MS Financial Engineering at Columbia University

Programme overview

A full-time-only MS giving a technical background for careers in financial analysis and risk management. It requires 36 points (12 courses).

Faculty: Columbia Engineering | Department: Industrial Engineering and Operations Research | Duration: 36 points (12 courses); start in fall, finish May, August or December of the following year | Intake: Fall | Study mode: full-time | Location: New York, NY, United States

What you will study

Required core includes IEOR E4007, E4701, E4703, E4706, E4707 and E4709, plus the zero-credit Practitioners Seminar Series and Quantitative and Computational Bootcamp. Electives come from the department, Columbia Business School and GSAS; concentrations include Asset Management, Derivatives, Financial Technology, Computational Finance and Trading Systems, and Machine Learning for Financial Engineering.

Career pathways

Financial analysis and risk management.

Official programme page

Application information

Entry requirements

Entering students are expected to have strong skills in probability, statistics, linear algebra and a programming language such as C, Python or Java; prior professional experience is highly desirable but not required. Columbia Engineering graduate admissions (faculty level): bachelor's degree from an institution of acceptable standing; application with transcripts, three letters of recommendation, personal statement and resume/CV; GRE not required for the 2026 admission cycle and scores not penalised when omitted (Physics GRE is required for the Applied Physics doctoral track; not required for Medical Physics); applicants whose bachelor's degree is from a country other than Australia, Canada, Ghana, Ireland, Kenya, New Zealand, Nigeria, Singapore, the UK or the US submit one English test (TOEFL iBT, IELTS Academic, PTE Academic or Duolingo), with no minimum score set; application fee $85.

Tuition is charged per credit, so the total depends on the modules you register for each year. Current fees are listed in the official fee schedule.

Law J.D. entry: fall 2027 class.

J.D. applications for the fall 2027 class open September 15, 2026. The Regular Decision deadline is February 15, 2027 (applications are evaluated on a rolling basis). The Early Decision deadline is November 15, 2026. The application fee is $85, paid through LSAC. GRE or LSAT is accepted.

LL.M. 2027-2028 applications are due December 2, 2026. The application fee is $85, nonrefundable. Executive LL.M. 2027: Early Decision deadline October 1, 2026; Regular deadline December 2, 2026; application fee $85.

Columbia Engineering MS express application (Columbia students and alumni) requires no application fee.

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