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"MFE program profile evaluation" master thread

Hi everyone, after reading all the posts here, I decided to post my profile for evaluation if possible :). Thanks in advance for any reply.

Education:
GPA: 86%/100%, except a B and a C, all A/A+
GRE: V650+Q800, AW:3.0
Degree: Combined Honors Computer science and Statistics,University of British Columbia, Canada
Dean's list for first year

Relevant Course:
Stat: stochastic process, time series, prob theory
CS: C++, C, Java, relational database
MATH: matlab, R, linear algebra, mathematical proof, cal
Econ:micro + macro Econ
Finance: corporate finance
Society of Actuary Exam: Exam P, Exam FM + VEE credit for Economics + Stat+ Corporate Finance

Work experience:
1. 8 months intern at HSBC, Canada Position: Associate Business Analyst (doing testing and managing testing side for a project)
2. 8 months intern at Nokia. Canada Position: Error Management (doing testing and VBA programming for reports)

Planning to apply to:
CMU, NYU poly, Columbia, Cornell, UCB, Stanford, UT (Canada)

Does anyone my chances of getting into those programs?
 
grcheng said:
Planning to apply to:
CMU, NYU poly, Columbia, Cornell, UCB, Stanford, UT (Canada)

Does anyone my chances of getting into those programs?
Click to expand...
That is a rather curious choice. Do you mean NYU Courant MSFM program?
Given the math courses listed, they look rather weak. Your AWA is a downer as well.
Corp finance and econ will help very little. Since you are a CS/Stats major, you should play up your math/programming skills.
 
Just got my GRE AWA score today, really appreciate any comments :):

GRE: 450V, 800Q, 4.0 AWA
Degree: Actuarial Science + Mathematics
GPA 3.9/4, Math GPA 4.0/4

SOA Exams: Exam P, FM, MFE, MLC, C & all VEEs.
Programming: MATLAB, VBA & C++

Work exp: Summer internship at an investment bank Asia office.

Other stuff: Published 5 quant finance article over the last two years.
 
Viviktesh said:
Need a Profile Evaluation and Advice on MFE programs

GRE 1350 (Q-800,V-550,AWA 3.0)
BE Computer Science From University of Mumbai
1st 6 semester Average @ 68% - Rough Approximation 3.3 to 3.6 GPA converted
TOEFL yet to be taken

Attended Summer School @ London School of Economics for a Course In
Futures Options and other derivatives - Hence Well versed with Stochastic Calculus and financial Models like BS etc. Scored B+ ranked 14 in class of 136

I have mixed Grades in Maths ranging from A to C in 4 Semester of Applied Maths I have taken in Engineering

Won a National Level IEEE Technical Paper Presentation Contest for a paper which was an improvement to my Profs paper in his PhD(rel to comp sci) thesis , involved heavy C++ Coding - So Programming is not really a problem

Very Well versed with C++,Java,Oracle(SQL),matlab

I have No Work Exp.

Can Some One Please Evaulate My profile For
Columbia , CMU , Stanford , Cornell , NYU abd other Universities

Would you advice to go for Work Ex -or does it makes sense to Complete your Education once and for all ?!
Click to expand...
try top 10..u l get....
 
Andy Nguyen said:
That is a rather curious choice. Do you mean NYU Courant MSFM program?
Given the math courses listed, they look rather weak. Your AWA is a downer as well.
Corp finance and econ will help very little. Since you are a CS/Stats major, you should play up your math/programming skills.
Click to expand...

Hi Andy, thanks for your comment.
Why will you think that the math courses listed are weak? Do you mean I haven't taken enough math courses to fulfill MFE requirements? What other math courses will you suggest to take?
Maybe I didn't list it fully, it's integral cal, differential cal, cal 3, matrix algebra, linear algebra, mathmetical proof, Stochastic Processe, ral variables. All A+ grade.
Ya I admit my AW is weak...do you suggest retake it?
 
Undergrad: Econ good-not-great state school. 3.0 gpa. I know this is bad.
Masters: Econ, good-not-great state school. 3.9+ gpa.
Stats: two semesters graduate econometrics. A- in both

Math: calc sequence, LA, ODE, intro proofs, probability theory, numerical analysis I. A in all.
Taking pde and intro to real analysis I this fall.

computer skills: limited here. I am familiar with MATLAB and some statistical packages (SAS, Stata).
relevant work experience: none.

