is my math prep going to be good enough?

[Murtaza Sikander]

age: 32

Work Experience: I am an FX Options prop trader and with an experience of 7 years.

Education: BBA and then straight onto and MBA in Finance (both from Top Unis in Pakistan). No significant math was involved just took an introductory calculus course. However took two stats courses which involved hypotheses testing, different probability distributions, linear regression of single and multiple variables and time series analysis. Average GPAs.

Plan to take the following math courses:

1) Calculus.
2) Multivariate calculus.
3) Linear Algebra.
4) PDEs.
5) Numerical Analysis.
6) Advanced C++.

Have also done CFA and FRM. and scored 790 0n GRE quant.

My question is that whether my planned math prep with current profile will help me get into berkley, CMU or Columbia.

Will also appreciate Dominic's opinion on the MTF program at Cass.

I am not looking at purely front office quant jobs but am rather more inclined towards market risk in a bank.

 

[Oxer]

which university in Pakistan and whats your GRE english/essay score?

 

[Murtaza Sikander]

IBA Karachi and my GRE english / essay score was 630/4.5

 

[Oxer]

okay im also an applicant from Pakistan, your GRE score + work experience give you a definite edge and that math background will be more than enough irrespective of what people at QN say. they might push you into taking the C+ course they offer :D

 

[Oxer]

what matters now is your cgpa, applicants from Pakistan should be looking at something above 3.5 plus at least. I say this from my experience and from my lums friends' experiences.

 

[Murtaza Sikander]

Dude the thing is that my gpa is 3.1 .... but having said that i will like to add that in IBA karachi only 12 people from a batch of 100 ( initially it was 120 ... 20 dropped out) had a gpa of 3.5 or above ... so my gpa was in the 65th percentile ... i guess i will have to attach a class ranking with my transcripts ... but as far as my profile is concerned .... from a pakistani point of view ... its i guess pretty good ... i am a senior fx trader / VP at ABL treasury ... have also worked in corporate and investment banking for the initial two years of my career and have done CFA and FRM. I think its as good as it gets in Pakistan ( sorry for bragging )

 

[Oxer]

no you're not bragging at all haha, and CFA+FRM will look amazing on your application. You should definitely apply. But with a pinch of salt considering that some universities, although they might not admit it, tend to set a minimum threshold for your GPA. So they might automatically discredit apps below 3.5 since they are top schools. Nevertheless, I am dead sure that the weightage assigned to your GPA wont be that high given your work exp and additional quals. You should definitely apply in my opinion, best of luck!