a decision, would be awesome to get some opinions.

My background: BSc Mathematics from TU Berlin, was awarded a price for outstdanding achievements. Currently doing a MSc in maths and statistics, focusing on mathematical finance (very theory and probability focussed)

My exchange opportunities:

1) Year 4 (last year) of the MSci Mathematics of Imperial College London (taking courses in ML, stochastic simulation, computational PDEs and statistics)

2) 1 year MSc Financial Mathematics at University College London (courses in Computational Finance, Financial Numerics, a C++ course, Statistics of algorithmic trading)

My goal: Doing a PhD in mathematical finance, maybe related to ML. Later on either staying in academia or doing research at a trading company.

It feels like UCL is the obvious choice, but Imperial has a more outstanding reputation and offers good courses in ML, unfortunately offering almost no courses with a direct focus on financial applications (the courses are more theoretical).

What would you guys choose?

Imperial ist deutlich renommierter, insbesondere in Math/CS. Was dir von den Kursen mehr zusagt, musst du entscheiden. Ich finde die Imperial Kurse klingen serioeser, was Financial numerics sein soll erschließt sich mir nicht, Computational Finance ist zu allgemein und der C++ Kurs ist völlig fehl am Platz. Keine Programmiererfahrung vorauszusetzen ist imo eine red flag. Die Kurse bei Imperial hingegen finde ich schlüssig.

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