GRE: 800Q/790V/5.0 AWA.

I know my profile has weaknesses, but my naive hope would be that a school appreciates my GRE score and good grades in grad school and math courses and gives me a chance.

Honest remarks on realistic places to apply and chances for admission are sincerely appreciated. Thanks.
 
Would appreciate some help and advice to evaluate my profile for MFE 2012

GRE: Q:800, V:700, AWA:4.5
Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics from Mumbai University(currently in final year)
Aggregate % till 6th semester :72.5% (toppers grade-80%)

Familiar with C++, Matlab
Fulfill maths prerequisites required by most universities.
No academic background in finance but familiar with markets and financial jargon and a keen interest in finance.
No related work experience.
Going to present papers in October (but related to antennas)
Conducted various events at college technical festivals.

Is my profile good enough to get into a good MFE program?
If not how can I enhance my profile?
Also what kind of work experience would be relevant to the field?
 
GRE: 450V, 800Q, 4.0 AWA
Degree: Actuarial Science + Mathematics
GPA 3.9/4, Math GPA 4.0/4

SOA Exams: Exam P, FM, MFE, MLC, C & all VEEs.
Programming: MATLAB, VBA & C++

Work exp: Summer internship at an investment bank Asia office.
Click to expand...

Andy Nguyen said:
Next step, read as much as you can here and do some good research on a few programs that you may be interested in. Put your research skill to good use.
Click to expand...

Thanks Andy. I would apply to Baruch, Columbia, Cornell, CMU, MIT, NYU, UCB. Would you rate my chance as "don't be silly" or "50-50"?

Thanks again :)
 
yes ankit...but i would suggest some work ex...coz evn i am sailing in the same boat as you
 
Hi guys,

I am new here and I wanted to apply for MFE programs.So could you please let me know about my chances where do i stand. Thanks in advance for your comments

I have B.Tech in Electrical Engineering'09 ( which is basically Electronics over here) from Indian Institute of Technology , Delhi ( which usually ranked first or second). I have a GPA of 7.51/10. At IIT I have done courses on Maths( Prob , Set theory) and in Economics too.

I have 2 years of work experience and currently I am working as a Quant Developer at RBS , earlier I used to work as a software developer (consultant) for US based Hedge Fund. So I have a pretty much comfortable in coding now. I have +2 years of work experience in C#, C++;

I have given GRE with a score of 800(Quant) + 490(Verbal) and (3.0)AWA .

I have cleared CFA level 1 in june and have done some modules with NCFM( Certification courses by National Stock Exchange).

So what do you think about my chances as I wanted to apply Baruch, Columbia, Cornell .

Thanks a lot.
 
ime said:
Thanks Andy. I would apply to Baruch, Columbia, Cornell, CMU, MIT, NYU, UCB. Would you rate my chance as "don't be silly" or "50-50"?

Thanks again :)
Click to expand...

I actually was an actuarial science major before I was accepted to baruch MFE and you seem to have a much stronger profile than I did. For MFE, you need to know some stochastic calculus so I am guessing you know at least a little and also you need a lot of poisson processes for MLC and a lot of math of stat for C I believe. I think that you will have a strong probability background based on this alone. I would say you are a strong candidate if you have strong linear algebra skills and programming skills and higher than 50% acceptance rate if what I assumed is correct.
 
Apologies, I posted a thread before called "Economics Undergrad and Math Finance Programs" I believe this thread is more appropriate to post this in. Can someone tell me how to delete threads I create? Thank you.
Hi everyone,

It has been a while since I posted here. After reading through a variety of posts I wanted your guys' opinion on whether I should apply to Math Finance/ Financial Engineering programs or stand a better change at applying to less quantitative programs (ie MBA).

