The Master of Quantitative Finance program has been recognized as the top quantitative finance master's program in Canada.
Risk.net's Quant Finance Master Guide 2019 has updated their world ranking of the top 15 leading quantitative finance master's programs. University of Waterloo's Master of Quantitative Finance (MQF) secured the top spot within Canada and 12th overall globally.
Risk.net lists that they have determined their ranking by considering:
"metrics including graduate salaries, programme selectivity, student-lecturer contact hours and faculty research scores to run the rule over more than 40 leading quantitative finance-focused master’s programmes worldwide. Particular weight was given to average graduate salaries and a strong employment rate."
Top 15 quant finance master’s programmes
| Rank | University/institution | No. of students | Accept. rate | Students accepting offers | Employ. rate in finance | Total citations, top five lecturers | Salary ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Princeton University | 25 | 5% | 79% | 100% | 85,545 | 160,000 |
| 2 | University of California, Berkeley (Haas School of Business) | 67 | 17% | 79% | 99% | 30,526 | 159,402 |
| 3 | Baruch College, City University of New York | 40 | 8% | 83% | 100% | 4,133 | 115,000 |
| 4 | New York University (Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences) | 110 | 12% | 31% | 100% | 21,155 | 110,000 |
| 5 | Columbia University | 101 | 15% | 50% | 95% | 20,674 | 102,300 |
| 6 | ETH Zurich/University of Zurich | 22 | 17% | n/a | 100% | 28,174 | 83,455 |
| 7 | EISTI | 19 | 20% | 73% | 100% | n/a | 47,865 |
| 8 | Carnegie Mellon University | 97 | 13% | 67% | 94% | 4,359 | 99,649 |
| 9 | Illinois Institute of Technology | 34 | 48% | 60% | 100% | 3,716 | 91,000 |
| 10 | Cornell University | 58 | 22% | 30% | 95% | 24,490 | 93,850 |
| 11 | University of Chicago | 112 | 17% | n/a | 94% | n/a | 85,000 |
| 12 | University of Waterloo | 9 | 13% | 64% | 95% | 4,474 | 60,290 |
| 13 | New York University (Tandon School of Engineering) | 163 | 27% | 38% | 92% | 15,974 | 87,500 |
| 14 | Fordham University (Gabelli School of Business) | 65 | 10% | n/a | 90% | 1,012 | 82,500 |
| 15 | University of Washington | 114 | 13% | 46% | 92% | 2,535 | 86,500 |