"MFE program profile evaluation" master thread

[shank]

Can you please help me out on which universities I should look into?

Type of Undergrad: Dual Degree in B.E Computer Science and M.Sc Economics
Undergrad GPA:Overall grade: 8.5/10 with 9 being distinction level .
Major GPA (Economics) 9.42/10 from one of the top 10 universities in India
Type of Grad: None--
Grad GPA:N/A

GRE:800 Q 550 V 4.5 AWA
Undergrad Math Courses: [FONT=&quot]Differential Equations, Algorithms and Data Structures, Probability and Statistics, Linear Algebra, Numerical Analysis, Optimization Techniques, Operations Research, Differential Calculus[/FONT].
Undergrad Econ Courses:Micro Economics, Macro Economics, Economic Growth and Planning, Econometrics, Money Banking, International Trade, Public Finance.
Undergrad Finance Courses:[FONT=&quot]Financial Engineering,Functions and Working of Stock Exchanges, Risk Management and Insurance.[/FONT]
Letters of Recommendation:1 full professor Head of the Finance Department and supervisor of my MSc Thesis with strong publication record, 1 Group Leader MBA Department (my project prof) well known, 1 assistant professor from my undergrad studies, all of them know me well and will strongly support my case.
Research Experience: My MSc thesis in forecasting power requirements in the energy sector in the long run (heavily focused on econometric techniques)
Teaching Experience:Tutoring Undergrads IT Labs

 

[GoIllini]

Can you please help me out on which universities I should look into?

Type of Undergrad: Dual Degree in B.E Computer Science and M.Sc Economics
Undergrad GPA:Overall grade: 8.5/10 with 9 being distinction level .
Major GPA (Economics) 9.42/10 from one of the top 10 universities in India
Type of Grad: None--
Grad GPA:N/A

GRE:800 Q – 550 V – 4.5 AWA
Undergrad Math Courses: [FONT=&quot]Differential Equations, Algorithms and Data Structures, Probability and Statistics, Linear Algebra, Numerical Analysis, Optimization Techniques, Operations Research, Differential Calculus[/FONT].
Undergrad Econ Courses:Micro Economics, Macro Economics, Economic Growth and Planning, Econometrics, Money Banking, International Trade, Public Finance.
Undergrad Finance Courses:[FONT=&quot]Financial Engineering,Functions and Working of Stock Exchanges, Risk Management and Insurance.[/FONT]
Letters of Recommendation:1 full professor –Head of the Finance Department and supervisor of my MSc Thesis with strong publication record, 1 Group Leader MBA Department (my project prof) well known, 1 assistant professor from my undergrad studies, all of them know me well and will strongly support my case.
Research Experience: My MSc thesis in forecasting power requirements in the energy sector in the long run (heavily focused on econometric techniques)
Teaching Experience:Tutoring Undergrad’s IT Labs

-Good grade in a quantitative major: Check
-Strong letters of reference from econ: Check
-Probability/Stats and Calculus: Check
-GRE Quant score: Check
-GRE Verbal: Aim for a 600+.
-Strong letter of reference from your quantitative degree (CS) and/or work: ???

A top ten school in India is good, but your references will probably need to be stronger than they would from a very strong IIT to get into a top-five financial mathematics program. The professors will either have to say that they have supervised graduates of the programs you are applying to and that you are equal in quantitative ability, or they will have to say something to the effect of putting you in the top 1% of students they have supervised.

 

[shank]

thankyou very much GoIllini ...Il try to work on things mentioned

 

[Shail]

Please evaluate my profile

University: Nanyang Technological University, Singapore(Final Year student)
Major: Electrical and Electronics Engineering
CGPA: 3.72/4(After 6 semesters)
Scholarships awarded till date: SIA-NOL Scholarship(only 40 students from India get this scholarship each year); DAAD Scholarship for 1 semester studies in Germany.
Relevant Subjects taken:

Engineering Mathematics 1: A+
Engineering Maths 2 : A+
Principles of Economics: A+
Financial Management: A
Financial Economics: B+
Principles of Econometrics and Statistical Modelling taking this semester.

