Need preparation advice for a MFE program

[decochw]

Dear all,

I have been out of school for almost 3 years and working as a software developer in an online financial advisor company in bay area. I did my undergrad in mathematics/applied sci at ucla with a focus on management and accounting. I also took and passed cfa level 1 last year, and am registered to sit for FRM part I for Nov 2011. My main concern is my gpa. My gpa is only 3.35, which is below the avg of my dream mfe schools-ucla/berkeley/columbia/mit/cornell. I realize from the FQA page of berkeley MFE that they also do look at the pre-course grades for evaluation. However, do I still have a chance to get into those schools? Can anyone please give me some preparation advices so that I can achieve my goal.

I appreciate your help. Thanks so much!

 

[rajanS]

ideally if you take the pre courses at berkley and do extremely well, i.e, get 93 and above, then it would override your lower gpa. you can also retake some classes that you scored poorly in and show them that you took the incentive to relearn the materials as part of the maturity process. take some higher level classes offered at berkley for instance and get an A...the best prep book would be the primer on mathematics of financial engineering by dan stefanica. it gives you enough review to cover what an aspiring quant is expected to know coming into an MFE program in terms of calculus and in a broad sense, Financial Engineering. There are already enough threads on this topic on quantnet. search and you shall find it. joy has an article on how he prepared. you could follow that article based on your strengths and weaknesses. I, for instance, am currently rereading the primer and studying probability at the moment.

 

[vuze]

Dear all,
My main concern is my gpa. My gpa is only 3.35, which is below the avg of my dream mfe schools-ucla/berkeley/columbia/mit/cornell. I realize from the FQA page of berkeley MFE that they also do look at the pre-course grades for evaluation. However, do I still have a chance to get into those schools?

My opinion. If the GPA is from a good university and you get excellent references you might be able to make it through. If not you can make it up with some additional courses/readings. Make sure to sound enthusiastic and leverage your profile with the work experience. Any published/unpublished quant research might also fit well.

 

[decochw]

ideally if you take the pre courses at berkley and do extremely well, i.e, get 93 and above, then it would override your lower gpa. you can also retake some classes that you scored poorly in and show them that you took the incentive to relearn the materials as part of the maturity process. take some higher level classes offered at berkley for instance and get an A...the best prep book would be the primer on mathematics of financial engineering by dan stefanica. it gives you enough review to cover what an aspiring quant is expected to know coming into an MFE program in terms of calculus and in a broad sense, Financial Engineering. There are already enough threads on this topic on quantnet. search and you shall find it. joy has an article on how he prepared. you could follow that article based on your strengths and weaknesses. I, for instance, am currently rereading the primer and studying probability at the moment.

Thanks so much for your advices. I will take their pre courses and work hard in them! I didn't do well in accounting, got an average of B-/B. What higher level classes would you suggest me taking? I bought the the mathematics for finance by dan stenfanica with solution, and am currently reading.

 

[decochw]

My opinion. If the GPA is from a good university and you get excellent references you might be able to make it through. If not you can make it up with some additional courses/readings. Make sure to sound enthusiastic and leverage your profile with the work experience. Any published/unpublished quant research might also fit well.

Thank you! Do you think 3.35 from ucla is acceptable? There are more competitive schools. I'll try to get a reference letter from the investment group, which i works with on a daily basis. What courses would you recommend me taking in order to make up for my low GPA?Thanks again!

 

[rajanS]

Thanks so much for your advices. I will take their pre courses and work hard in them! I didn't do well in accounting, got an average of B-/B. What higher level classes would you suggest me taking? I bought the the mathematics for finance by dan stenfanica with solution, and am currently reading.

i wouldnt' worry about accounting. it is very easy and you don't need to show your mettle with accounting. Try taking some higher level math classes like 'introduction to financial mathematics' which requires probability and calc 3 as prereqs, perhaps a course in numerical analysis. take atleast one semester of c++, preferably, 2. Take a class on stochastic processes (highly relevant). Monte Carlo Simulation techniques, and lastly, if you have time, ode/pde and real analysis. that should suffice. But if i would have to recommend 4, it would be, intro to fin math, stochastic processes, c++ and numerical analysis...

