Life of a Financial Engineering student at Columbia University

This post is inspired by an anonymous comment on this blog. Someone wants to take a peek at the life of an FE student. I will try to frame this post in way which will hopefully give you a good idea of life here which includes academics, extra curricular, parties, friend circle etc.

So let’s start with the first semester when you come in all excited about NYC. The first week is pretty much spent in looking for a decent accommodation  and settling down. The University has a couple of seminars to give you an idea about various facilities available to you. Unfortunately, most of the degree programs start in Fall, the campus is not really filled with activity. The people you see around are the ones you see in the classroom as well. But it is not all that bad because you first need to get to know your batch-mates. The department organizes “Happy Hours” frequently for the FE students which provides a great platform to mix around. And what is better than having it over a glass of beer

Since the  first semester lasts just 2 months, the courses move at a rapid pace. Faster than you will realize, you will have the end terms happening by 3rd week of August. Looking back I realize that I spent the summer either sitting down with the assignments or exploring the New York City. There are whole lot of places where you have student discounts and I tried to capitalize on that. The truth is that it took me a while to stop calculating in terms of Rupee which made me think twice when I needed to open my wallet. The reality knocks when you take the trolley from airport to carry you luggage paying 3 dollars i.e. 130 rupees.

There is a 2 weeks gap after the Summer semester. This is a great time to relax and and really party before you get into the grind. This is also the time when students for other courses are coming in for the Fall session. There are a whole lot of welcome events organized by the University. This includes heavily subsidized city trips, theater shows, sight seeings and games. It is a wonderful opportunity to go out and make friends. Amidst all this there is an indication from the department to start gearing up for full-time interviews. It comes as surprise but it is true that the interviews start happening in October, when you are barely 3 months into the course. Let me get into some details here. This is the so called Campus placements where the banks/companies come mainly for undergraduate students to feed into their training programs. Most of them are also keen to take in Master’s degree students for other positions in the firm. Every major bank which recruits on Campus comes to Columbia through this process. Usually 10-20 % of the FE batch gets placed through these on campus interviews. For the ones who do not , it provides a very good practice for the companies which come in specifically for the department later during the year.

The first month in the Fall semester is spent on attending the Campus Presentations /Pre-placement talks  of various companies. Students also use this month to conduct informational interviews and network with employers. A considerable time is spent in filling the long application forms and drafting resume/cover letters. The action starts in October when you start hearing from the companies. You have the first round of interviews on campus and if you do well you are called for something called a “Super Day” or multiple “Super Days” . This is the day where you have back to back interviews in the bank’s office. The number of interviews can range from 3 to 7 and tend to be a good mix of technical, behavioral and professional fit. After this the company gets back to you with an offer/reject/hold. If you are lucky and have lots of interview calls, be prepared to don a suit every day and spend considerable time traveling to offices of different companies. I guess this is the toughest month when you really have to manage your time well and juggle between interviews and coursework.

By November end the routine hiring scene is pretty much over for the year and the next cycle begins only after the bonuses are distributed out. Life gets back to normal by mid November when you are back to classes and homeworks.  So this has been the ride so far.  I guess I did not get much into the party scene because I am not a frequent visitor. But some of my friends make it a point to go out clubbing and pubbing whenever they get a chance. A lot depends on how you want to use your free time because the University and the city has numerous options to choose from.

It’s 3:20 am and  it has been a long day with 2 lectures, 2 assignments, dance class and few hours of poker. Time for a good night’s sleep and I hope i wake up in time for the thanksgiving lunch

~ by financialengineer on November 22, 2007.