Profile Eval/ Reality Check- Fall 2023

[_quanty_]

H

 

[WorkofArt]

What are the chances that I get at least one acceptance?

You're kidding right? You have a stellar profile that pretty much checks all the boxes (GPA, work experience, GRE)
NCSU, GaTech and UChicago would be considered "safe" for you. I'm pretty sure you'll get into all three.

You're competitive for the other top tier programs too. I'd say you have more than a fair shot. Are you comfortable with C++/Python? I'm guessing most of your work with the Fed would've used Python/R? Have you done anything related to Machine Learning?

Given your profile, don't settle for a lower ranked program. Stick to Princeton, CMU and Berkeley as your main choices. I'm curious why you haven't considered Baruch. Do you have any particular reasons?

All the best!

 

[_quanty_]

You're kidding right? You have a stellar profile that pretty much checks all the boxes (GPA, work experience, GRE)
NCSU, GaTech and UChicago would be considered "safe" for you. I'm pretty sure you'll get into all three.

You're competitive for the other top tier programs too. I'd say you have more than a fair shot. Are you comfortable with C++/Python? I'm guessing most of your work with the Fed would've used Python/R? Have you done anything related to Machine Learning?

Given your profile, don't settle for a lower ranked program. Stick to Princeton, CMU and Berkeley as your main choices. I'm curious why you haven't considered Baruch. Do you have any particular reasons?

All the best!

Thanks so much for the kind and helpful reply. I’m seeing an extremely high bar to enter these programs, which makes me feel less confident. So many qualified people! But your reply is confidence-restoring.

That’s correct, Fed work has been mostly in R and MATLAB. I’ve done a fair amount of self-learning of ML, and have written about a small ML project on my resume. I have project experience with Python and have that on my resume as well.

The only reason I’m not applying to Baruch is that I have no experience with C++. This seems to be a prerequisite. Do you think that’s a valid reason not to apply?

Thank you!

 

[WorkofArt]

That’s great! Machine learning is slowly becoming a widely demanded skill amongst quants and MFE programs have started concentrating on them too. Berkeley,for example, will give you list of fundamental ML courses to complete before you start the program.
As for Baruch,I’m not too familiar with the application process myself. Maybe someone else on here would help you out with a more specific answer. But I don’t think it hurts to apply. If the professors think you’re technically sound in the other areas,they might just ask you to do the quantnet C++ course before you join the cohort. Definitely doesn’t hurt to apply!

 

[johnnyb]

Hey -- I have a very similar profile and was wondering same thing. My top school currently looks like NCSU b/c of tight connections in Charlotte industry (where I want to end up), cost (compared to UChicago, Ivy's [phew willy!]), and program structure geared towards Model Validation. Need to sit for GRE but I am not too worried.

 

[_quanty_]

Hey -- I have a very similar profile and was wondering same thing. My top school currently looks like NCSU b/c of tight connections in Charlotte industry (where I want to end up), cost (compared to UChicago, Ivy's [phew willy!]), and program structure geared towards Model Validation. Need to sit for GRE but I am not too worried.

Awesome! Best of luck on the GRE and rest of the application process. NCSU would be great!