Columbia MFE Columbia MFE Admission Discussion

[Meandonlyme]

Looking at the tracker, last year most of the applicants got an interview (Over 80% applicants). I am assuming its the same this year too.

 

[Juny]

Looking at the tracker, last year most of the applicants got an interview (Over 80% applicants). I am assuming its the same this year too.

Half of trackers this year are not updated for interview schedules. Do you think people just didn’t update it yet?

 

[Meandonlyme]

Half of trackers this year are not updated for interview schedules. Do you think people just didn’t update it yet?

Maybe, Maybe not. Anyway, the tracker account for a small percentage of people who have applied to the course. It is possible that none of trackers got an interview whilst everyone else did. And vice versa. I mean you can not judge and make conclusions based on the tracker. Its basically just for reference. Dont overthink it. Just believe in yourself and be patient.

 

[Geekynoob]

There are only 35 people who have updated the tracker this year. No point making conclusions based on it.

But definitely looks like that a lot of people get interviewed. I feel results might be out early this year. Fingers crossed.

 

[Pruthvi kancherla]

Hi- Does anyone have an idea whether people would be redirected to msor or not this year?
Thank You

 

[Tsunami]

IMHO i think they are done sending the invites. Anyways, how important is it to perform well in the interview, given that it is a behavioral one and nothing technical.

 

[Geekynoob]

I believe so too. It's result time now, I reckon somewhere around 26th Feb.

Another thing I wanted to mention that according to Chase Dreams (Chinese quantnet), very few people got interview invites this year.

How imp it is to do well in interview? Don't know. Someone with a 3.98, with CS and maths major was rejected after interview last year. Tradertanny has 6 years experience in derivatives Trading, yet he hasn't updated his tracker about an interview invitation this year. Compared to these high achievers, I am nothing. All this suggests that the selection process is holistic. Columbia definitely know how to best do the selection. Let's leave it to them now.

 

[Juny]

I think the last year interview was kind of experimental. Admission team started to use the online interview last year, so they might have wanted to check that the online interview system works well and try to extend the pool of interviewees (because they don’t need additional interviewers to extend it). However, they realiezed extending the pool is still very demanding so decided to come back to the last last year’s pool. This is just my theory.

 

[Tsunami]

@Geekynoob You seem to compare yourself to others quite a bit. I would advise you to be patient Do you have admits from any other university? I have Georgia Tech's QCF in my hand (early decision). Any idea on the program? Tech is known for its academic rigor though.

 

[jc.jay]

Last year interview invites were rolled out in the span of two weeks in Feb and in later months also.

Correction: I am not sure if they rolled out interviews in the later months after Feb. Apologies if any confusion.

 

[Geekynoob]

Tsunami, no, I haven't applied to many uni. Plan to apply to Columbia, NYU, CMU, UCB. I have a feeling I would get no offers . NYU and CMU would never take me, I don't have a high GPA. Columbia and UCB are my only chances. Columbia is favorite. Personally I would prefer Columbia > NYU > CMU > UCB

G. Tech is good. Course structure is awesome. Fees is quite low. Placements are not that good though. I am not saying they are bad, they are not that good. It's good if you want a non bank placement far away from NY.

 

[Meandonlyme]

Tsunami, no, I haven't applied to many uni. Plan to apply to Columbia, NYU, CMU, UCB. I have a feeling I would get no offers . NYU and CMU would never take me, I don't have a high GPA. Columbia and UCB are my only chances. Columbia is favorite. Personally I would prefer Columbia > NYU > CMU > UCB

G. Tech is good. Course structure is awesome. Fees is quite low. Placements are not that good though. I am not saying they are bad, they are not that good. It's good if you want a non bank placement far away from NY.

Wow are you kidding? UCB is like the best of them all. I would choose UCB over all universities anytime. I didnt apply there despite a perfect GPA because I know I will get rejected. The caliber of students applying there is beyond my league.

 

[Geekynoob]

I see. I always thought UCB is more like an MBA than a quantitative program. Can you tell me what kind of jobs are you more likely to get from UCB? I do not want to work in banks. I would hedge fund kind of companies. Is UCB good for that?

 

[Meandonlyme]

From the UCB website, there are quite a few hedge funds on the companies that made placement offers. Here's the link, have a look:

Placement Reports - Master of Financial Engineering Program | Berkeley-Haas

 

[Geekynoob]

Thanks, do you know where does NYU Tandon MFE stand among peers? Given it's in NY? Also do you have to send transcripts via physical mail to them for the application?

 

[Shu Jiang]

Just got the interview invitation. Looks like an online virtual one due in two days.

 

[Jose Cespedes]

Just got the interview invitation. Looks like an online virtual one due in two days.

Congrattulations! It's nice to see that they're still sending out invites at this point. My guess is that the very last interviews might be sent out either by the end of this week or early next week.

Good Luck and Keep Calm!

 

[Matt A]

Jose do you have any idea when they plan to release decisions for the first round of interviews?

 

[Jose Cespedes]

Jose do you have any idea when they plan to release decisions for the first round of interviews?

I have no idea. All we can do is wait. I know it is hard but the more we focus on anything EXCEPT thinking about admission, the better.

 

[Matt A]

I have no idea. All we can do is wait. I know it is hard but the more we focus on anything EXCEPT thinking about admission, the better.

Couldn't agree more!