MIT MFin MIT MFin Admission Discussion

[Andy Nguyen]

Shubhankit Mohan, charlesc
Have you guys added the timelines in the Tracker yet?

My experience is that if the interviews are conducted by business school admission staff, it is not technical and mostly why this program, future goal, etc.

Best of luck guys.

 

[Wowbagger]

Okay, I think my interview experience can help you guys. I got an R1 admit.

My interview was conducted by Ms. Julie Strong. She's the director of admissions at MIT Sloan. The interview was more of a conversation, and we discussed a varied set of topics, ranging from the proposed expansion of the MFin program to the recent darling of MIT Sloan - the E62 building. I think the following questions will help you prepare more for your interview:

1. Explain your career path/Tell me about yourself/Walk me through your CV.
2. What are your goals? How does MIT Sloan fit into them?
3. Tell me about one of your recent achievements.
4. Tell me about the time you did something for your community. (My application had a couple of instances).
5. Tell me about the leadership positions you have worked in.
6. Which geographies do you see yourself working in?
7. Any questions for me?

As I mentioned, it's a very relaxed and non-technical take on your application. Just prepare your soft questions well and be cool. You'll make it. All the best!

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Thanks Wowbagger
I have added this list of interview questions to [wiki]mit-mfin[/wiki]. please fee free to contribute to that wiki so that current and future applicants can both benefit.

 

[darth]

Just crossed my mind : Is it ethical for a candidate to release his interview questions as some interviews require the candidate not to divulge any details of the interview.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I talk to a lot of program admission people and they pretty much see this as normal and expected. They are more concerned if applicants do not talk about their programs online. This is just a business and the more people talk about your product, the better.

 

[darth]

ohh...k .. I thought they will have to come up with new questions for every candidate if the questions are being circulated... But I agree that questions are standard and hence it should not matter.

 

[AV-Wolverine]

Is it only Round 1 applicants who've received interview calls so far?

 

[Priyank Pandey]

Hi there,

I applied to round 1 for MIT Mfin and was rejected and was quite surprised. I was sure I would have received at least an interview/wait list because:

GMAT score : 740 - 50 Q (didnt do AWA)
UGPA - 3.7, Major GPA in Finance and Info Systems - 3.9
I had excellent LORs - 1 from my previous manager, 1 from the undergrad assoc dean of college (who knew me quite well), and 1 from my landlord who also knows me well and is a senior Private Wealth Manager at MS.
2 years consulting work experience in Risk, IT, and Management at Accenture (top IT/ Management consulting firm) - including promotion during my first performance year.
US Perm Resident, (Boston Resident)

anyway, after rejection i am trying to figure out what to work on for next year. There are a few reasons why i would have gotten rejected and I wanted to get your opinions on what is most important.
1. I have yet to complete Linear Algebra and Stats with Calc course (althot they are both 50% complete and both would have been completed prior to start of program)
2. do the AWA in GMAT/GRE
3. Remove the LOR from my landlord as it is too personal and get another one from a different manager

Note that i did not even receive an interview therefore i figure there must have been a big deal breaker. What do you think it was, based on the info I have provided? Anything else i can provide that may shed more light?

Thanks.

 

[aaronhotchner]

My money is on the AWA, answers to essays, or an underwhelming math background overall.

 

[aaronhotchner]

This is round 2. All round 1 decisions are already out. Round 3 applicants are unlikely to be contacted yet.

 

[MRoss]

Programming experience? 2-3 semesters of Calculus?

Also, as a nice tip: Next time instead of a letter from your landlord try to find a contact in MIT to write a letter from you. Name recognition is a game changer.

 

[Swayum]

I can't figure out how many, if any, more round 2 invites are coming. Why would they have sent some last Fri/Sat and not others by Tuesday today? I'm leaning more towards a rejection now.

 

[jsforjack]

I can't figure out how many, if any, more round 2 invites are coming. Why would they have sent some last Fri/Sat and not others by Tuesday today? I'm leaning more towards a rejection now.

Yah thats what I concluded.

 

[Priyank Pandey]

Programming experience? 2-3 semesters of Calculus?

Also, as a nice tip: Next time instead of a letter from your landlord try to find a contact in MIT to write a letter from you. Name recognition is a game changer.

Ya programming I have covered - 2 semesters in college + some at work. Doubt that was it. Calculus also covered - up to diff eq.

I realized too late that the LOR from landlord probably will not hold as much water. I thought about it the wrong way - Senior manager at private banking from MS - I thought would be nice. He did highlight some of my financial knowledge. Oh well.

I guess my next question is I am considering applying to CMU, Baruch, a few others. But I will have similar short comings. At best i can get a diff LOR, but seeing as how i will not have completed my pre-req math, it will probably look bad. Would applying this year, and getting a rejection, look bad if i reapply next year? Would it be better to just wait until i get all my credentials in order (Also taking CFA level 2 in summer, pretty confident i will pass that)? I know many firms actually get a bad impression of you if you apply and get rejected. Does this also hold true for grad schools?

Personally, I am not really in RUSH for a quant job - I have a good consulting gig at Accenture and all. I would PREFER to start a quant career sooner than later and that is why I would apply just to test the waters - but if a rejection means lower chances of entering next year I would wait.

What are your thoughts?

 

[AV-Wolverine]

I'm curious. How/why didn't you do the AWA section in the GMAT? Is it ever acceptable to skip a section or leave it blank?

 

[purplyboy]

They probably viewed missing AWA as an incomplete application.

 

[charlesc]

Ask them directly... i tend to agree with the conjecture that they simply considered your application incomplete.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I'm curious. How/why didn't you do the AWA section in the GMAT? Is it ever acceptable to skip a section or leave it blank?

Not familiar with GMAT, I didn't know if you can skip a section on the test. How would they report the score then? If the test was not completed, they probably won't report it to schools?
EDIT: I google a bit and according to this beatthegmat blog, you will get a 0 on the report if you skip the AWA section.

 

[Priyank Pandey]

I'm curious. How/why didn't you do the AWA section in the GMAT? Is it ever acceptable to skip a section or leave it blank?

I took the GMAT in college on a whim once and got a 6 on the AWA and 49 on the Q, but my verbal was pretty bad (I forget what but i ended up with a 650 overall). So i retook it and assumed that they would just use the best scores from both tests (sidenote: got 99 percentile on the verbal 2nd time around and didnt study... English is not my 1st language and sometimes I really get screwed cus of that). the GMAT section says the AWA is optional and you may skip (at least it used to when I took it couple of years ago).

I also think the AWA was the really critical missing peice.

I did ask directly but unfortunately got the standard "we do not do post decision interviews" response. This was actually quite a turn off for me because it was clear the person i was corresponding with, whom I had actually met in person and talked via email on multiple occasions, did not even bother to read my email. Oh well.

 

[Swayum]

Looks like another wave of interviews, no news here. I have a better GPA + GRE + work experience than some people on the tracker and yet nothing! So depressed.