Profile Evaluation

[Vaibhav Dhabaria]

Hello All,

Please kindly evaluate my profile :

Work Ex- BNY Mellon, India. 1.5 years. Research profile.
1)Have made Sovereign Risk reports of Emerging economies which involved doing macroeconomic research on these economies.
2) Have made a Watch List of economies(both EM and DM) which involved using Bloomberg, Datastream and handling huge sets of data and analyzing them.
Masters in Economics- GPA-3.9/4
I did my under graduation in Economics under Calcutta University. GPA-2.55/4. [the curriculum was very strict. I hope that will be considered]
GRE- Q-156,V-151. Toefl-97.

Maths courses:
Advanced Calculus, Matrix and Algebra.
Statistics:
Distribution theory, Hypothesis testing , sampling theory and Probability.
Econometrics.
In most of the above courses have got grades above B+ or a A.

LOR: 2 Professional (1 American )
Please kindly evaluate my profile keeping the following colleges in mind.

Rutgers- FSRM
NYU Poly- FE
NC State- Financial Mathematics
IIT Stuart- Mathematical Finance
Univ. OF Washington- CF&RM
Boston Univ -Mathematical Finance
Stony Brook- Quant Finance
Bentley- Business Analytics
UCON- MSBAPM

 

[Vaibhav Dhabaria]

@Azamat Bagatov
@Andy Nguyen
@wayoung
@utkarsh dalmia

Please kindly comment on this .. what are your thoughts?

 

[Hyeonjoon Jang]

First of all, I am not an expert. But, one thing I noticed in your profile is that your GRE quant score is not competitive at all. If I were you, I would retake the GRE exam to improve my quant score. Your quant score is way too low compared to the average score of admitted applicants to most good programs.

 

[pacman]

Does a 3.9 Master's gpa make up for a 2.55 gpa?

 

[moretodo]

No it doesn't

 

[Dataminer]

No it doesn't

not even a little bit? how so? I'm curious.

 

[GoIllini]

If you got a 3.9 GPA from a school people don't recognize, an easy way to verify that "this guy is smart" is to look at his GRE score. Let's see... 165? 170? Oof, 156? How did that happen? How tough is this program where someone could get a 3.9 GPA and bomb the GREs?

That is, if they don't filter you out on the basis of GRE beforehand, which is my guess as to what happens at many programs, even the top tier ones who claim test scores don't matter as much, "you don't need a 170", etc.

The 156 might not hurt at some programs; I don't know. But it doesn't help. And judging by OP's grad school GPA, he can probably pull off a 165. Retaking the GRE and getting a 165, if you can pull it off, will only help.

Besides cosmetic stuff, getting a better GRE score is one of the few material things you can improve on an MFE application in the course of a couple weeks.

 

[Vaibhav Dhabaria]

Hey thanks!!

Well.. there's one thing I would like to add here about the 2.55 GPA.. it was under Calcutta university..
and if Iconvert the topper's percentage into GPA then that would be around 3.1 or 3.2!!
I did have a talk to my seniors.. and the universities do check .. from which university are you coming and what was the marking system there!
and for the 3.9 GPA .. It was under Fergusson College under University of Pune.!! It was ranked top 10 colleges in India in 2010.. so I hope that again won't be problem!!
but retaking a GRE is not possible right now!! and I am not applying to IVY league universities..!!
what do you think are my chances in Boston, Rutgers and UW ??
I have a work ex also with BNY Mellon in the related field.. and in the tracker I have noticed many people getting through with 158s, 155s GRE Q scores!!

 

[Faisal]

Hey thanks!!

Well.. there's one thing I would like to add here about the 2.55 GPA.. it was under Calcutta university..
and if Iconvert the topper's percentage into GPA then that would be around 3.1 or 3.2!!
I did have a talk to my seniors.. and the universities do check .. from which university are you coming and what was the marking system there!
and for the 3.9 GPA .. It was under Fergusson College under University of Pune.!! It was ranked top 10 colleges in India in 2010.. so I hope that again won't be problem!!
but retaking a GRE is not possible right now!! and I am not applying to IVY league universities..!!
what do you think are my chances in Boston, Rutgers and UW ??
I have a work ex also with BNY Mellon in the related field.. and in the tracker I have noticed many people getting through with 158s, 155s GRE Q scores!!

You need not worry too much about your GRE. With your masters degree in economics, the score of this trivial exam should be irrelevant for your application. Regarding your grades, I think it is a hyperbole to suggest that admission committee goes to the extent of verifying how easy/tough was the grading scheme in your University. This works if your institution is well known to the admission committee, which are probably the IITs for India. You will be evaluated on the basis of what your transcript has to say about your courses and not on the basis of what a particular magazine has to say about the ranking of your institution. With your high grades in your masters program, you should undertake the task of convincing that you can handle higher mathematics.

Amongst the programs that you have mentioned above, with the exception of BU and Rutgers, you should not have an iota of difficulty getting admitted into any of them. BU and Rutgers would be more competitive than the others but I think you will make it.

 

[Vaibhav Dhabaria]

@Faisal :
hey.. thanks a lot for the encouraging words!! :D

 

[moretodo]

not even a little bit? how so? I'm curious.

Well, graduate level courses do not test you on concepts that are covered in your UG. Also, there is no guarantee that the graduate level courses are a continuation of what was taught in the UG. For instance, in most MBA and professional Master programs, the emphasis is on applying certain models rather than being able to understand them and appreciate their mathematical aesthetics and their respective quantitative implications.

I personally know of at least 2 guys from India who did their UG from a not so well known yet rigorous Institute with low/decent grades much like the OP followed by a Masters in a related discipline at a well known US university with good grades who still find it hard to get admits compared to applicants from India with just a Bachelor's IIT degree with decent grades.

So, personally, I think it doesn't make up much (and not at all I guess) for one's UG record.

 

[moretodo]

I don't completely agree with Faisal. Most graduate programs in Financial Engineering and Quantitative Finance have cutoffs for the GRE/GMAT and if you don't clear the cutoff, they almost always dont consider your application further. A 156 Q score on the GRE will most likely not clear the cutoff for most programs.

 

[Faisal]

Most graduate programs in Financial Engineering and Quantitative Finance have cutoffs for the GRE/GMAT and if you don't clear the cutoff, they almost always dont consider your application further.

That is true for the most but OP has clearly specified his choice of programs. I do not believe that a low GRE score would be a major issue for NC State or Bentley.

 

[pacman]

I personally know of at least 2 guys from India who did their UG from a not so well known yet rigorous Institute with low/decent grades much like the OP followed by a Masters in a related discipline at a well known US university with good grades who still find it hard to get admits compared to applicants from India with just a Bachelor's IIT degree with decent grades.

So, personally, I think it doesn't make up much (and not at all I guess) for one's UG record.

2 guys + your personal thoughts = truth?

 

[Vaibhav Dhabaria]

I personally know of at least 2 guys from India who did their UG from a not so well known yet rigorous Institute with low/decent grades much like the OP followed by a Masters in a related discipline at a well known US university with good grades who still find it hard to get admits compared to applicants from India with just a Bachelor's IIT degree with decent grades.

I would strongly encourage you to get your facts right before passing a comment on any of the universities I mentioned above ! Fergussson College and Scottish Church College are very reputed colleges. Please kindly google it!
Moreover, I don't think Bank of New York Mellon would just hire anybody from any institute!!

 

[Vaibhav Dhabaria]

@ All :
THanks a lot for all the help.!! :D
I have got 4 admits till now and waiting for few universities to respond.