I have taken Financial Mathematics exam of Institute of Actuaries, UK this september and hopefully will pass it.

Research Projects:

Institute of Financial Management and Capital markets, TUM Business School Germany: Used Thomson One banker and did programming in VBA and Excel for extraction of data and coming up with an automated tool.

Department of Financial Engineering, NTU: Developing a scoring model using Genetic algorithms.

GRE Score: 1200( 400 V and 800 Q)


Any help will be highly appreciated.

 

[GoIllini]

University: Nanyang Technological University, Singapore(Final Year student)
Major: Electrical and Electronics Engineering
CGPA: 3.72/4(After 6 semesters)
Scholarships awarded till date: SIA-NOL Scholarship(only 40 students from India get this scholarship each year); DAAD Scholarship for 1 semester studies in Germany.

1.) Higher Verbal score. Aim for a 600.
2.) If you grew up in India, your schooling may have been conducted entirely in English like some of my friends, but if it wasn't, you'll need to make sure you can clearly and effectively communicate in the interview.
3.) Explain what "Engineering Mathematics" covers if you decide to put it on anything besides your transcript. Most schools in the US (and UK, I think) have engineers take courses like "Calc I/Derivatives", "Calc II/Integration", "Calc III/Multivariable Calc", "Differential Equations", "Probability/Stats", "Linear Algebra", etc. US schools will not know what your courses cover.

 

[Shail]

Thank you very much mate..wish you good luck...

 

[wegged]

I am interested in knowing what I can do to increase my chances of getting accepted into a MFE program preferably CUNY Baruch.

I am a software developer who is currently employed and I have professional experiance programming in C++, Java, C#, And prolifics(something I am sure most of you had not heard of). I have a great deal of knowledge in dealing with databases (sql server, oracle, and mysql) and know sql very well.

I currently trade stocks for my self and a few other people and have decent returns.

I have a BS in Applied Math and Statistics from Stony Brook University my GPA was 2.9 over there. I also attended Rockland Community College where my GPA was 3.8. I took some Computer Science classes there and many probability classes.

I have not taken the GRE yet I am fairly certain that I will do very well on the quant section.

I am interested in applying for next fall and I am just looking for other things I can try to do to make up for my low GPA.

Thank you very much guys

 

[amir]

hi friends
My name's Amir, 29 and live in Tehran. I'm looking for a Quantitative Finance or Fin Eng program in the US. Today I visited the Quantnet and went through some of those top Fin Eng schools. Their curriculum and the job market is very attractive though the tuition is too high. However, I was wondering if you could evaluate my chance to be admitted in those universities regarding my resume:


1- BS & MS in Statistics , (GPA 3.2 & 3.3/4) from Tehran Polytechnic university (top 3 in Iran);
2- Thesis : around GARCH models;
3- Work in Tehran Stock Exchange (one year risk management team + one year in R&D);
4- Softwares : MATLAB, EVIEWS, MICROFIT, SPSS, MINITAB, C++;
5- Familiar with many econometrics models and tests;
6- Certificate of courses taught by Euronext training inst, London : Credit Risk Management, Future Market;
7- Certificate of courses taught by Tehran Univ : Financial Management, Investment Management and Math (all in introductory level);
9- IELTS 7 and TOEFL 100;
10- GRE : waiting for the score but expected 750/350/3.5.
11- very much interested in Quant. Finance.

regards.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Amir,
The first thing I notice is your GRE score. It is on the very low side of the spectrum. That will limit your option a bit. You want to play your experience side but you don't want to make an exception to admit you with that GRE. Retake it to be on the safe side.
What is your budget for tuition?

 

[FelipeBastos]

Dear All,

I am strongly considering to apply for top financial engineering programs. What do you think about my profile:

General: Brazilian, 26 years old, graduated from ITA (Instituto Tecnolgico de Aeronutica) in Brazil with 8.52 / 10.00 GPA (top 10% in my class). ITA is the one of the best engineering schools in Brazil and annually selects about 120 young students from more than 9000 applicants. Only 80% of the first year class finished the course such is the institution academic standards.