I graduated in May 2011 with a degree in Economics and a minor in Mathematics. My cumulative GPA was 3.34 and my major GPA was 3.62. I graduated with Honors in Economics where my Honors Thesis was titled "Higher Order Risk Premia for Returns and Their Volatility". It was a mathematical finance paper where I conducted an analysis in the risk neutral measure using S&P 500 Index options. Essentially, I used the Gamma Vanna Volga cost framework for constructing implied volatility curves (Deutsche Bank) to extract the risk neutral movement in squared returns, risk neutral movement in squared volatility, and risk neutral covariance between returns and volatility from the implied volatility surface. The whole point of this being to calculate the risk neutral correlation between returns and volatility and compare that to the actual correlation between returns and volatility for a specified time period. The purpose was to prove or disprove the conjecture that risk neutral correlation would always be above actual correlation, asserting that the correlation between returns and volatility is an insurance asset. My paper disproved this conjecture and showed that this risk neutral measure can actually be below actual, making it an investment asset. I used MATLAB to run a nonlinear regression to obtain the risk neutral estimates with a positive definite relation. I worked with Dr. Dilip Madan on this research. There is a bit more to this paper of course, but that is the basic idea. It was a two semester project.

Also, I am currently working at an investment consulting firm and am registered to take CFA level 1 in June 2012. I plan to complete the third exam by June 2014. I scored a 740 on the quant section of the GRE and a 590 on the verbal. In terms of the mathematics, I took calculus 1-3, real analysis, ODE and PDE, linear algebra (2 classes), probability theory, and applied statistics. I also think my three courses in econometrics and financial background helps. Please let me know your opinions and if the thesis and CFA helps for admission. I'm just looking for feedback as to what programs I stand a chance in. Many thanks for your responses.​
 
AndrewChang said:
I actually was an actuarial science major before I was accepted to baruch MFE
Click to expand...

I'm from an actuarial background as well!

My profile:
Institute of Actuaries of India exams : CT1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9. Topped CT1 (Financial Mathematics), and passed the rest of the papers in first attempt (within two years). I will be appearing for CT5, ST5 and ST6 in May 2012.

Masters: Actuarial Economics (perfect GPA in all math/stat related papers).
Bachelors: Commerce (pretty average grades)
Other: Completed three levels of the Chartered Market Technician program from the MTA.

Programming: Proficient with MATLAB, ok with SAS. Nil knowledge in C++

Work Experience: Just joined my first job in statistical model development at Ford's global analytics department in India, three months back (I did have a couple of trading offers but had to stay in my hometown for some personal reasons).

As part of the CT8 syllabus (CT8 is equivalent to MFE of the SOA I think), I've been exposed to stochastic calculus, Girsonov's theorum, Black-Scholes derivation, a few basic interest rate and credit risk models. I've also gone a bit out of the way to gain (what I would consider) a decent amount of knowledge on trading systems, possessing hands-on (but no professional) experience in system designing. optimization and backtesting.

I don't have a GRE score yet, but assuming I fight tooth and nail to get that 800 in quants, how are my chances of getting into a good MFE program?

I will be applying for the class of 2013.
 
Hi everyone,

I need to get my profile evaluated:

GRE: 1370 (Q-800, V-570) AWA: 3
GRE Math: Taking on Nov.12th
TOEFL: Result awaited
GPA: 6.68/10 in Electrical Engineering from NIT Tiruchirapalli (10th position in Times , QS and Nielsen Rankings)
GPA Math: 3.8/4 (As I got an 3 A's and 1 B)

Programming Skills:

Mastered MATLAB during a lab work for a whole semester.
Other programming skills include C++ Java

Others:

Secured All India Rank 74 in National Physics Olympiad in 2007
Completed a 4 week intern at BHEL, Hyderabad on modelling of generators and electrical machines during summer 2010.
I have got a strong recommenders ( my mathematics professors) and a strong quant ability.

Will my undergraduate college's reputation play weight during acceptance? I'm posting this question because many people get much better GPA's from low reputed colleges and if students from IIT's and NIT's are treated on par with them, then its highly impossible for us to study at a good university abroad. Their course content is comparitively easier and pattern of examination contains a lot of loop-holes which helps them to score better.

I'm thinking of applying to :

1) University of Michigan, An Arbor
2) University of Texas, Austin
3) Erasmus University, Rotterdam
4) ETH Zurich
5) University of Waterloo, Ontario
6) National University of Singapore
7) Nanyang Technological University
8) Kent State University

What are the chances of getting an admission into one of the above?
Also, suggest me some good ones.

