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MFE Admission Advice

Wan

Joined
4/10/12
Messages
2
Points
11
Hello,
I'm currently a Mathematics major (Computer Science Minor) at NYU. I will be graduating this December (spending an extra semester in college), and I am here to seek some advice. First of all, I will list below the courses I have taken.

Relevant coursework (including the courses I plan on taking this Fall):
Multivariable Calculus
Linear Algebra
Discrete Mathematics
Theory of Probability
ODE
PDE
Mathematical Statistics
Analysis I
Algebra I
Algebra II
Numerical Computing
Intro to Math Modeling
Data Structures
Basic Algorithms
Economic Principles I (Intro Macroeconomics)
Economic Principles II (Intro Microeconomics)

Cumulative GPA: 3.72
Major GPA: 4.00
GRE: Verbal 470, Quant 800, Writing 4.0


I am a U.S. permanent resident, and the only relevant work experience I have is a summer internship in IT at a BB.

Also, I took the CFA Level I exam earlier this month. My scores on mock exams were around 70-75, so I'm really hoping I did just enough to pass the exam. I am confident that I will pass Level I this December if I didn't pass this time.

I am concerned about my GRE Verbal score and my lack of work experience. Frankly, I'm much more worried about the latter, because I've never performed well on verbal reasoning sections of exams (i.e. SAT). Spending 3-4 months to raise my verbal score to 500-550 does not seem like the most productive way to spend my time. I would rather spend that much time doing a part-time internship to gain some more work experience. However, that is purely my personal view, so please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. That's really why I am writing this post.

The schools I plan on applying to:
CMU, NYU, MIT, Columbia, Rutgers, U-Chicago, UCLA, UCBerkeley, Baruch, Princeton, Stanford

I understand that there is a very good chance I won't be admitted to any of those schools, but the only way for me to afford graduate school straight out of undergrad is with my parents' financial support and they aren't willing to help me unless I enter one of those schools. So theres not much I can do other than do my best to get into one of those schools. I might work for 1-2 years before I apply for graduate school, but at this time, my plan is to enter grad school straight out of undergrad.

Please feel free to make any advice on what I could do to improve my chances (i.e. do an internship, improve test scores, work full-time for several yrs before MFE, etc). Thank you.
 
Wan said:
Hello,
I'm currently a Mathematics major (Computer Science Minor) at NYU. I will be graduating this December (spending an extra semester in college), and I am here to seek some advice. First of all, I will list below the courses I have taken.

Relevant coursework (including the courses I plan on taking this Fall):
Multivariable Calculus
Linear Algebra
Discrete Mathematics
Theory of Probability
ODE
PDE
Mathematical Statistics
Analysis I
Algebra I
Algebra II
Numerical Computing
Intro to Math Modeling
Data Structures
Basic Algorithms
Economic Principles I (Intro Macroeconomics)
Economic Principles II (Intro Microeconomics)

Cumulative GPA: 3.72
Major GPA: 4.00
GRE: Verbal 470, Quant 800, Writing 4.0


I am a U.S. permanent resident, and the only relevant work experience I have is a summer internship in IT at a BB.

Also, I took the CFA Level I exam earlier this month. My scores on mock exams were around 70-75, so I'm really hoping I did just enough to pass the exam. I am confident that I will pass Level I this December if I didn't pass this time.

I am concerned about my GRE Verbal score and my lack of work experience. Frankly, I'm much more worried about the latter, because I've never performed well on verbal reasoning sections of exams (i.e. SAT). Spending 3-4 months to raise my verbal score to 500-550 does not seem like the most productive way to spend my time. I would rather spend that much time doing a part-time internship to gain some more work experience. However, that is purely my personal view, so please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. That's really why I am writing this post.

The schools I plan on applying to:
CMU, NYU, MIT, Columbia, Rutgers, U-Chicago, UCLA, UCBerkeley, Baruch, Princeton, Stanford

I understand that there is a very good chance I won't be admitted to any of those schools, but the only way for me to afford graduate school straight out of undergrad is with my parents' financial support and they aren't willing to help me unless I enter one of those schools. So theres not much I can do other than do my best to get into one of those schools. I might work for 1-2 years before I apply for graduate school, but at this time, my plan is to enter grad school straight out of undergrad.

Please feel free to make any advice on what I could do to improve my chances (i.e. do an internship, improve test scores, work full-time for several yrs before MFE, etc). Thank you.
Click to expand...

From my experience, just get good reference letters.

I was admitted in CMU with scholarship (I'll attend it), Columbia MAFN, London Imperial College.
Background: 5 years of Mathematics courses. No working experience.
Maybe my perception is biased since I come from an European country (don't really know about the reputation of European degrees against American one), but I feel that any good undergraduate can have good chances in the right TOP mfes. Feel free to contact me if you have more questions.

PS: I took 151 in the verbal score -> it hasn't to weight much in the end
 
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