Research experience: 2 years working with chaotic dynamic systems modelling at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (National Inst. for Space Research). In 2004 my research was elected the best from among 74 other done at the institute. Also spent 6 months as visiting student at the Aeronautics and Astronautics department at MIT.

Professional experience: 16 months as Structural Engineer (finite element analysis) at Embraer (NYSE: ERJ) - the 4th largest aircraft manufacturer in the world being responsible for the structural analysis and certification of powerplant structures of Phenom 100 (Very Light Jet). 16 months as market risk modelling analyst at Itau Unibanco (NYSE: ITUB) - developing pricing and risk models for different financial instruments focused on meeting the requirements of the Basel II accord.

Aditional information: experienced as high school teacher (Physics Math and Chemistry) in a non-profit organization engaged on providing university admission preparatory courses for socioeconomically disadvantaged students in Brazil. Currently studying for TOEFL and GRE.


Thank you in advance,

Felipe

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Felipe,
Do well on the GRE and TOEFL. Get people who can write letter of recommendation that can emphasize your unique qualification as well as your goal and personality.
Focus on personal statements and explain why you think program X is a best fit for you. You can't use a generic template for all program. It shows. You need to do lot of research to make a program is a good fit for you. Otherwise you will pay dearly for the mistake.
I once read an essay where the applicant wrote "Program Y is my first choice". The only program is that he is applying to Program X.
Make sure you have all the requirements in math, programming and finance courses.

 

[FelipeBastos]

Dear Andy,

Thank you for posting this reply. In fact my main objective on pursuing an quant finance program is to move from a control area (risk modelling) to another area on quant finance which also requires strong analytical basis but is located on the front-office (as quant trading, structured finance, etc).

In addition to this I greatly think quant finance programs are an unique experience since it amalgamates both the quant academic background and the focus on the financial industry. They sound to be like an intersection between the pure math master of science and the classic MBA.

Regarding the letters of recommendation I strongly believe I can get them from people which know me both from academia (ITA) and the industry (Embraer, Itau Unibanco, etc). Courses related on my undergrad transcript are:

Math: Differential Calculus I and II, Series Sequencies and Improper Integrals, Linear Algebra, Vector Calculus, Ordinary Differential Equations, Partial Differential Equations, Probability and Statistics, Functional Analysis and Complex Variable Functions.

Programming: Computer programming and numerical methods.

My main concern is about ITA's rules for evaluating academic performance. The minimum grade to be approved in any course is 6.5 / 10.0. Each one of 10 semesters the student takes about 6-7 courses in which he or she cannot get more than two insufficient grades ( 5.0 to 6.4 range). Each insifficient score is computed during the whole course and when getting the 6th I-grade the student is expelled. During any semester a deficient grade (0.0 to 4.9 range) automatically expell the student. My point is that a best in class student at ITA commonly has a worst score than a best in class student from most universities in Brazil. How do you think the admission process can take this into consideration (or they wont)?

Best regards and thank you again for your reply.

Felipe

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Felipe,
I can only comment that being from a less well known educational system will have its downside. Admission people are well versed in how the IITs, the Ecoles, the Tsinghua, the Ivy train students, but less of the rest of the world.
Do yourself a service and include a document that list all relevant courses, the syllabi, the books used, etc. Saying you took Math I, Math II aren't that helpful.

---------- Post added at 11:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:29 PM ----------

I have a BS in Applied Math and Statistics from Stony Brook University my GPA was 2.9 over there. I also attended Rockland Community College where my GPA was 3.8. I took some Computer Science classes there and many probability classes.

I spent a semester at RCC when i first came to NY. Nice place, nice people.
Your 2.9 GPA would definitely be against you. Your best bet would be to emphasize the work experience, do extremely well on the GRE. If you graduated a long time ago, retake the math courses and get all A this time.
Your GPA won't be much of a problem once you graduate from MFE but the trick is to get into one.
You can also use some other generic recommendation found on this thread.
By the way, did you take a look at other programs in the area? Why Baruch in particular?

