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Chances at top MFE programs?

Joined
9/26/11
Messages
47
Points
18
Can you guys please evaluate my profile, I'll be applying to the following schools for their programs in quant finance:

Columbia MSFE
Carnegie Mellon MSCF
Chicago MSFM
Baruch MFE
ETH Zurich MSQF
NYU Courant MSMF
Stanford MSFM
Princeton MFin

I completed my Bachelors in Industrial Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering in 2009 which back then was a college in the University of Delhi but now is in itself a university. It's top 10 engineering institute in India alongside the IITs and BITS Pilani and IT BHU, although I wonder if anyone outside India recognizes anything that is not IIT? Should I even bring attention to the college's rankings or would that be considered desperate? It did not have a GPA system, which brings me to my next query: is it ok to just send percentage marks to all these programs?

My aggregate percentage marks at undergrad were 70%. To put it in perspective, the University topper had 77%. Should I provide the programs with this information, maybe in the SOP, to help them make sense of my standing?

Relevant coursework at undergrad includes:

3 semesters of Math (Scored 70+ in 2 and sub-70 in 1): Included Multivariable Calculus, ODEs and introductory PDEs, Linear Algebra, Numerical Analysis and Computer Programming (included numerical methods for PDEs).
2 semesters of Statistics (both 70+): Included Calculus based Probability, Statistical Testing, Linear Regression Methods etc.
Operations Research - Linear Programming and other optimization methods, Game theory etc.
One course on Economics: Econ 101 equivalent; 2 courses on Finance: Financial Management, and Corporate Finance.
My undergrad project was all in MATLAB and involved a great deal of Fuzzy Logic Modelling.
Although not much else in the name of programming in coursework, I personally am pretty comfortable with coding in C++.

Work Ex: As of now 2 years in all. 14 months as a Derivatives Trader at a multinational Prop trading firm, in that job I traded commodity Futures and Options in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Rest as a Derivatives Analyst at CRISIL (S&P's India Arm). Have gained experience in Derivatives IT and in Product Control (Equity Derivatives) for a Swiss BB in this job.

GRE General Test: Quantitative 170/170 and Verbal 164/170

Also, I'd be really thankful if anyone can throw some light on my choice of courses. Are there some programs listed up there that I don't have much of a chance at and therefore would be better off removing from that list; or some programs that I'd be better off removing from the list as they aren't that good. I've done as much research as I could on the courses so am hoping it won't be the latter (i.e. institute not very good), but all of your inputs would be valuable. Personally, I'd be happiest to go to CMU because of my personal love for programming; they have 4 courses on computer programming as opposed to most others who have 1 or 2.

Thank you very much for putting up this far with so many questions. Sorry, it's gotten too long, the post.
 
Stanford takes majority of its students from co-terminal, internal students from other departs and very few from external pool so from this aspect, you would be better served at other programs.
As for the programming aspect, you can skip the first one or two computational courses at CMU if you have a strong programming background. At Baruch, there is only one dedicated programming course (9815) but programming is embedded throughout the program in the form of C++/Python/R/VBA, except the stochastic calculus sequence.
 
Thanks Andy for the information. Any inputs from you regarding my GPA/Percentage query would be highly appreciated.
 
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