Masters Advice

[Lloyd Vhaul DeMort]

I have a bit of a dilemma. I made a bad call that I regret to this day. When I was graduating from my undergraduate, I did not pay much attention to it because my goal was to do a second undergraduate and minimum required GPA was 3.0 for a successful entry. Finance came easily to me so I started working full-time knowing I can pull off a half-decent GPA without much studying and only managed a 3.0 GPA on the dot. So I got what I wished for, expect I did not end up doing the second undergraduate. So now an individual capable of much more is essentially stuck with a solid B. I am looking at applying to top tier schools for Masters in Finance or Financial Economics and now my poor choice has come to haunt me.

I have read on many forums that most universities will attempt to look past your GPA if you can show a solid GRE, and work experience, which I can...I currently work for a big bank in Canada. I can go to University of Toronto for my masters but for the price I would rather do my masters either a top tier school in the U.S. or U.K.

I have also noticed that the schools in the U.S. clearly state in FAQ's that there is no minimum GPA and a low GPA can be offset by a high GRE and other things (MIT is an example of this), does anyone have experience with this? Getting in with a low GPA?

Oxford, and Cambridge state that a UK 2:1 is acceptable and I have noticed that a 3.0 translates to a 2:1 at least that is what I have seen at many places. However they expect 3.5+ US GPA so I am unsure how a Canadian GPA will be treated. Or shall I attempt to use Fullbright and officially get my degree converted?

Also, I am only interested in terminal masters program. I have no intentions of doing a PhD.

Any advice, experience will be more than appreciated. How I can enhance my application or manage to make a miracle happen at top schools?

My Undergraduate is in Finance.

 

[Philip_Mitterrand]

Self pitying is a refuge for the weak...you can mitigate your bad gpa with strong GRE etc but that wont be enough... Most top uni have heard this sob story of bad GPA, screwed up and I was so much more capable blah blah endless times and have enough pool of 3.5+ers to fill class so your chance is like a roll of dice..Ox, Cam, MIT are the most conservative schools when it comes to GPA and your chances lie w those programs were you can amplify your work exp as a qualitative edge...but it has to be something tangible not like an analyst fetching coffee while doing some excel tricks.

As a matter of fact I know people who got into MS Finance programs without even an Bachelors degree but they had something you lack i.e strong attitude and outgrowing mediocrity in a big way.

I have a bit of a dilemma. I made a bad call that I regret to this day. When I was graduating from my undergraduate, I did not pay much attention to it because my goal was to do a second undergraduate and minimum required GPA was 3.0 for a successful entry. Finance came easily to me so I started working full-time knowing I can pull off a half-decent GPA without much studying and only managed a 3.0 GPA on the dot. So I got what I wished for, expect I did not end up doing the second undergraduate. So now an individual capable of much more is essentially stuck with a solid B. I am looking at applying to top tier schools for Masters in Finance or Financial Economics and now my poor choice has come to haunt me.if y

I have read on many forums that most universities will attempt to look past your GPA if you can show a solid GRE, and work experience, which I can...I currently work for a big bank in Canada. I can go to University of Toronto for my masters but for the price I would rather do my masters either a top tier school in the U.S. or U.K.

I have also noticed that the schools in the U.S. clearly state in FAQ's that there is no minimum GPA and a low GPA can be offset by a high GRE and other things (MIT is an example of this), does anyone have experience with this? Getting in with a low GPA?

Oxford, and Cambridge state that a UK 2:1 is acceptable and I have noticed that a 3.0 translates to a 2:1 at least that is what I have seen at many places. However they expect 3.5+ US GPA so I am unsure how a Canadian GPA will be treated. Or shall I attempt to use Fullbright and officially get my degree converted?

Also, I am only interested in terminal masters program. I have no intentions of doing a PhD.

Any advice, experience will be more than appreciated. How I can enhance my application or manage to make a miracle happen at top schools?

My Undergraduate is in Finance.

 

[Lloyd Vhaul DeMort]

Self pitying is a refuge for the weak...you can mitigate your bad gpa with strong GRE etc but that wont be enough... Most top uni have heard this sob story of bad GPA, screwed up and I was so much more capable blah blah endless times and have enough pool of 3.5+ers to fill class so your chance is like a roll of dice..Ox, Cam, MIT are the most conservative schools when it comes to GPA and your chances lie w those programs were you can amplify your work exp as a qualitative edge...but it has to be something tangible not like an analyst fetching coffee while doing some excel tricks.