 

[FelipeBastos]

Thanks Andy,

I am goind to take your advice into consideration.

Best wishes,

Felipe

 

[amir]

my chance

Dear Andy,
Thanks for your reply; I really need someone to evaluate my chance. This is because I don’t have any idea about how the competition in Quant. Finance is. Most students in my country come from engineering background and easily get admission in their fields. I just heard that ‘Management’ has got the most competitive admission records and among its branches ‘Finance’ is in the top.
Therefore, I don’t know to what extent my resume is comparable with those accepted in the Q F programs. There are some records for the average GPA or GRE in the university’s websites thought aren’t enough to make a comparison. Here again I listed my resume and also some programs that I had selected before I visited the top Fin Eng programs yesterday.
0-graduated 4 years ago!
1- BS & MS in Statistics , (GPA 3.2 & 3.3/4) from Tehran Polytechnic university (top 3 in Iran);
2- Thesis : around GARCH models;
3- Work in Tehran Stock Exchange (one year risk management team + one year in R&D);
4- Softwares : MATLAB, EVIEWS, MICROFIT, SPSS, MINITAB, C++;
5- Familiar with many econometrics models and tests;
6- Certificate of courses taught by Euronext training inst, London : Credit Risk Management, Future Market;
7- Certificate of courses taught by Tehran Univ : Financial Management, Investment Management and Financial Math (all in introductory level);
9- IELTS 7 and TOEFL 100;
10- GRE : waiting for the score but expected 750/350/3.5.
11- very much interested in Quant. Finance.
12-Total money (tuition + other costs) that I can pay =$35000
I think that if I pay the first year’s tuition and costs, I will cover the next year’s expenses by the internship or the probable scholarships in the next year! Do you think it is possible?
Selected programs:
1-EPFL Fin Eng
2-Purdue U PHD of Statistics in Finance
3-Georgia Tech
4-U of Waterloo Q Finance
5-Florida State U Fin Math
6-U of Connecticut Applied Financial Math
7-U of Texas at Dallas Fin Eng
8-U of Wisconsin Madison Q Finance
9-Stevens inst of Technology Fin Eng<o:p></o:p>
10-Vienna U of Economics and Business Q Finance
11-Spears School of Business Oklahoma S U
12-DePaul U Kellstadt Grad School of Business Comp Finance<o:p></o:p>
13-Illinois inst. of techn Stuart School of Business Fin Eng<o:p></o:p>
Do I have any chance to get admission from above univ specially the RED ones? And what about those FE programs in the Ranking of Financial Engineering/Mathematical Finance MS Programs<o:p></o:p>
Do you know anything about the reputation of Stevens inst of Technology? They have a combination of normal and online courses in the program!!
regardddddddddds.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

It's a heck of a long list. I don't know about most of the programs in your list. Of the RED ones, only Stevens is in the NYC area. It's a good school in engineering but relatively unknown in Financial Engineering. You definitely have a chance in the other two. IIT does give out some scholarship to cover tuition but I don't know the criteria.

With only 35K for tuition and expense, you are in a tough spot. Don't count on scholarship, internship or work to cover the rest. None of that is guarantee.
Baruch has tuition of 20K but I'm not going to say you won't make it.

 

[amir]

thanks Andy,

1--It frustrates me! You mean non-resident students have budget to cover all expenses?!
I thought that I can work in the second year! Or perhaps they automatically consider the budget of students in the second year! the reason why I say so is that some universities required financial support form for only or at least one year! On the other hand, why some universities say "100% placement or internship"!

2--Andy, the director of FE program at Stevens asked me to call him tomorrow to talk about my questions regrading the percent of students who get RA or internship (The program is 30 credit, $1100 each credit!). I didn't send my cv, just said that I have MS in Statistics and he answered "An MS in Stat is helpful. Call me ...".

3-- The IIT program costs $70,000 (tu+other). Maybe I can send my appl and if I get admission then I tell them about my budget! and they decide again! what do you think of that!?

