Rankings

Each year since Peter Carr’s arrival, the FRE program has risen in rankings compiled by multiple organizations. Among the most respected and authoritative of these organizations is QuantNet, which evaluates financial engineering programs across the country on the basis of employment rate, starting salary, and academic rigor, among other factors. (QuantNet.com is the largest online community of master’s of financial engineering applicants, with more than 50,000 community members, newsletter subscribers, and social networking followers since its start in 2006.) 

In 2017, the first full year after Carr took the helm, the program jumped a full three spots, from 16 in 2016 to 13. The following year it climbed another spot and then in 2019 leaped into the top 1 at number nine. A new decade saw FRE perch at number eight in 2021, and in the latest 2022 rankings (released in mid-November of 2021), NYU Tandon appeared at number seven — its highest spot yet, and tied with NYU Courant's math finance program, which Carr previously led.

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Our MSFE program is also remaining steady in the #2 spot for TFE Times 2022 Best Master's of Financial Engineering Programs for the second year in a row, although we dropped a few spots to #15 for Risk.net Quant Finance Master’s Guide for 2022.

Several entities publish annual rankings of Master’s programs in many disciplines, including Financial Engineering and Quantitative Finance programs, in the US and abroad. 

Generally speaking, the field of University program rankings remains an unregulated space, with a wide range of ranking methodologies developed by various ranking entities. As such, there is no oversight and there are no standards or quality controls with regards to how the data is sourced, aggregated, or weighted.  

While some of the rankings of Quant Finance programs have acquired credibility over time due to the willingness of the universities being ranked to work with the respective ranking entities in supplying the data, others do not have this credibility. 

The FRE Department only supplies data to the following three rankings:

• TFE Times Best Master's of Financial Engineering Programs
• QuantNet’s Best Financial Engineering Programs in the US
• Risk.net’s Quant Finance Master’s Guide

In 2021, FRE’s MS in Financial Engineering program is ranked #2 by TFE Times; #8 in the US by QuantNet, tied with the University of Chicago. The program was ranked #11 in the world by Risk.net. 

While our MS program has been included in other recent rankings, the department has not been approached by the respective ranking entities, and as such, the accuracy of the data compiled by those rankings cannot be validated. 

The MS in Financial Engineering program at NYU Tandon has historically trended upwards over the last five years in all three rankings. The program had a slight drop in 2021in the Risk.net ranking as a result of COVID-19 and the way the entity accounted for admissions deferrals. In general, we are very proud of our rankings and the program’s trajectory over the past five years.

The Department of Finance and Risk Engineering continues its upward trend in the rankings, placing #8 in the newly released 2021 ranking of Best Financial Engineering programs in the US by QuantNet, tied with University of Chicago. The program has moved up one spot since the 2020 QuantNet ranking and a total of eight spots since 2016.

The Quant Finance Master’s Guide for 2020, published by Risk.net, placed the New York University Tandon School of Engineering M.S. in Financial Engineering fifth in the world — an eight-position leap from last year. Risk.net, one of the foremost financial publications, measured such factors as graduate salaries, employment rate, program selectivity, student-lecturer contact hours, and faculty research.

Additionally, TFE Times listed NYU Tandon M.S. Financial Engineering as number three among the 2020 Best Master’s of Financial Engineering Programs, up from number four last year. NYU Tandon’s program — the first to be certified by the International Association of Financial Engineers — was earlier ranked ninth by QuantNet, an online resource for the financial industry. In that report, NYU Tandon climbed seven positions over the last five years.

“Our latest rankings  — and the upward trend they represent — affirm the high caliber of our faculty, many of whom have decades of experience as industry leaders, as well as the drive and intelligence of our students,” said Department Chair, Peter Carr. “We’re proud to be preparing them for highly sought quant, risk, and tech careers, and feel confident that we will continue to attract even more talent to the department.”

“We are thrilled to see the Department of Finance and Risk Engineering recognized as a global powerhouse in financial engineering,” said Jelena Kovačević, dean of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. “They are pushing the boundaries in the field, creating a fertile training ground for the next generation of experts, and shaping the future of the industry.”

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NYU Tandon's MSFE program continues to hold the #2 spot in TFE Time's Best Master’s of Financial Engineering Programs for 2023 and remains in the top 10 in QuantNet's Best Financial Engineering Programs at #9. 

Read more: "NYU Tandon’s Department of Finance and Risk Engineering stays strong" (NYU Tandon)