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Profile Evaluation for MFE

Joined
6/20/16
Messages
3
Points
11
Good day everyone,

I'd like to ask for your opinions on my current profile for admission into some MFE/MQF programs in the U.S. (Fordham, Rensselaer, Boston, Rutgers), as well as in Singapore (NUS MFE, SMU/Cass MQF).

To compensate for any lack of immediate international name-value in my university, I've tried to improve my application over the course of my study, but I'd like to know how it looks so far, so that I can further improve however I can. As can readily be noticed, the following is a big block of text, so I'd like to profusely thank all those who would take the time to read my profile and give their opinions.

Thank you very much!

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Academics: I'm an incoming senior at the University of the Philippines (graduating summer 2017), from where I expect to graduate magna cum laude (1.43/5.00, or equivalent 3.71/4.00) with a B.Sc. in Business Economics, at the top 4-5% of my class (roughly 2,300 people in the university, around 200 in the specific program). We run on a ser guht system from 1.00 (highest) to 5.00 (lowest). My programme includes a substantial quantitative portion, with some finance classes, together comprising of:

Intermediate Calculus, Linear Algebra - 1.00 (A+)
Descriptive Statistics, Probability, Inferential Statistics - 1.50 (B+)
Unconstrained/Constrained Optimisation, Taylor Expansions, PCA - 1.25 (A-)
Mathematical Economics, Differential Equations, Difference Equations - 1.25 (A-)
Linear Regression, Binary Models, Factor Models - 1.25 (A-)
[Elective] Derivatives Fundamentals, Pricing - 1.25 (A-)
[Elective] Complexity and Chaos Theory in Economics - 1.00 (A+)
[Elective] Portfolio Theory & Optimisation - 1.25 (A-)
[Elective] Risk Management (Fault/Event Trees, Failure Rates, VaR Estimation) - 1.00 (A+)
I'm not sure if it matters, but my result in each semester has consistently been higher than previous semesters.

I have a particularly low GMAT quantitative score as of my first take (Q44 V48, T730), though I'm working to bump it up to a 48 or a 49. My recommendations will come from my professors in Complexity, Risk Management, and another elective (The Chinese Economy), which I took as a practical analysis course.

I have taken the FRM level 1, and am awaiting results. I also plan to take preparatory courses in C/C++ over senior year. I've taken online courses in Python and MATLAB, and am proficient in Stata.

Co-curricular & Research: I will be working as a research assistant at the Institute for Developmental and Econometric Analysis over my senior year, while working on my undergraduate thesis on CDS markets. I've had an internship at the Financial Services & Risk Management Advisory area of EY Philippines.

On the side, I've also founded an investment club in the university, the second in its history, as part of a larger multi-university student finance association which I and a few friends of mine had begun. All the while, I've served multiple executive posts in other student-run organisations, including the other finance organisation in the university, as well as the career opportunities centre.

I've also been nominated to the Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Gamma Mu honour societies.
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Thank you very much for reading through my profile; your opinions would be highly appreciated!
 
Last edited:
Just an update on my GMAT: I unfortunately mixed up my scores in the above post. My official score is as follows:

Total - 730 (96th pctl)
Quantitative - 47 (67th pctl)
Verbal - 44 (98th pctl)​
AWA - 5.0 (59th pctl)
Integrated Reasoning - 8 (92nd pctl)
 
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