 

[decochw]

i wouldnt' worry about accounting. it is very easy and you don't need to show your mettle with accounting. Try taking some higher level math classes like 'introduction to financial mathematics' which requires probability and calc 3 as prereqs, perhaps a course in numerical analysis. take atleast one semester of c++, preferably, 2. Take a class on stochastic processes (highly relevant). Monte Carlo Simulation techniques, and lastly, if you have time, ode/pde and real analysis. that should suffice. But if i would have to recommend 4, it would be, intro to fin math, stochastic processes, c++ and numerical analysis...

Thanks for your reply! I took intro to financial mathematics.. unfortunately I got a B (did bad in final)-_-" I also took real analysis I/II A-/B-, numerical analysis I/II B+/B, PDE B+, C++ intro/Intermediate A-/B-. Algorithms A, Linear Algebra I (with proofs) A-

I use Java at work. I think I do need to brush up my C++ skills too!

Where would you suggest if i were to take stochastic processes and monte carlo simulation?

Thanks again!!!

 

[rajanS]

ok...your grades are pretty decent. where ever you got a B-, i would retake it again. Stochastic processes and monte carlo. perhaps ucla? i think your math preparation is good enough. if you dont feel like retaking them, take stochastic and monte carlo and make sure u Ace them. ciao and good luck.

 

[Devdeep]

@decochw

1) Take all the THREE pre-courses at Berkeley (Jan-Mar) and rock in all of those...

2) Given: Super-awesome GRE scores

3) If you (and your profs at UCLA) think that you are much better than your GPA... that should be explained in your Recommendation letters

4) Nobody talks about this: Write a great SOP... please do not write it in just one sitting... show your motivation... remember... you can't just say something good about yourself without showing proof behind it... for example... if you want to say you trade out of your own motivation... show them your paper trading a/c with Sharpe ratio... etc... if you say you are good at public speaking/communication... show them some award you have received in presentation/teaching/outreach...

5) You could also take (NOW) online C++ courses... I know Berkeley has one...

6) If possible, start talking to some profs at your target schools from NOW... and get their insight/suggestions/advice...

Good Luck!

 

[decochw]

ok...your grades are pretty decent. where ever you got a B-, i would retake it again. Stochastic processes and monte carlo. perhaps ucla? i think your math preparation is good enough. if you dont feel like retaking them, take stochastic and monte carlo and make sure u Ace them. ciao and good luck.

Thank you! I will try to find the online classes, as I am currently working in Palo Alto. I heard Stochastic processes is pretty challenging. I think I need to do some good review in Probability before taking it. Are you familiar with the subject yourself? I saw that you are interested in the subject. If so, do you know where should I start?

Thanks!
Dennis

 

[decochw]

@decochw

1) Take all the THREE pre-courses at Berkeley (Jan-Mar) and rock in all of those...

2) Given: Super-awesome GRE scores

3) If you (and your profs at UCLA) think that you are much better than your GPA... that should be explained in your Recommendation letters

4) Nobody talks about this: Write a great SOP... please do not write it in just one sitting... show your motivation... remember... you can't just say something good about yourself without showing proof behind it... for example... if you want to say you trade out of your own motivation... show them your paper trading a/c with Sharpe ratio... etc... if you say you are good at public speaking/communication... show them some award you have received in presentation/teaching/outreach...

5) You could also take (NOW) online C++ courses... I know Berkeley has one...

6) If possible, start talking to some profs at your target schools from NOW... and get their insight/suggestions/advice...

Good Luck!

I really appreciate your suggestions!! I will try my best to follow them.

I will do 1. in 2012.

For 2, I've been studying for gmat, as I feel the verbal part is easier.

3. I have gotten two recommendation letters, one from intro to operations research, where I got an A, and Numerical Analysis I where I got a B+. I hope I will still be able to reach them a year later as I realize they no longer teach at UCLA. I will try to get one more recommendation from the investment group in my company( from those who I work on a daily basis), or perhaps my software dev manager.

4. I will spend a decent amount of time on this one, and show my motivation and the steps I took to prepare for MFE and a career in financial engineer.

