"MFE program profile evaluation" master thread

@Andy: hey man

I did go through the curriculums at different universities. Boston university and MIT have courses such as corporate finance theory, M&As, financial institutions, etc as part of their compulsory courses. FE on the other hand has courses around stochastic models and statistical tools, monte carlo, etc( the courses that i have mentioned are definitely part of curriculum in all FE programs). So, There is a major difference in the curriculum.

Please evaluate also...:)

Aditya
 
aditshankar said:
im planning to apply to CMU, NYU, Umich, UIUC, Oxford, Purdue, Gatech, columbia.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't advise applying more than 6 schools. Looking at your list, it's literally all over the place.
Are you ok with working in Georgia, Michigan, Chicago, Indiana? If your goal is Wall Street, how is going to schools at those remote places maximizing your chance for an internship and job?
 
@ Andy

My list was based on quantnet's 2009 rankings. I have tried to maintain a mix of ambitious, perfect and under ambitious colleges. I know it is advanatageous to be near NY, Boston or Chicago.

UIUC and Purdue are very close to chicago.NYU, CMU and columbia are in NY. So i suppose gatech and umich are a little out of the way, but i am applying to them in order to have a fall back. I personally have no idea where i stand in this entire application business.

I would have applied to Boston university but someone who did the course there in 2005 said placements were very poor. Any inputs and ideas would be useful.

thanks again andy
aditya
 
@andy

Yes I did and it was very helpful. I was just now reading the review of MIT ms finance and realised i could make my profile more quant through the electives available. Really great job on the reviews guys.

But i have been unable to find student profiles to compare with mine, so still in the dark. (looking for indian profiles like me but unsuccessful).

So what does my situation look like??
So what does my evaluation look like?
 
@andy, connor: Thanks for the advice, have been going through this thread every now and then. So, is my list of colleges ok? or should I add or remove some options. Please rate them as you usually do ambitious, realistic and should get..

thanks guys
Aditya
 
Profile Evaluation for Fall 2011

Hi Guys,

I am going to be applying to FE courses for Fall 2010. My profile is :

Academic : B.E. (Electronics) form Sardar Patel Inst. of Tech. (Mumbai University) (57.11% aggregate)

I have poor grades in C/C++ programming and engg maths (around 50's)

Relevant Courses taken : Differential Equations, Probability, Statistics, Numerical Methods, C, C++, Calculus

GRE : 1410/1600 (Q 800, V 610)

TOEFL : 111/120

Work Experience : 1 year of teaching Quantitative Analysis and Data Interpretation at a reputed management coaching institute in India. I have taken lectures of IIT students and taught them quantitative analysis. Also I have scored 99.45 %tile in CAT 2009 (indian mgmt entrance exam). However my interest is in doing an MFE graduate program. Thus chose not to go for an MBA.

Finance Courses:

I have completed courses from the Bombay Stock Exchange on Stock Markets and Derivatives and will be giving a few NCFM Modules. Plan to give either CFA/FRM L1 in late 2010.

Extra-curriculars: Quite good. Was the Finance-In-Charge of my college cultural festival. Loads of experience in leadership roleS.

Languages known : C,C++, MATLAB
Decent SOP, 3 LOR'S (1 from my boss at work)

I know due to my engg marks, ill be rejected by most top universities. My question is :
What can i do to improve my profile?? Also, which second tier colleges should i target to get atleast one decent admit???

Do get me some feedback on what to do.
Thanks
smiley.gif
 
Were you able to get any interviews with 99.45 percentile in CAT? I thought that the cut-off for the interviews at IIM-A,B,C was 99.6 percentile and for admissions it was around 99.8 percentile.
 
Hi

I am Aditya Shankar. I am a mechanical engineering grad from BITS Pilani. I have a gpa of 7.7/10 and scored 1560 (Q-800+V-760, AWA-4.0)
I am around the top 30 of my class of 130. I am interning at India Private equity/venture capital association (A non profit research body for VC in India). I am currently working on valuations in the Indian context.

My question (apart from evaluation of my chances) is this:

1. corporate finance seems to be a not so important aspect of FE/computational/mathematical finance curriculums in the US.

2. I am not interested in just an MS Finance but at in MSMF/FE/MSCF ( Curriculum Master of Finance Program) this is a typical curriculum for MS finance.

basically i am worried about building my profile around valuations where other people are throwing around stuff like option pricing, derivative trading, etc.

I have decent experience in a lot of technical analysis as i myself trade a lot and modelled the sharpe markowitz portfolio model as a part of my college project in VB.

