The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Master of Science in Financial Engineering (MSFE) is a three-semester, STEM-designated professional master's you take on campus in Champaign-Urbana, starting each August. For Fall 2027 you apply between November 1, 2026 and April 15, 2027, with round deadlines starting December 1, 2026, and the GRE and GMAT are optional.
I'm Fiona Taft, founder and CEO of QuantMinds, former Executive Director of UC Berkeley's MFE program and former Associate Director at Stanford University. Program details come from the University of Illinois's official MSFE pages, checked November 2026. For building your list and choosing a round, start with my guide on how to choose a quant master's program.
Illinois MSFE at a glance
| Item | Illinois MSFE |
|---|---|
| Degree | Master of Science in Financial Engineering, non-thesis, 48 credit hours |
| Sponsors | Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering (Grainger College of Engineering) and the Department of Finance (Gies College of Business) |
| Length | Three semesters (fall, spring, fall), with degree conferral in December and an option to add a fourth |
| Start | August only, with no spring entry |
| Class size | No more than 70 students, from hundreds of applications |
| Tuition, 2026 to 2027 rates | $17,200 per semester for Illinois residents, $23,550 for non-residents and international students (the page lists only these rates) |
| Application fee | $90 |
| Test policy | GRE and GMAT optional |
What the program is
Two departments run the degree jointly, and the program's FAQ says half of the courses are taught by engineering faculty and the other half by finance faculty. The curriculum has a fixed core of 28 hours, a four-hour practicum and 16 hours of electives or a concentration.
The first semester covers introduction to finance, machine learning in finance, statistical methods, financial computing and professional development. The second brings advanced derivatives and stochastic calculus, and the third adds term structure and optimization. From the second semester you can follow a concentration that appears on your record in Data Analytics in Finance, Advanced Analytics in ISE or Automated Trading Practices.
The practicum
Every student completes a corporate-sponsored, team-based practicum that delivers a finished product to the sponsor at the end of the semester. The program lists past sponsors including CME Group, Google, MarketAxess, Peak6 and Chicago Trading Company, and its Spring 2025 winners worked on projects with JPMorgan Chase and Ernst & Young.
Location and internship
The three semesters run fall, spring and fall, and the employers page says graduating students complete their requirements by the third week of December. A fourth semester, which needs advisor and director approval, moves conferral to May, according to the four semester option page, and tuition for it is charged at the same rate. The program's FAQ calls it 15 months, and its STEM page gives 20 months for the four semester option, so plan around the fall, spring, fall schedule.
The campus sits in the small cities of Champaign and Urbana, about 140 miles south of the Chicago Loop. The program's STEM page adds that it has a presence in the Loop. Students may take an internship in the summer between the second and third semesters, and the program's FAQ says securing one is the student's responsibility. It isn't a required part of the degree.
Admission requirements
The requirements page asks for a bachelor's degree, typically in engineering, mathematics, physics, computer science or economics, plus these prerequisites.
- One year of calculus (Calculus I and II)
- One semester of linear algebra
- One semester of probability and statistics
- One semester of programming in any language
The minimum undergraduate GPA is 3.25 on a 4.0 scale, calculated on your last 60 hours of study, and 3.50 for any graduate coursework. The program doesn't require work experience, but its FAQ says the committee favors relevant experience.
If you're missing a prerequisite, the program's FAQ says to explain in your purpose statement that you'll take it before you enroll, and admission is then conditional on passing it. It also accepts certificates from accredited online learning platforms, uploaded with your academic records.
The application asks for these.
