UCL MSc Financial Risk Management, anyone on this course?

hi there, is anyone currently on the UCL MSc Financial Risk Management, anyone on this course?

I have a question with regard to the dissertation part of the course, which requires students to undertake a work placement, and i am just wondering whether or not this is something the UCL organize and list out for student, or is it students have to find a placement themselves?

thanks

Hello there,

I applied for this course last 2 weeks. Have you heard anything from UCL?

Hi yes, my second reference was submitted early Dec.

I got an offer in late Feb. Good luck.

I actually sat one of the lectures last Friday, intending to sit one more tomorrow to get a feel of the course.

Thats really nice. So you live in London? Please let me know what do you think about this course because I heard so many negative comments about it. Since Msc Financial Risk Management is under Computer Science, are we expected to have a strong background in computer?

I did my undergrad at UCL, so I really wanted to change a place for my postgrad, and currently I am deliberating between UCL, Imperial and Oxford. (Statistics course for the latter two)

In terms of the course, and as much as I could find out, firstly, it is a course offered by computer science, but there are a good proportion of students who don't have background in VBA or Matlab currently on the course. It is not really a problem if you put effort into it, and you can be selective with your elective modules to minimize computing modules. Do note that VBA skills are highly regarded in front office S&T and middle office functions such as risk, finance and/or compliance.

There are 2 main reason why I am finding it hard to decline my offer at UCL.

One it is because this course is basically a finance master programme, if you have a look at the finance course offered at other unis or at ucl (Financial mathematics), they are all about the same content. But for domestic students, MSc FRM only cost £10.5k, whereas MSc FM cost £19k at ucl, and MSc Finance cost over £27k at other universities.

The other reason is that, as part of the dissertation for MSc FRM, UCL will help you find a summer placement and the dissertation is based on that. I found out that many of the summer placements are often allocated into investment banks, mostly likely middle office functions like risk, finance and compliance. The selection criteria is based on your previous experience in VBA/Matlab. Whereas no other university offer a summer placement for MSc finance course as far as I know.

About the placement, is that true? I am also applying to this program and still wait to hear back from UCL

Yea, I was told by a current student that the programme director will organize the placement for you. As a FRM student, you will complete a previous work experience form or any experience in programming (VBA/matlab), but they only notify you what placement you were allocated in 3rd term.

A past student was allocated to Deutsche bank developing some risk analysis toolkit, VaR calculations and etc..

This one is probably the most difficult among those I applied to lol

Hi yes, my second reference was submitted early Dec.

I got an offer in late Feb. Good luck.

I actually sat one of the lectures last Friday, intending to sit one more tomorrow to get a feel of the course.

I have also received and accepted an unconditional offer. How did you like the lecture? And what kind of impression do you have of the program?

To those who had received an offer. Did you have to sit a GMAT beforehand?

I have also received and accepted an unconditional offer. How did you like the lecture? And what kind of impression do you have of the program?

Oh, comparing to MSc Finance at, let's say Imperial or LSE.

Imperial and LSE do find better visiting speakers for their lectures, mainly because UCL doesn't have a business school and it is not as specialized as LSE. People often say things like Imperial and LSE MSc Finance therefore have better alumni network.

To some extend I think that is true, but I personally believe alumni network in general are not as strong as people make it out to be, it is fundamentally down to how initiative you are as a person. I genuinely believe MSc FRM is one of the most cost effective course offered in the UK for home students. (The only better alternative is the MPhil ISMM offered at cambridge, but that is not targeted at finance)

If tuition fees were equal, I'd probably still choose LSE/Imperial tho lol

95% foreign guarantee you.