I have completed the following at the undergraduate level

1. Linear algebra
2. Partial differential equations
3. Optimization
4. Security analysis and portfolio management (an elective not prerequisite)
5. C/C++-- 2 semesters
6. Probability and statistics-(1 semester)
7. Principles of economics
8. Numerical analysis

my average gpa in the above would be 8/10
I have a project in fluid flow modelling using Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (lots of probability and calculus)

Only problem: is my current internship helping me??
im planning to apply to CMU, NYU, Umich, UIUC, Oxford, Purdue, Gatech, columbia.

Thanks for your help
Aditya
 
@traderjoe : I missed the cut-offs for IIM A and C by one mark. Didnt get other IIM calls due to a not so great profile. Got through to MDI, Gurgaon but didn take it up.

Btw, please can you help me out on my profile stufff man....thanks..
Aditya.
 
adityagandhi said:
Hi Guys,

I am going to be applying to FE courses for Fall 2010. My profile is :

Academic : B.E. (Electronics) form Sardar Patel Inst. of Tech. (Mumbai University) (57.11% aggregate)

I have poor grades in C/C++ programming and engg maths (around 50's)

Relevant Courses taken : Differential Equations, Probability, Statistics, Numerical Methods, C, C++, Calculus

GRE : 1410/1600 (Q 800, V 610)

TOEFL : 111/120

Work Experience : 1 year of teaching Quantitative Analysis and Data Interpretation at a reputed management coaching institute in India. I have taken lectures of IIT students and taught them quantitative analysis. Also I have scored 99.45 %tile in CAT 2009 (indian mgmt entrance exam). However my interest is in doing an MFE graduate program. Thus chose not to go for an MBA.

Finance Courses:

I have completed courses from the Bombay Stock Exchange on Stock Markets and Derivatives and will be giving a few NCFM Modules. Plan to give either CFA/FRM L1 in late 2010.

Extra-curriculars: Quite good. Was the Finance-In-Charge of my college cultural festival. Loads of experience in leadership roleS.

Languages known : C,C++, MATLAB
Decent SOP, 3 LOR'S (1 from my boss at work)

I know due to my engg marks, ill be rejected by most top universities. My question is :
What can i do to improve my profile?? Also, which second tier colleges should i target to get atleast one decent admit???

Do get me some feedback on what to do.
Thanks
smiley.gif
Click to expand...

Well, it is unfortunate that they have raised the CAT bar so high that you need 99.6 percentile just to get the interview. Anyway, your profile is good and you will be competitive at the top schools for MFE.

GRE: Your GRE score is good. 800Q is all they need. 610 V is okay. Nobody cares about the verbal score.

School: SPCE and SPIT are both prestigious schools. The second-class 57% is actually quite decent, but the adcom will not understand it. Nothing you can do about it at this stage. In your transcripts, all the Math courses will be titled Applied Math 1-8. The adcom does not know exactly what you studied in these courses. You must include the course syllabus for the Math courses so that they can see that you have the proper Math background.

Preparation: Do not do any more courses on NSE. Nobody over here has heard of the NSE courses. Instead do CFA Level 1. This is what UC-Berkeley wants from you. Try to study stochastic calculus, econometrics, advanced statistics. See if you can join TCS or Infosys and get some experience in C++ programming. You need some background in C++, Object Oriented Programming, SQL, Databases because your degree is in Electronics Engineering. There used to be nice part-time course PGDST at National Center for Software Technology (now it is C-DAC in Juhu). You will learn Databases, SQL, OOP and OOD, C++, Networks.

Work Experience: If you got even a few month work experience in an IT firm doing programming it will help you a lot in getting a job and in the job interviews. Finance work ex would be preferable but they normally only hire from IIMs.

LORs: All LORs should be from academic professors who know your Math background. None from work boss.

No need to mention extra-curriculars. Nobody cares about it except for MBA adcom.

Schools:

Your first choice must be UC-Berkeley and CMU. They will give you good job placement even in a recession. Baruch also has good job placements and is very low tuition. You also have good chance at Columbia.

The following schools will most probably give you a teaching assistantship, so you can get the degree for free: University of North Carolina - Charlotte, Purdue, Georgia State. Even though you will get the degree for free, job placement will be tough to get from these schools.

Some other schools where you will have good chance of admission but tough job placement are Michigan, Rutgers.

I do not think that you have good chance for admission at Princeton, NYU, Stanford.
 
@traderjoe : thanks for the gr8 analysis.....really appreciate it :)

Im a little confused between FRM L1 and CFA L1...ive heard FRM is more quant-oriented and related to FE. Is that true?

Also i am in consideration for a job as a commodities trader. It will involve algorithmic trading. Its not at an internationally known firm, but a mid-level company. If i get it, should i go for it or should i try for the C++ programming job?

For me, cost is a bit of a constraint. I am also looking at NUS/NTU in singapore. How good are they? However i would prefer a US course. Which other colleges u suggest i apply to as backups..