As a matter of fact I know people who got into MS Finance programs without even an Bachelors degree but they had something you lack i.e strong attitude and outgrowing mediocrity in a big way.

Lol...I like you. You know how to give it straight. However, I wasn't wallowing in self-pity. I am self-concerned if that makes sense or perhaps anxious about poor academic decisions in the past. Nevertheless, your advice is sound. Education is only worth what you do with it.

 

[Liam]

As a matter of fact I know people who got into MS Finance programs without even an Bachelors degree but they had something you lack i.e strong attitude and outgrowing mediocrity in a big way.

I second this. It hurt my head reading the OP's question which was full of complicated statements about minutaes about GPA and this course and that course, credits, conversions and level 5 cheats for GTA. Whenever I see that alarm bells ring and I tend to think "Do they realise it's about skills not marks and degrees?". I also don't get why anybody would deliberately do back to back degrees.

Based on my own limited experience of networking and responding to information requests I would say if I were in the same company the OP would piss me off and likely result in me telling people to avoid them. It may be a prejudiced view but that's how the whole market both academic and professional will see it.

To the OP - attitude matters. I have 2 contrasting contacts on my LinkedIn - one is a head of derivatives at a bank I know through a mutual contact. He was trying to break into trading after his bachelors and considered my masters. He really struck me as sharp, confident and with it and got into a trading role through a colleague's trading network without doing any masters. The other is a girl that had never passed a probationary period in years I knew through a networking group. To be fair I have seen people with those records that turn out to be unlucky (eg I once met a very bright and capable renewables expert that had a 2 year gap on his CV) but I could tell from her attitude she was probably useless. Several times she meekly claimed to have "never gotten an easy break" and I started counting the amount of comments that made me shudder in disbelief (7 in a 30+ minute chat). She was in marine insurance and had a masters but couldn't seem to get that my Project Finance specific contacts (a market I'd left 18 months previously), particularly recruiters couldn't help as they covered a different market. I could just about imagine the ranting from people if I passed her details on as her attitude was far too annoying and passive aggressive and for all her education, here was the worst CV I have ever seen - she was 10 years out of college aswell where I would expect someone to overcome bad luck. Since that meeting she got a job months later, failed probation and got another 6 months later and failed probation again. Think about it.

 

[Lloyd Vhaul DeMort]

I second this. It hurt my head reading the OP's question which was full of complicated statements about minutaes about GPA and this course and that course, credits, conversions and level 5 cheats for GTA. Whenever I see that alarm bells ring and I tend to think "Do they realise it's about skills not marks and degrees?". I also don't get why anybody would deliberately do back to back degrees.

Based on my own limited experience of networking and responding to information requests I would say if I were in the same company the OP would piss me off and likely result in me telling people to avoid them. It may be a prejudiced view but that's how the whole market both academic and professional will see it.

To the OP - attitude matters. I have 2 contrasting contacts on my LinkedIn - one is a head of derivatives at a bank I know through a mutual contact. He was trying to break into trading after his bachelors and considered my masters. He really struck me as sharp, confident and with it and got into a trading role through a colleague's trading network without doing any masters. The other is a girl that had never passed a probationary period in years I knew through a networking group. To be fair I have seen people with those records that turn out to be unlucky (eg I once met a very bright and capable renewables expert that had a 2 year gap on his CV) but I could tell from her attitude she was probably useless. Several times she meekly claimed to have "never gotten an easy break" and I started counting the amount of comments that made me shudder in disbelief (7 in a 30+ minute chat). She was in marine insurance and had a masters but couldn't seem to get that my Project Finance specific contacts (a market I'd left 18 months previously), particularly recruiters couldn't help as they covered a different market. I could just about imagine the ranting from people if I passed her details on as her attitude was far too annoying and passive aggressive and for all her education, here was the worst CV I have ever seen - she was 10 years out of college aswell where I would expect someone to overcome bad luck. Since that meeting she got a job months later, failed probation and got another 6 months later and failed probation again. Think about it.

dude...chill out man.