Need Help Gauging Application Standing

[VishalVerma]

Hello,
I am confused on where I really stand in terms of competitiveness for the top MFE programs (UCB, CMU, Columbia, Baruch, Chicago, etc.), especially my top choice of UC Berkeley. I graduated this year with BS Physics from UCSB with a major gpa of 3.6, cumulative 3.53. I was originally planning on pursuing a PhD in physics, so I have also taken 13 graduate theoretical physics courses with a graduate gpa of 3.88 (all done during undergrad), including ones like quantum field theory, general relativity, gauge theories, etc. I have pretty much all the math requirements you can think of, have taken python classes, have done UCB approved C++ courses on CourseEra, options pricing via math models on CourseEra, and plan on taking a few finance courses on Coursera as well. I do not have any work experience in finance or tech; all of my academic experience was in physics research in which I did use python for some projects. I am worried because of my lower GPA compared to a lot of other applicants, and I want to do anything during this time to improve my chances. Thank you so much for your help! My lower GPA stems mostly from first 1.5 years of undergrad and has a strong upwards trends with pretty much just A's towards end.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

There are ways to overcome low GPA. This is a good example.

Thread 'From Low CGPA to My Dream School: Columbia MAFN, NYU MFE, and More'

3/24/25

Hello QuantNet Community,

I wanted to share my journey to getting accepted into Columbia's MAFN program, NYU's MFE, NCSU's Mathematical Finance, and Nanyang Business School's MFE in Singapore. I'm still waiting on decisions from Columbia's MFE and GaTech's QCF. My hope is that this post helps those who feel limited by a low CGPA but are passionate about breaking into the world of quantitative finance.

My Biggest Drawback

• Low CGPA: I had a CGPA of 2.98/4.00 in both my undergrad and grad studies.
• Poor Math Grades: I had a B- in Mathematics 3 and a...

• Leggoo MFE
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[MikeLawrence]

First, Berkeley should not be your first choice until they figure out their director and hiring office issues.

That said, Berkeley love @Daniel Duffy's courses at datasim. I took two (not fully finished, sorry professor) and learned a lot.

Edit: Also, my GPA was only a bit better than yours. But Baruch is particularly meritocratic in admissions. I am not sure how Berkeley views GPA.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

First, Berkeley should not be your first choice until they figure out their director and hiring office issues.

That said, Berkeley love @Daniel Duffy's courses at datasim. I took two (not fully finished, sorry professor) and learned a lot.

Actually, Mike you did a whole lot of work in those courses! I was very pleased with the effort.

Normally, doing a critical subset of a course is enough for a certificate.

e.g ODE/PDE has parts A-H
for UCB, parts A,B,F,G for the certificate.