• C++ Programming for Financial Engineering
    Highly recommended by thousands of MFE students. Covers essential C++ topics with applications to financial engineering. Learn more Join!
    Python for Finance with Intro to Data Science
    Gain practical understanding of Python to read, understand, and write professional Python code for your first day on the job. Learn more Join!
    An Intuition-Based Options Primer for FE
    Ideal for entry level positions interviews and graduate studies, specializing in options trading arbitrage and options valuation models. Learn more Join!

Profile Evaluation

Joined
5/17/16
Messages
22
Points
11
Hi everyone,

Could you please advise on my chances of getting into a top MFE program.

I am an econ major. (I used to wanted to work in the non-quant part of investment bank)
-- I studied basic maths like calculus, algebra, partial differentiation, time-series, statistics, econometrics.
--Economic courses: advanced macro, advanced micro, monetary economics, game theory...
-- 3 Corporate Finance courses
-- No actual programming skills learnt during my undergraduate time (only SAS)
Studied in UK top 10 university, converted to US GPA is 3.7

After graduation I immediately started my current master study, MS applied analytics in Columbia University. Which is actually why I became very interested in quantitative finance. During this program I learned a bunch of programming skills and basic machine learning. I was working very hard during this program to making up my quant skills.
-- Programming skills learnt: Great at R and SQL; Okay with Python, Matlab and C++
-- I also took numerical analysis course and stochastic course;
-- Since I am in Columbia I took 4 core courses from the Columbia MathFin Program (Intro to mathematical Finance; Stochastic Methods in Finance; Programming for Quant and Comp Finance, and Quantitative Methods in Investment Management)

I do not have any full time working experiences. But I have done 4 summer internships (but only small companies):
-- 2 in China working in research team in private equity and asset management;
-- 1 in London working in Investment Banking as financial analyst;
-- Most recent one in New York in a brokerage firm doing machine learning and database management

I will graduate in this December and I want to apply for a MFE or MathFin program. Because I am an international student so I can only have OPT once. Therefore I want to use my OPT for when I finish my MFE program in the future.

So after I graduate I plan to work in China as Quant researcher in a big Investment Bank for a bit, and apply for MFE or MathFin for 2018 Fall or 2019 Fall (not yet decided).

I want to apply for a program with great placement (because I want to work in New York so so so so badly). Programs I really want to apply for
CMU, Columbia MFE, NYU MathFin
Probably will also apply for Columbia MathFin, Cornell, Chicago as backups.

Current GPA for my master program: 3.96
Previous GRE grade (should I re-take it?): 170(Q)+155(V)
passed CFA level 1 exam, going to take CFA level 2 in 2018 summer

What are my chances? And what skills should I improve on before applying?
Thanks!
 
Back
Top