Profile evaluation for MFE 2025

[fatcatking]

I think you are over complicating things for yourself. Admits and applications are very random and you can arrive at a situation where you might be getting an admit from, say, CMU, and get a reject from somewhere like NYU Tandon. The admission process is very random. You have a strong profile, just work on your essays, SoPs, LoRs and just apply. Maybe segregate programs into buckets. Of the top of my head: Baruch/Princeton/Stanford/CMU, Berkeley/Chicago/Cornell/NYU Courant/Columbia/MIT, NYU Tandon/UCLA, and apply to 2-ish programs in each bucket for round 1 and then see if you need to apply for more in round 2. But yeah, this odds thing is overcomplicating things way too much imho.

You’re right. Maybe I was a bit pretentious and jumpy when I calculated the probabilities. I wanted to quantify my chances so that I get the my family (and myself a bit) in confidence. Since the admission process is random, wouldn’t you suggest me to apply to all of the top 10 schools, just in case?

 

[arohan]

You’re right. Maybe I was a bit pretentious and jumpy when I calculated the probabilities. I wanted to quantify my chances so that I get the my family (and myself a bit) in confidence. Since the admission process is random, wouldn’t you suggest me to apply to all of the top 10 schools, just in case?

I mean yeah, the general idea is that more applications can’t hurt you. So, yeah I see no harm in applying to everything in the top 10 if you can. Why I personally didn’t do this is because applications take time and effort and I only had 7 in me. Plus, LoRs are difficult. Most of the people you seek LoRs from are very busy people and its rare someone would write 10 LoRs for you. So, for 10 applications you’d need like at least 4-5 recommenders and juggle them around if you want them submitting strong LoRs. 5-8 is something I feel is more reasonable and what most people do because applications are a lot of work and time and you want to ensure that the quality-quantity trade-off balance is maintained.

 

[fatcatking]

I mean yeah, the general idea is that more applications can’t hurt you. So, yeah I see no harm in applying to everything in the top 10 if you can. Why I personally didn’t do this is because applications take time and effort and I only had 7 in me. Plus, LoRs are difficult. Most of the people you seek LoRs from are very busy people and it’s rare someone would write 10 LoRs for you. So, for 10 applications you’d need like at least 4-5 recommenders and juggle them around if you want them submitting strong LoRs. 5-8 is something I feel is more reasonable and what most people do because applications are a lot of work and time and you want to ensure that the quality-quantity trade-off balance is maintained.

Gotcha. I now have shortlisted the programmes I want to apply to. Congratulations on your admission to UChic, by the way! And also on your acceptances to CMU and the likes. May I dm you?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Take the cost into consideration as well. Let say you get into all top 10 programs, are you comfortable paying $120K tuition for Princeton and MIT on top of living expense?
There is a huge cost difference between them and the other programs. If you are from India, the financial consideration is much stronger as most people will take an educational loan with a 12% APR.

 

[arohan]

Gotcha. I now have shortlisted the programmes I want to apply to. Congratulations on your admission to UChic, by the way! And also on your acceptances to CMU and the likes. May I dm you?

sure. feel free to dm.