<p>Can someone tell me a little more about this major? like what kind of people major in it, and what their ultimate goals are. It seems as if this program is unique to Princeton.</p>
<p>i think im going to do ORFE. As well as the rest of the site, [Undergraduate</a> Academic Guides | Operations Research and Financial Engineering](<a href=“http://orfe.princeton.edu/academics/undergraduate/guides]Undergraduate”>Undergraduate Academic Guides | Operations Research & Financial Engineering) should give you good information. Theses, placement, classes, etc.</p>
<p>It seems that the difference between this and Wharton (or another business undergrad) is that this is numbers/statistics that lead to business and that Wharton is business backed by numbers. The job placement shows that most end up on Wall Street but that is not by any means the only option.</p>
<p>hischoolstudent, I was looking into ORFE, and I saw that you said the job placement shows that most end up on Wall St. I was wondering what type of jobs on Wall St these are? I-banking, consulting, or trading, etc.?</p>
<p><a href=“http://orfe.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/Placement%202000-2009.pdf[/url]”>http://orfe.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/Placement%202000-2009.pdf</a></p>
<p>ORFE is a very good major- it gives you a solid foundation for grad school in mathematical finance to be a quant or quantitative trader on Wall Street.</p>
<p>You can get a similar education at Wharton if you take a number of challenging electives from the engineering school. Wharton gets somewhat better recruiting than Princeton (both excellent though). I would advise Wharton if your career goal is to be an investment banker or private equity investor. If you want to get into trading or quant asset management, I think ORFE would be better training than Wharton finance.</p>
<p>What are the job placement differences between Princeton Econ undergrad and ORFE?</p>
<p>If you want to get into quant trading, nothing touches Wharton M&T. Just ask Cliff Asness over at AQR. </p>
<p>For basically anything in business, I’d go to Wharton over princeton, difference is at Wharton if you want to do quant trading, you’ll just have to put a bit of time into planning that’s all. The advanced classes in finance and statistics etc are brilliant though and all easily doable from Wharton.</p>
<p>Thing is, if you look at ORFE’s placement, it is just not as good as Wharton undergrad. Check both lists out for yourself, they are both out there.</p>
<p>However, OBVIOUSLY you are dealing with two of the top 3 programs in the world so at that level it is really down to the individual, not the school. All we are arguing about here is the ability not to have a chip on your shoulder and the ability to tell everyone you go to the best school possible for your field / have the better network. (Which, aside from the network bit, is absolutely useless). Wharton’s network is obviously much bigger than Princeton’s on the street, take it for what that’s worth.</p>
<p>I feel as though my response was interpreted as ORFE over Wharton. Not what I meant. The OP asked about ORFE and I felt like it would be best to compare it to Wharton (top undergrad business) for simplicity. To reiterate, Wharton is business and ORFE is intense statistics (that many people use to go into business, Wall Street, etc).</p>
<p>Perhaps the best explanation of ORFE is the list of senior thesis titles. There are many many financial related ones, but almost every possible topic relating to math is represented.
<a href=“http://libweb5.princeton.edu/theses/index.htm[/url]”>http://libweb5.princeton.edu/theses/index.htm</a></p>
<p>Couple examples:
Optimal Dosing Applied to Glycemic Control for Type 2 Diabetes.
Optimization Serves a Purpose in American Table Tennis.
A Dynamic Programming Approach to Decision Making in Texas Hold’em Poker.
An Analysis of Derivative Opportunities in Islamic Finance.
A Star Pattern Recognition Algorithm for Astronomical Images Using Triangles.
Dynamic Congestion Pricing for Parking: Case Study for San Francisco.</p>
<p>As to which to choose, Wharton or ORFE, choose the place where you would have a better 4 years.</p>
<p>I applied with an interest in ORFE too. (waitlisted 
) How would the Columbia ORFE stack up to Princeton/Wharton’s? And kafkareborn, you stated that “However, OBVIOUSLY you are dealing with two of the top 3 programs in the world”…what’s the other one?</p>