"MFE program profile evaluation" master thread

(800 Q + 450 V)=1250 GRE! Evaluation of profile

Hi,
I am a Final Year Computer Engineering Student from India. I have taken my GRE and have obtained a score of 800(Quaint) + 450(Verbal) =1250(GRE). I have been a good student so far with an average GPA of 3.9 until my 6 semesters of Engineering. I have been good at Math since School and have fared well in Math so far. I have also attended workshops on "Stock Market", "Derivatives" at the Bombay Stock Exchange.
What I would like to know is whether I stand a chance with such a dismal GRE score in any of the elite universities like the ones at CMU, Columbia, Kent State University.

I would also like to know the quality of the FE course offered at NCSU, USC, UCLA and Michigan State University.
Should I retake my GRE?
 
Chance at Columbia MSFE?

You might have seen this post on Global derivatives. I thought Id put this on Quantnet for those who have utmost loyalty to Quantnet and Quantnet alone!

Im in a bit of a unadvantageous position at the moment. I want to apply for the MSFE program at Columbia but wont have all my prerqeqs completed (LA, Probability, ODE) till the spring of '09. Below is a short summary of my resume\work exp.

I am taking classes at Columbia in the MATH department, so far ive taken everything till Vector Calculus also Ive taken a Stats (Intro type class) and my GPA in these 5 classes is a 4.02. I got an A+ in one of them and straight A's in every other one. I have 2 international internship's trading Stock futures (total for 3 months) in India at the Bombay Stock Exchange (I am a US citizen). For the last 3 years I have been working at UBS in their Credit Derivatives Technology team (writing spread sheets for the trading desk- VBA expert). These have mostly been Risk sheets (VaR, SABR Vega sensitivity reports etc). I also have a Masters in Finance (Corporate Finance - not quant...GPA 3.5) from Boston College in addition to a BS in Finance from U Minnesota. Took the GRE and got 770 Quant, 640 Verbal, 5 Essay.

Given this what do you think are my chances at Columbia's MSFE '09? Remember, I want have my prereqs met until Spring 09, so for now they have the above and my 4.02 gpa in calc classes and 1 Stat class for consideration..........
 
Check out links in my profile.

We don't really do these "what are my chances" threads on QN.
 
I wonder why not ask a faculty in the department. I mean you are at the school everyday. Just take some time out and go to the department.

I am sure they would say you for certain what are your chances.
 
Aditya Chitral said:
I wonder why not ask a faculty in the department. I mean you are at the school everyday. Just take some time out and go to the department.

I am sure they would say you for certain what are your chances.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the response Aditya, Yes I will be speaking with a couple of faculty members in the coming months.
 
Chances of Admission

Hello! If anyone has experience with the admission criteria for masters programs in quantitative finance, I would really appreciate it if you could comment on my chances of being admitted to the following programs:

1. Princeton MFin
2. Carnegie Mellon MSCF
3.Columbia MSFE
4. Rutgers MMF
5. USC MMF
6. NYU MMF
7. Michigan Ann Arbor MFE
8. Boston University MMF
9. Georgia Tech MSQCF
10. University of Toronto MMF

I am completing an undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto with a double major in Applied Mathematics and Statistics. My GPA in my Mathematics and Statistics courses is a 3.9 and my overall GPA is a 3.2. I have written the GRE once and I scored a 780 on quant and 610 on verbal. I am still waiting for my AWA scores. I also have three good letters of recommendations from professors in the Mathematics and Statistics department. I do not have much work experience. Any comments or advice you can offer will be greatly appreciated. I look forward to reading some responses. Thank you.

-Ali Shahid
 
We do not rate your chances of admission. Please see the FAQ in my signature for more resources.
 
Please evaluate my profile for MFE 09

I have been a frequent visitor of the forum and I am quite intimidated by the kind of profile of the class 2008 MFE. Below is my profile, please evaluate my chances of getting admission to this course..
I am a final year student of engineering in Electronics and Communication from Jaypee University Of Information Technology, India.
I have a CGPA of 8.1\10
Among top 10% of the class
Gmat - 700 (Q-50, V-34)
TOEFL-IBT 110
Gold and silver merit in National Cyber Olympiad
Chief Robotics coordinator at college
I have done regular mathematics courses like Probability, Calculus, Differential Equations, Power series etc.. during my engineering and I have scored approx. 8\10 in them.
I have good programming skills in C/C++ and I also have some knowledge of MATLAB.
I do not have any work experience as yet, though I have a job offer from Tata Consultancy Services. I have completed my summer internship of 2 months.
I have also done some basic finance courses like managerial economics and financial management as a part of my undergrad curriculum and I scored approx. 7.8\10 in them
 
You may want to take your post elsewhere - this community neither evaluates profiles nor assesses one's chances for admission. You would be better suited making this request on Global Derivatives. The profiles of the 2008 class, though, should provide some indication.
 
spartan said:
I have been a frequent visitor of the forum and I am quite intimidated by the kind of profile of the class 2008 MFE. Below is my profile, please evaluate my chances of getting admission to this course...
Click to expand...

You haven't been that frequent visitor if you are asking us to evaluate your profile.
 
Confused about How to improve my profile

Hi friends,

I am very confused about how to improve my profile to get admission in reputed mfe programs such Haas,Columbia,standford,baruch,princeton,michigan.

This confusion is because when i read current student profile on their website i feel i have done nothing so far. i have seen profile of haas,princeton etc. i got nervous seeing phds, research etc on their profile. many have master completed with significant work experience in field of finance or maths.

Please guide me what should i do in order to get into these topnotch programs.

My background:
Education:-Bachelor of engineering - Computer Engineering -Mumbai University,India.
Work experience:--Technical Consultant - Software Firm- 3.5 Years of experience.
Academic: Academically i have been student with distinction throughtout my career.
GRE : 760 Q, 610 V
Motivation:-

  1. Inclined to mfe programs due my stint with trading(Amateur) in forex and indian stock market.
  2. Like Programming and technology :- c/c++,C#,VB,.net,Matlab,SQL,Oracle,Biztalk
  3. Inspired from few inhouse financial project i have done in my company.
I come to know about this field early this year since then i found that i started to appreciate application of mathematics to greater extend than ever before in my life. Because before this i had no idea how mathematics is applied in real life problems.

Questions:--
But now real question is if i need an admit from top universities mentioned above, what should i do practically in coming months so i can atleast dare to think to apply to these colleges?

Few people on forum suggest doing maths courses but i do not understand how without leaving job one can do these courses?

Will my software firm experience provide weight to my application to get into these programs?

where i stand in comparison to those scary people (phds,BS maths etc) i mean do we have chance when such people are on board?

Please advice some steps or courses or some realistic solution to ace in these race.
 
For starters, I'd recommend retaking the GRE. The 760 quant score isn't exactly stellar, especially when you consider the level of math on the test.
 
The easiest step is to retake the GRE.

You didn't post your specific math background. Take the math courses that are prerequisites for the program. If you already took those, but didn't do well, then retake them. You could also take a mathematical finance course from another school, or a math course that is recommended but not required (stochastic calculus, PDEs, etc).

You should be able to find some time to squeeze in a course while working full time. Many here have done that, or are currently doing that.
 
I'm just wondering at what point it's a must retake. I know I got a 770, and if 760 is retake range, is it retake retake retake until you hit the 800?
 

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