"MFE program profile evaluation" master thread

[Yuriy]

hi guys,

thanks for the repsonse.....

so can ur argument be extended to a comparison of different branches from the same country....
what i mean is if the adcom view the CGPA of two different countries differently do they consider the relative difficulty of the two different branches from the same country........

so how are CGPA's compared when comparing different branches.........???

thx...

I honestly have no idea

An application is considered as a whole and they will evaluate you based on whether they think you can succeed in the MFE program. And how you get evaluated is unknown to us.

 

[amsh]

Hi Yuriv,

Yes, i understand that it must be impossible for anybody to tell how exactly the adcom select candidates...
my question was just out of curiosity.....as alain mentioned even in my dept. we used to have professors who made it a point that the bottom 30% should be failed in the course..... they used to employ what was called by us as "Binary Marking", u either get a 0 or full marks depending only on the final answer...no credits were given to the approach......
so it did make our branch tougher compared to others.......

thx,

 

[Andy Nguyen]

so it did make our branch tougher compared to others.......

if that's the trademark of your branch, I'm sure the adcom would know and take that into account. Getting an A at MIT Engineering Dept would not be the same as at John Smith Community College. Also, it's not unheard of that some Ivy inflate their student's grades.

There are so many factors involved in the GPA evaluation and most of them are out of your control, just apply and have faith in the adcom. They have done this long enough and I believe they have lot of experiences dealing this GPA issue.

 

[amsh]

hi andy,

got ur point....well i might be dragging this on.....
but just want to clarify one more thing......so its obvious that two different univs will be compared differently....but what about two similar branches from same univs.....

lets say a CGPA of 3.0/4.0 in Elec. Engg. from MIT and a CGPA of 3.8/4.0 in Civil Engg. from MIT..... which do you think is better from the admissions view (rest of all factors being almost same)......or maybe only the adcom can tell that........

thx,

 

[alain]

lets say a CGPA of 3.0/4.0 in Elec. Engg. from MIT and a CGPA of 3.8/4.0 in Civil Engg. from MIT..... which do you think is better from the admissions view (rest of all factors being almost same)......or maybe only the adcom can tell that........

thx,

I'm sure you are from India when you make that comparison. In US, if you graduated from MIT it really doesn't matter if it was EE or CE or CS. The degree is from MIT. People in US decide to study an specialty based on what they like to study. Hence, a 3.8 GPA is probably better than a 3.0 GPA coming from MIT.

I have a lot of friends from India. People really smart that went to IIT in the 80s and beginning of the 90s. People that ranked in the first 100, first 300 and first 500 in that IIT test that I'm sure you know perfectly. They explained to me that in India the smart kids (based on whatever test ranking they used) go to CS first, then EE, etc. So your major in college usually speaks about your ranking position in India. Here, it doesn't make too much sense.

 

[amsh]

hi alain,

ya im from india and from IIT....unfortunately what you said is true...
and thats why i was asking about the comparison......hope the adcom gives some preference to the branch......

thx

 

[dstefan]

hi alain,

ya im from india and from IIT....unfortunately what you said is true...
and thats why i was asking about the comparison......hope the adcom gives some preference to the branch......

thx

At least at Baruch, the Admissions Committee is very familiar with the Indian education system, and with the IIT system, in particular. You only need to worry about your performance in school, not whether it will be properly interpreted.

 

[rockefeller]

Have you ever had MFE-applicants from Sweden? A comparision between our grades and the american GPA-score is difficult. The university where I study uses the grades of U (not qualified), G (qualified, 50-60% score on the examination) and VG (well qualified, 80-90% score on the examination).

 

[Vic_Siqiao]

i think every foreign student's rivals are applicants from their own country, cos nobody is able to evaluate applicants under different GPA systems.

 

[Yuriy]

Have you ever had MFE-applicants from Sweden? A comparision between our grades and the american GPA-score is difficult. The university where I study uses the grades of U (not qualified), G (qualified, 50-60% score on the examination) and VG (well qualified, 80-90% score on the examination).

Where are you from, anyway? Sweden?

 

[amsh]

Hi All,

Thanks a lot for your feedback....it does clear up a few things.....
wow the adcom have a tough job on their hands.....

Hope to c ya all

thx,

 

[ramnik]

I'm sure you are from India when you make that comparison. In US, if you graduated from MIT it really doesn't matter if it was EE or CE or CS. The degree is from MIT. People in US decide to study an specialty based on what they like to study. Hence, a 3.8 GPA is probably better than a 3.0 GPA coming from MIT.

I have a lot of friends from India. People really smart that went to IIT in the 80s and beginning of the 90s. People that ranked in the first 100, first 300 and first 500 in that IIT test that I'm sure you know perfectly. They explained to me that in India the smart kids (based on whatever test ranking they used) go to CS first, then EE, etc. So your major in college usually speaks about your ranking position in India. Here, it doesn't make too much sense.

Insider Information:D
Alain, thats probably true some 'n' years back(n>5) but the trend is changing very rapidly. Though I'm not saying that the "hierarchy" doesn't exist(amongst departments that is), but the system is not as simple as you mentioned. A sizeable amount change their branches in order to study what they like
[Aside and unimportant: Me being one amongst the sizeable number.... and so I'm generally offended when people hint that iitians do not choose their specialization]

 

[alain]

Insider Information:D
Alain, thats probably true some 'n' years back(n>5) but the trend is changing very rapidly. Though I'm not saying that the "hierarchy" doesn't exist(amongst departments that is), but the system is not as simple as you mentioned. A sizeable amount change their branches in order to study what they like
[Aside and unimportant: Me being one amongst the sizeable number.... and so I'm generally offended when people hint that iitians do not choose their specialization]

I got it. My friends graduated in 89 and in 91 I think. That explains it. I was trying to make a point the the previous post that asked about differences between EE and CE. In US, there is no difference.