Thanks
 
I am looking for some advice. I want to apply to the top MFE schools as well as the M.Fin programs at Princeton and MIT, but I'd at least like to have an idea of what sort of chances I have. If it is going to be a long shot, I want to know up front so that I can play up other parts of my personality and life. I am about to start my senior year of college and I would like to know where I am at. Here are my stats:

I am taking the GRE in a couple of days which I know will affect things, but just assume I do well. I usually do well on standardized tests, i.e. SAT, ACT.

Undergrad double major in Math and Finance from non-target state school. So far I have a 4.0 and should finish my senior year with a 4.0 overall and (obviously) in both majors.

Math courses:
Calc 1-4, Differential Equations, Fundamentals of Mathematics (How to write proofs, basic number theory, basically just how to think and read in math terms), Linear Algebra 1 and 2, Discrete Mathematics, Abstract Algebra, Real Analysis, Theory of Statistics and Probability 1 and 2 (Calc based probability and statistics as well as more theoretical stuff)

Finance courses:
Corporate Finance 1 and 2, Bank Management, Investments, (Money Markets, Capital Markets, and Financial Institutions), Portfolio Risk Management, International Finance, Advanced Financial Management

I've also taken an intro level programming course and done some personal programming projects. I'm not especially skilled in any particular programming language but I generally understand how the programming languages work and could quickly learn.

I have quite a few extracurricular activities. I am the vice president of the Financial Management Association as well as the co founder of our schools investment club. We are working on starting a fund managed by students at our school. We are attending two or three investment conferences throughout this next school year. I am also treasurer of the Math Club. I am also Vice President of Pi Mu Epsilon math honor society. I am also in the Golden Key Honor Society. I have also maintained a job throughout my undergraduate college experience without letting it keep my 4.0. I am also joining my school's triathlon team this year.

I don't really have much relevant work experience. I have had a job since I was 16, but little if any of it was related to Finance directly.

Some other interesting classes I have taken are Environmental Economics, Acoustics (Physics of Sound), and Cultural Geography.

Some other personal info: I am from America and English is my first language. I speak a little Spanish. I am well read and well spoken. Most people find me rather charming and I'm not too bad on the eyes either! (Haha, I know that probably has little to do with it) I interview very well and have no problem talking to people about most any subject, though I will admit when I am not well versed on a subject. In my spare time, I cycle and do triathlons. I mention this because I think it shows dedication and willingness to work hard. Triathlons are not for the lazy lol.

My rankings for schools I am going to apply to are as follows:
1. MIT/Princeton
2. Columbia/NYU
3. Rutgers/Cornell
4. Vanderbilt

By the way, I am not trying to say these programs are the same, I just feel equally excited about them.

So, what do you guys think? I'm applying either way; I just want to know what my chances are. Thanks so much!
 
Hi everyone,

I am a 4th year undergraduate from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee planning to apply for Fall '12. My major is Biotechnology( which here is basically Biochemical Engineering & has several quantitative courses).

My GPA is 9.1/10 and I will be taking the GRE in October.

So far I have taken the following relevant courses:

Math-Math-1,2 and Advanced Engineering Math (They cover Advanced Calculus, Linear Algebra,Complex Analysis,ODEs &PDEs ),
Probability and Statistics, Numerical Methods, Financial Mathematics(around 15 chapters of Hull)

Additionally I would be taking Control Systems, and advanced courses on numerical analysis and PDEs in the next semester (Spring2012).

CS-Fundamentals of OOP(Java)[I took this as the introductory course as I had C++ in school],Data Structures(C++)
Design and Analysis of Algorithm,Artificial Neural Networks

I would taking up Databases for the next semester.

Fin&Eco -Principles of Management, Economics ,Banking and Bank Finance.

I also have a certification in Equity Derivatives from NSE

I did my summer internship at the Maths Department in the University of Alberta wherein I studied the nonlinear dynamics of a stem cell model to observe what is know as the 'Allee Effect' in tumor growth.This was heavily mathematical.
Additionally I have done projects which involved heavy use of statistics(Multivariate Techniques) and Neural Nets.

I am planning to apply to the following universities for MFE :CMU ,Columbia,Cornell and EPFL.

How would you rate my chances?
Any suggestions for profile improvement are highly welcome. Thanks a lot in advance.
 
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