4-- Some univs however asked for financial support form with appl. But as I know other students in my country show financial support/bank statement when they are going to the embassy! I think I can do the same! have you any experience?

sory for that long this and again for this I'm just confused!

 

[Andy Nguyen]

You are responsible for all the cost (tuition, room and board, books, daily expense) before you are given an I-20. Some schools may require proof of one year tuition+expense, some require for the whole duration of study.
Regardless, you should have enough money for the whole time here. Scholarship (in rare cases) is merit-based, not need-based so don't count on it.
Did you call Stevens and what they told you?

 

[amir]

Hi Andy,

You are right!

Yes, I called him last night, he said the "there is no guarantee, it depends on your performance, grades, the available projects, grants and ..., there is however a 'Co-operative program with companies' and we only facilitate the interviews and things like this".

To recap, Andy, I think you are right! realistically speaking, I cannot apply for many of that long list! I really miss the courses! The courses which are being taught at European Unis are not what exactly I'm looking for!

 

[rishi jain]

hello everyone,

i am a BE student of Electronics & Communication Engineering from Uttar Pradesh Technical University,Lucknow, India (It is a state government run university of Uttar Pradesh State Govt.). I am in my VII Semester curently. Here are my profile details:

GRE - 1460(800q, 660v),awa 4.0
TOEFL(internet based) - 113/120

GPA(of six semesters) - 7.0/10

WORK EXPERIENCE- None

INTERNSHIPS - i interned at Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund Asset Management Company in summer 2008.the next internship was at LIC India.the third inrternship was at Airtel,a Teleservices provider. this was mainly towards the ECE side, so i guess explaining it here isn't that relevant.

TECHNICAL PROJECTS AT COLLEGE - have been involved in various projects, namely digital filter designing, Satellite receiver and currently pursuing writing a research paper under one of my professors on digital communication telephone exchanges

COURSES OF MATHS STUDIED :

Matrices: Elementary row and column transformation, Rank of matrix, Linear dependence, Consistency of linear system of equations, Characteristic equation, Caley-Hamition Theorom, Eigen values and eigen vectors, Diagonalisation, Complex and unitary materices .

Differential Calculus - Leibnitz theorem, Partial differentiation, Eulers theorem, Curve tracing, Change of variables, Expansion of function of several variables.Jacobian, , Approximation of errors, Exterma of functions of several variables, Lagranges method of multipliers (Simple applications)

Multiple Intergrals - Double and triple integral, Change of order, Change of variables,Beta and Gamma functions, Application to area,volume, Dirichlet integral and applications

Vector Calculus - Point functions, Gradient, divergence and curl of a vector and their physical interpretations, Line, Surface and Volumeintegrals, Greens, Stokes and Gauss divergence theorem

Integral Transforms - Fourier integral, Fourier complex transform, Fourier sine and cosine transforms and applications to simple heat transfer equations.Z transform and its application to solve difference equations

Complex Variable Functions - Analytic functions, C-R equations and harmonic functions, Line integral in the complex
plane, Cauchy's integral theorem, Cauchy's integral formula for derivatives of analytic
functions, Liouvilles theorem, Fundamental theorem of algebraRepresentation of a function by power series, Taylor's and Laurent's series, Singularities,
zeroes and poles, Residue theorem, evaluation of real integrals of type
∫o
2π f (cosθ, sinθ) dθ and ∫-∞
+∞ f (x) dx, Conformal mapping and bilinear transformations.

Statistics & Probability - Moments, Moment generating functions, Skewness, Kurtosis,Correlation and Regression,Binomial distribution, Poisson distribution, Normal distribution.

Curve Fitting - Method of least squares and curve fitting of straight line and parabola, solution of cubic and bi-quadratic equations


Please let me know how my profile stands relative to other applicants for MSFE in the top 15 universities as per the QuantNet rankings!!!

---------- Post added at 09:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:00 PM ----------

btw if it matters, my university has an above average reputation (since it is a government undertaking) in India but is not as high rated as the Indian Institutes of Technology(aka IITs)