Profile evaluation: "is there any chance for me?"

[kamyar mazloom]

Hi


First of all let me apologize for my English. Since I’m not really fluent in it you will probably have a hard time understanding me


*I am a 20 years old sophomore in industrial engineering studying in Iran

*I’m going to apply for MFE courses in the next two years

*My GPA up until now is 96.25% which is “The highest GPA” anyone have ever got in this program in the past 22 year.
In my university the program itself is 22 years old.
Note that it’s really hard to get this kind of GPA in my country the average in my class is lower than 75%
All of my grades except for one which is 85, is 95 or higher.

*From the second Semester I’ve been interning in the main office of a big holding company in my country although the work is unrelated to finance and related to industrial engineering. And two month earlier they offered me a job which I took. So I think it can be counted as work experience.

* I have some experience in C++ and Java and I think I can get fairly better in the next two year

*I’ve attended some courses in “securities & exchange brokers association of Iran” which is like FINRA of my country, and it’s under direct control of “Tehran stock exchange”

I have attended more than 400 hours of classes in:

1. Fundamental knowledge of fund market
2. Analysis of fund and stock market
3. Evaluation of Stocks
4. And portfolio management
5. Investment planning fundamentals

And although I passed the classes with highest marks. Because of my age and because I don’t have an undergraduate degree they won’t let me take exams to get my certificate. I have a certificate stating that I finished the courses with high marks but I must take the aforementioned exams to become an official stockbroker.


So that’s the sort version of my resume

What can I do in the next two year to have a better resume? Like other programing language? GRE? GMAT? …

I want to know is there ANY CHANCE for me to get accepted in one of the top 10 programs in MFE?

And if I can’t get in them do you think is it a good choice to go to a second tier schools in US
Or the best university in my own country?
considering that my main goal is “to get a doctorate degree in mathematical finance in one of the top 10 universities of America” after I finished my MFE?


Thanks

 

[Ole Bueker]

Your goal is to get a doctorate degree in mathematical finance?
Then why would you go for an MFE?

 

[kamyar mazloom]

why not?
I Really like Financial engineering and as far as i know there is no problem is regard of going from MFE to DiMF
Although it's always nice to know other opinions
what masters do you recommend to me in order to get a doctorate in mathematical finance ?
_____________
P.S:
by the way I really like MIT MFin and CMU MSCF
do you guys think i have any chance for those program?

 

[Ole Bueker]

MFE is really designed to get you ready to work.
If you're interested in studying further, you should apply for Master in Mathematical Finance or a Master in Mathematics.

 

[kamyar mazloom]

I want to work!
but i want to work after my doctorate.
so you think i should get a master in mathematical finance then a doctorate and then MFE?

I really want to take a MFE course considering how they make you ready for work and interviews
and i think the career services an networks that you get in a MFE program are really important

 

[CandyOates]

Apply for a math phd program at a top MFE school and take the MFE classes as electives.

 

[CasanovaJ]

To echo the above, MFEs aren't really a great option if your intention is to do a doctorate-- the purpose of the MFE is to teach you (in a pretty short period of time) the practical material that you'll need to know to begin working immediately... not to prepare you for 5 years of doing research.

If you're so enthusiastic about working afterwards (presumably not in academia) and you're so impressed with the career services that are offered by MFE programs, why are you interested in doing the doctorate?

 

[kamyar mazloom]

thanks, now i know that MFE is not a great way to achieve my goal bot what i should exactly do?

I have a passion for learning and I always liked teaching others (Teaching assistance)
I want to spend my youth near accomplished, smart people learning more about what i love and i believe that a master in financial engineering or mathematical finance is not enough, that's why I think that getting a doctorate degree is a good way to fulfill my needs.
and it's not like I don't consider working in academia.
But my main goal is to start working in one of the top-tier banks / hedge funds / etc ... after my doctorate
and it's not because of the money or prestige (although they are important) it's because i want to work with the very best and brightest of the finance field
and as far as i know having a phd is nearly essential for working in those kind of places

and i don't want to apply for a phd right away for two reasons:
1. i don't think i'm ready yet
2.i don't have any experience in research nor any paper in publications and i want to use my time in master to do a research project or two
3. i want to go the best school i can for my doctrate and i think if i apply after getting my master i would have a better resume to present

so now that you know what i want what is your suggestion?