Lastly, my undergrad math grades arent really that gr8. Do you think its still advisable to get a reco from my math prof?? any suggestions on taking Math subject GRE to offset this?

Regards,
Aditya.
 
adityagandhi said:
@traderjoe : thanks for the gr8 analysis.....really appreciate it :)

Im a little confused between FRM L1 and CFA L1...ive heard FRM is more quant-oriented and related to FE. Is that true?

Also i am in consideration for a job as a commodities trader. It will involve algorithmic trading. Its not at an internationally known firm, but a mid-level company. If i get it, should i go for it or should i try for the C++ programming job?

For me, cost is a bit of a constraint. I am also looking at NUS/NTU in singapore. How good are they? However i would prefer a US course. Which other colleges u suggest i apply to as backups..

Lastly, my undergrad math grades arent really that gr8. Do you think its still advisable to get a reco from my math prof?? any suggestions on taking Math subject GRE to offset this?

Regards,
Aditya.
Click to expand...

FRM is more quant, but it is more for Risk Management. At least UC-Berkeley has very strong preference if you take CFA Level 1.

If you are able to get a job in Finance you should take that job. They normally only hire from IIT / IIM / Top 20 USA university. They pay quite well. You have to work 12 hours a day. But the experience will be valuable. Most companies will prefer you to have 2-3 years prior experience over a top-noth MFE. You can learn C++/OOP/SQL by yourself later on.

NSU/NTU are decent if yu want to work in Singapore. Anyway, it seems that most of the MFE students from USA universities are taking jobs in Singapore and Hongkong. Backups can be Michigan, Rutgers, Purdue, Georgia State, North Carolina - Charlotte. These are all excellent MFE programs, but job placement will be tough. For good job, it is best to go to UC-Berkeley or CMU.

You need good reference letters, but they can be from any prof who will give you a good reference. Preferable to use Math profs. Otherwise use the Engineering profs. Do not use industry references unless you are applying for MBA. MFE is more concerned about Math background than industry reference letters.
 
Hi

I am Aditya Shankar. I am a mechanical engineering grad from BITS Pilani. I have a gpa of 7.7/10 and scored 1560 (Q-800+V-760, AWA-4.0)
I am around the top 30 of my class of 130. I am interning at India Private equity/venture capital association (A non profit research body for VC in India). I am currently working on valuations and cash flow modelling in the Indian context.

I have decent experience in a lot of technical analysis as i myself trade a lot and modelled the sharpe markowitz portfolio model as a part of my college project in VB.

I have completed the following at the undergraduate level

1. Linear algebra
2. Partial differential equations
3. Optimization
4. Security analysis and portfolio management (an elective not prerequisite)
5. C/C++-- 2 semesters
6. Probability and statistics-(1 semester)
7. Principles of economics
8. Numerical analysis

my average gpa in the above would be 8/10
I have a project in fluid flow modelling using Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (lots of probability and calculus)
3 courses from the National Stock exchange

How do my chances look if im planning to apply to CMU, NYU, Umich, UIUC, Oxford, Purdue, Gatech, columbia, BU?

Thanks for your help
Aditya
 
Hello All,
I am new to this field, and would really appreciate any brutally honest input you would have to share!

I am currently working towards a PhD in molecular biology from a top ivy, but am looking to move into finance when I graduate in a couple years. As I will no longer be a spring chicken once I get out, so I was thinking of getting a masters to boost my career forward.

I am not sure how to leverage my degree; though it isn’t in a ‘soft science’, it certainly isn’t a quant-heavy math/physics/engineering phd either. Given this, I feel MFE programs are out (esp since I APed out of my math classes in college). A more flexible MSF program like MIT’s would be ideal, but given such a low admit rate, I would obviously need other target schools as well. The few other MSF programs at top schools, Oxford and Princeton, require either internships or undergrad math courses. Of course, there are other MSF programs, but I’ve read in forums that second-tier MSF programs are not really worth the tuition.

I’m studying for CFA L1 in December (though thanks to labwork will likely have to retake next June) and will be taking a finance class from my university’s business school in the spring. Other than that I can’t think of any way I could help my app.

Do you think I should I try applying next year (which would mean studying for the GRE) or forget the idea and start as an equity analyst? Have any of you heard of someone with my career path?

Thanks!
 
Four suggests come to mind right now:

1) Try to get a job in finance that interests you, whether it be quant work or as an analyst

2) It is not unheard of for a PhD student to do a masters while researching. This way you could pursue a MSF, MFE, or masters in applied math while finishing up your PhD. But I wouldn't consider this an easy or low stress option.

3) You could try going straight into a masters program once you finish. (Any possibility of taking a few math courses before you finish PhD?)

4) Get any job and work while building your application.

Since you suggested becoming an equity analyst, I think you should think more about exactly what you want to do because you can work in finance without being a quant.
 

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