- Unofficial academic records and degree certificates, and no World Education Services evaluations
- A resume with dates of employment
- Three letters of recommendation, submitted electronically by your references from an official university or company email address
- An academic statement of purpose of up to 300 words
- Short answer essays of up to 250 words each, with prompts 1 and 2 required and 3 and 4 optional
- A video essay of up to two minutes, uploaded directly to the portal, on why you're suited to the program and your career goals
The FAQ says recommenders should come from academic and business sources and speak to your quantitative skills, communication, programming and experience. International applicants also need an English test unless they qualify for an exemption. Full status needs a TOEFL iBT of 5.0 on the new scale for scores dated after January 20, 2026 (103 on the old scale for earlier scores), an IELTS of 7.5 or a Duolingo score of 135.
Interviews aren't part of every file. The application FAQ says the team occasionally asks to speak with a candidate by phone or Zoom and contacts you by email to schedule it.
Tests
The requirements page lists GRE and GMAT as not required, and you can submit a score as an extra piece of evidence if you wish. The program's cohort profile shows an average GRE quant score of 169 for its most recent class, so a strong score can help if you already have one. If you don't have one, you don't need to book a test for Illinois.
Deadlines for Fall 2027
| Round | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Round 1 | December 1, 2026 |
| Round 2 | January 1, 2027 |
| Round 3 | February 1, 2027 |
| Round 4 | March 1, 2027 |
| Last day to apply | April 15, 2027 |
The final round closes at 11:59 PM US Central Time on April 15, 2027, and the page gives no time of day for the earlier rounds. Illinois says there are no priority deadlines. Only complete files are reviewed, and a file that's still missing something after a deadline rolls to the next round. The application FAQ says a complete file gets a decision within 4 to 6 weeks, on a rolling basis.
The program also has a Preferred Pathway for current University of Illinois seniors and recent graduates, with a 3.25 GPA minimum, one faculty letter and a fee waiver.
Cost and funding
The tuition page lists 2026 to 2027 rates of $17,200 per semester for Illinois residents and $23,550 for non-residents and international students. Those are the only rates published, so check the page for Fall 2027 figures before you budget. The program points to the university's cost calculator for fees, and housing isn't included.
Tuition-waiving assistantships aren't available, but the scholarships page says every admitted student is automatically evaluated for an admission scholarship on prior academic performance, with no extra application, and award amounts vary and arrive in the admission letter.
Who's in the class
The cohort profile, titled Class of 2027, lists an average undergraduate GPA of 3.52, an average GRE quant score of 169 and students from the United States, India, mainland China, Taiwan and Canada.
Careers
The program's employers page lists companies that have recently hired graduates, including Goldman Sachs, Bloomberg, Citi, CME Group and Houlihan Lokey. Its page on where graduates work reports average salary and bonus for reported U.S. positions of $106,150 for the Class of 2022, $101,071 for 2023 and $115,167 for 2024, and lists selected roles such as quantitative research, quantitative strategist and model validation. It doesn't say how many graduates are in those averages. Students use career services from both the College of Engineering and the College of Business, and the program says it offers OPT to international students.
My view
Pick the role first. Quant research, trading and development want different things from a master's, and our guide to choosing between them helps you decide before you spend on applications.
Then check your math. Illinois lists the prerequisites plainly, so compare them with your academic record before you apply, and a missing course is easier to handle if you plan for it early. Apply when your file is complete, because incomplete files aren't reviewed. Our guide to the math you need covers what to review.
Frequently asked questions
How long is the Illinois MSFE?
It's three semesters, fall, spring and fall, with December conferral. A fourth semester is possible with approval and moves conferral to May.
Does the Illinois MSFE interview applicants?
Only occasionally. If the team wants to talk, it emails you to set up a phone or Zoom conversation.
Can I get a scholarship?
Every admitted student is evaluated automatically for an admission scholarship, and no separate application is needed.
Can I start in the spring?
No. The curriculum is sequential, so every student starts in August.
Get a second opinion on your Illinois application
If you'd like another set of eyes on your Illinois application, your video essay or your round, request a free Discovery Session, a Zoom session with one of our coaches, and we'll work through it together.
Header photo by University of Illinois Library, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY 2.0, cropped and with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign logo added.
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