5. Thanks for letting me know!

6. Should I just send them an email? I'm afraid they will not have time to reply me

Lastly, congratulations on your admission to the MFE schools!

Thanks again!

 

[rajanS]

depends on how much you want to read. i have a book on probability models by sheldon ross, its very good book. but its too much of a read for a first time. A good stochastic process course uses a book by karlin and Taylor. They are considered a classic. Don't wait to take a stochastic process class online. Buy a book on elementary stochastic calculus by thomas mikosh or brownian motion calculus by ubo wierserma (i dont recall how to spell his name correctly). i have both these books and i can tell you, they are elementary, but excellent for preparation prior to taking a real stochastic calculus course...

 

[decochw]

depends on how much you want to read. i have a book on probability models by sheldon ross, its very good book. but its too much of a read for a first time. A good stochastic process course uses a book by karlin and Taylor. They are considered a classic. Don't wait to take a stochastic process class online. Buy a book on elementary stochastic calculus by thomas mikosh or brownian motion calculus by ubo wierserma (i dont recall how to spell his name correctly). i have both these books and i can tell you, they are elementary, but excellent for preparation prior to taking a real stochastic calculus course...

Cool... I will start with elementary stochastic calculus. It's good that I have a year or two to build up my math skills. I hope my "early start" will prepare me well for the pre-program courses, too. I like sheldon ross' writing style. We used intro to probability in Probability. Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[vuze]

Somewhere in the applications there was a line saying that if a candidate has been out of academia for more than a couple of years he would have to demonstrate that he maintains his knowledge in the relevant academic subjects. I believe the above posts give an answer to what courses to take. Plus you'll get a chance to obtain better grades.

My opinion is that you must take the GRE instead of the GMAT (@rajanS, @Devdeep What do you think about that?). The verbal is rough but doable.

 

[Devdeep]

My opinion is that you must take the GRE instead of the GMAT (@rajanS, @Devdeep What do you think about that?). The verbal is rough but doable.

I think @vuze has got a point. In fact... most schools do not accept GMAT... I know CMU accepts both GMAT and GRE... but many schools, NYU, Baruch, etc... do not... @decochw, you should check with all your target schools to make sure they do accept GMAT. Also... if you see some school saying... We prefer GRE but also accept GMAT... then maybe better to go for GRE... furthermore... your verbal score is not that important anyway... you just have to have a perfect score in the Q... that's the most important part...

 

[Devdeep]

3. I have gotten two recommendation letters, one from intro to operations research, where I got an A, and Numerical Analysis I where I got a B+. I hope I will still be able to reach them a year later as I realize they no longer teach at UCLA. I will try to get one more recommendation from the investment group in my company( from those who I work on a daily basis), or perhaps my software dev manager.

Lastly, congratulations on your admission to the MFE schools!

Thanks again!

First of all... Thank You and you are welcome...

Now... regarding recommendation letters... one from your current work place is a must... then amongst the ones from UCLA... if you could get it from a professor who thinks you are *much better* than the grade you got in his/her class... that would also be great... anyway... rest up to you...

 

[decochw]

Somewhere in the applications there was a line saying that if a candidate has been out of academia for more than a couple of years he would have to demonstrate that he maintains his knowledge in the relevant academic subjects. I believe the above posts give an answer to what courses to take. Plus you'll get a chance to obtain better grades.

My opinion is that you must take the GRE instead of the GMAT (@rajanS, @Devdeep What do you think about that?). The verbal is rough but doable.

Thanks. So I think the best way maybe to do well in Berkeley's pre-program courses? Do you think other schools will be interested in looking at my scores in thoses courses too? Thanks I for GRE as well!! Thanks so much

 

[decochw]

First of all... Thank You and you are welcome...

Now... regarding recommendation letters... one from your current work place is a must... then amongst the ones from UCLA... if you could get it from a professor who thinks you are *much better* than the grade you got in his/her class... that would also be great... anyway... rest up to you...

Thanks! haha I will probably submit both recommendation letters plus one more from my employer. I will study for GRE as well! do you know if the scores in Berkeley's pre-program courses will be useful in other MFE schools too?

 

[Devdeep]

Well... why not? I guess it shows your dedication, interest.... motivation... etc....