 

[dstefan]

Have you ever had MFE-applicants from Sweden? A comparision between our grades and the american GPA-score is difficult. The university where I study uses the grades of U (not qualified), G (qualified, 50-60% score on the examination) and VG (well qualified, 80-90% score on the examination).

I do not recall any applicants who did their undergraduate studies in Sweden. However, we have colleagues who know the Swedish educational system well, and will help in evaluating the academic background.

 

[naeron]

Hi Amsh,
I am aware of the fact that at IIT madras the electrical department is fairly tough so your CGPA is not that bad. My friends who graduated from IIT M still bleed from the blows. You have already done the basic courses in Math that is needed in Finance except for Stochastic Calculus. I suggest you to apply to Baruch asap.

 

[amsh]

Hi naeron,

Thanks for the encouragement.....ya im surely going to apply to Baruch.......

thx,

 

[rajeevkasat]

Is work ex necessary for doing an MFE?

Plz help me.. My brother has got 1510 in GRE but has no work ex..

Canhe get admission to a good MFE or MSF college?

 

[Dmytro]

Plz help me.. My brother has got 1510 in GRE but has no work ex..

Canhe get admission to a good MFE or MSF college?

work experience is helpful in understanding the program's material and may help your chances, but it is NOT a prerequisite for getting admitted.

 

[mattown]

What does it take? (Warning Very Long)

Before you make any assumptions I'd like to say that this post is not another one of those 'what are my chances? *sob*" posts, so please don't jump to conclusions until you have read everything.

I'm posting because I want to know what it is going to take to get to the top and by top I mean trading on wall street. I want to hear your comments regarding what I have to do to achieve this given my present situation. I don't want to know what my chances are, unless of course I'm dreaming, I just want to know what I can do to get there. There seems to be a lot of wise folks on here so please, humble me, be my critic.

I also want to know if a MFE will help me along the way.

My story:

I'm 23 and I've recently graduated from a hard discipline from a top international school. I'm pretty smart, enough so that academics have come really easy to me and I developed very poor study habits which carried throughout university. Perhaps it was justified somewhat in university as I was running two businesses and had a radio show but, excuses are excuses. I know many might laugh here but I never really knew why I was going to university in the first place. Astrophysics interested me and I was good at math, so I didn't need to study very hard to at least get a 3.0. That is the honest reason why I chose it, that and chicks dig it and I got to discover planets. In fact my transcript reads BBBBABBAABBBCBBC.... It wasn't until my last year of university that I really started to change. I was employed with a Geophysics mineral exploration firm during my last year and an event occurred which changed me life, I nearly died on the job.

I quit the next day, horrified. I was depressed for awhile and it really changed the way I view things. I grew up. It made me realize my errors, my pathetic work ethic. I had taken a lot for granted. I know my slacker mentality probably pisses a lot of people off and I'm not proud of it at all, so don't remind me.

So for the last year I've been very confused but gainfully employed as a business research analyst for a medical device business intelligence company in Canada. I've published a lot of material for the company and I've had a few consulting gigs with top players e.g. JnJ, Abbott, etc. The experience was excellent but what really made it interesting was the head analyst of the firm. He had a CFA and he introduced to the world of finance and to be honest, when I discovered it, I finally felt like my life had direction. You may think I'm insane but I have a real enact for it and I want to get in on the action, I literally wake up getting excited about where the market will be each day. This is my passion, some people find it when they are 16, some figure it out when they are 30, for me, 23.

I've since educated myself on the financial markets extensively and I've made a lot of money (% wise) position trading in the last 6 months, enough that I've got a small fund going with friends. My job as a research analyst was interesting, but very demanding and it paid very little so I quit a month ago to move to the United States and get my career in finance going. I've been lucky to obtain a green card through my father who has recently married an American.

I'm currently seeking a job and I figure with my skills the greatest possibility to be hired would be in equity research studying medical devices but I feel with my math skills I should get into trading. Besides, it is what really excites me way more anyways, but I realize I may need to settle in the short run but I eventually want to land in prop quant trading. I think it is the future.

So what can I do to prepare myself? Is a MFE an option at this point? Later on? Any strategies? Any strategies getting into prop trading at this point? I realize trading is a selfish game and no one is going to teach me how to do it, but is a MFE a good base to operate on? Could I learn the same material without the degree? I've come up with some mathematical trading models and strategies but I'm unsure if they have been implemented before. I need to be in the biz to figure this out dammit >_<

Any input would be awesome. I just want to know what I have to do to put my foot in the door besides networking. I've been thinking of taking the open enrollment pre MFE courses at Berkeley to prove I can get high marks to improve my odds at a top school (I assume I'm going to need them)

So here are my stats in summary

Age: 23

Academic stats

• Education: B.Sc. Astrophysics, University of British Columbia, GPA 3.25
• UBC rank: 27th in world 'Newsweek
• Slacker in University: Hell yes, but at least I was running businesses
• Slacker now: No, driven as hell
• Haven't taken any Standardized tests yet

Work/Various Stats:

• Research Analyst: 1 year, Medical devices + consulting work with fortune 500's
• Published 1300 pages, 750 models
• Geophysicist: 1 year
• Music DJ/FM Radio host: 2 years
• Self Employed: 2.5 years (Piano teaching business and a pressure washing business)
• Managing a small 10 K fund
• Toured with a Symphony before 18

 

[mattown]

I should probably add I've done some basic programming as well

Pthyon, Java, C++, VB

I'm rusty but I understand comp sci no problem, I can't imagine it would be too too difficult in trading anyways.