 

[Ken Abbott]

If you want to work for a big bank or fund, then get a masters degree. If you want to do research and/or teach, do a PhD. The idea of doing a PhD only to prepare for the workplace seems a bit off-the-mark. You don't need a PhD to be a quant on Wall Street any more. Some of the best quants I know don't have PhDs. The head fixed income quant at my firm doesn't even have a masters.

With respect to your other questions:
Go big with respect to schools. The market is glutted with quants. Going to a 2nd tier school isn't likely to land you a job. Networking is a key component of quant graduate education. You need proximity and a high-quality class. Don't settle.

BTW: Your English is fine. There are a few spelling and punctuation issues (which are to be expected in an informal place like this) , but I have no problem understanding you.

 

[Palmer Lao]

Sorry to butt in here - I suppose this is slightly off-topic.

Do you think that skills learned during the acquisition of the MFE degree and work in finance are transferable to other industries (compared to say, someone with a PhD in applied math or statistics)?
Would you say that the MFE is the only master's degree that can get you a job as a quant? What about statistics + quant finance coursework? If not, what's the difference?

 

[kamyar mazloom]

Thanks to all of you guys
but none of the answers above are really the thing i was looking for.
let me just ask one more time ; I want to know is there ANY CHANCE for me to get accepted in one of the top 10 programs in MFE?

you see in my country there is a competition called "Concours" held every year in order to rank students and then the students get to choose the university they want to go to starting from 1st student in ranking to last
and you only have ONE chance! you can not participate in concour twice!!
you either get a good rank in concour or you are forced to go to military service (in order to get in the best school in MFE in my own country i should be one of the best 30 students between more than 70000 participateing in MFE concour )

so i want to know do i have any chance getting accepted in top 10 MFE programs?
because if i can't get accepted in the top programs i might as well try to get a good rank in concour competition
and if there is a chance for me what can i do to make my CV better?

 

[Alexandre Chretien]

Make sure you reference is a teacher or director of the program and points out your GPA is super incredible.

Now, you are asking if there is any chance... the answer is simple, yes... Now if you want to know how good your chances are, I can't help with that...

Why not apply for top 10 programs and get good grades on your concour? Are those 2 mutually exclusive?

 

[pingu]

I want to know is there ANY CHANCE for me to get accepted in one of the top 10 programs in MFE?

NO CHANCE. What are you going to do now?

 

[Ian Kaplan]

*I am a 20 years old sophomore in industrial engineering studying in Iran

Here's a question, since you mentioned "top 10 schools" and many of these schools are in the US: how hard is it to get a US student visa for an Iranian or someone who has studied in Iran? Relations between the US and Iran are strained, so I wonder if this would present a significant difficulty. For example, the US does not have an embassy in Iran, which seems like it would complicate the visa process. I also wonder if the problems between the US and Iran are an issue when it comes to admission.

Most of the Iranian students I know in the US are refugees. I have to wonder how many Iranian students are admitted to US schools. It is probably unwise to underestimate the heat that exists in the relations between the two countries.

Admission to a UK or European program might be easier. My guess is that an Iranian national in the US, who has not applied for political asylum, will always be regarded with some suspicion.

For example, an Iranian student is not allowed to study an "sensitive area", which probably includes computer science and engineering. Perhaps quant finance is not such an area. But the point is that admission for an Iranian national will result in this kind of scrutiny.

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Relations between USA and Iran are improving?

 

[Ian Kaplan]

I suppose that we can say that right now relations are not getting worse. However, it was not that long ago that there were factions in Washington (John McCain and his "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran" parody song) that wanted to attack Iran.

There is no deal on Iran's nuclear program, although there has been some progress in the past six months.

Iran still backs Hezbollah in Lebanon and seeks to be a major power in the Middle East. Back in the 1980s and in other times, Iran has provided support for Hezbollah when they bombed the Marines and they have backed other groups that have killed Americans.

As I noted, the US doesn't have an Embassy in Tehran and there are no signs that this is going to change in the near future.

 

[Anand Agarwal]

Hi All,

I am planning to apply to MSFE programs...particularly columbia, NYU and Baruch.

MY Profile:

My GRE Score:
Quant: 165
English: 155
Analytical Writing: 3.0
TOEFL: 103

MBA - Finance
Bachelor in Engineering (BE) in Electronics

Working in IT sector for past 2 years
FRM holder.

Please suggest on profile and GRE score.
do I need to take GRE again for improving scores?