Quant Profile evaluation

[skullhunter]

Hi, I am an Indian undergraduate (top 5 IIT), working at GS/JPM Quant Division in the modeling team. Will have around 3.5-4 years of experience by the time I enter school. I want to apply to Baruch MFE/Haas MFE.

- Department Topper (9.2/10) amongst 100+ students in Mechanical Engineering
- 331 GRE (169Q/162V/5.5AWA)
- CFA Level 1 and Level 2 (expected in some months)
- Top Rating for 3 years in the firm
- Have experience in machine learning and finance
- National competition winner in Robotics
- A+/A grades in algorithms and programming courses with significant python and CPP exposure

My pain points:
- LORs: One strong LOR from a Robotics professor, others would be professional LORs. I think I won't get the best here.
- My math grades: I had a B in almost all math courses (one C in probs and stats). B=8/10 and C=6/10.

I am a bit underconfident due to these two points and have not considered applying till now. I want some idea if my profile is worth a T10 MFE/finance program. Would also appreciate any tips on how I can mould my profile to get over the above issues.

Thank you for your time.

 

[zephyrus]

With this profile, you should definitely get a call from Haas atleast. Good coding exposure, good work ex, good GPA and GRE scores. Why not aim for Princeton or CMU too?

 

[MikeLawrence]

- My math grades: I had a B in almost all math courses (one C in probs and stats). B=8/10 and C=6/10.

I am a bit underconfident due to these two points and have not considered applying till now. I want some idea if my profile is worth a T10 MFE/finance program. Would also appreciate any tips on how I can mould my profile to get over the above issues.

Thank you for your time.

Speaking as someone who is at a mid school in the US, studying abroad at a top UK school, 8/10 (if I'm reading into it right, and I think I am. I'm translating it into a high 2.1 UK equivalent, which might be an easier conversation to think about) is pretty much a 4.0 at most US universities. I think your grades are much better than you think; topping the class at an IIT blows most US equivalents out of the water. I'm friends with the guy who should be (currently, anyway, unless someone has > 19.6/20) at the top of the maths department here, I'm at or near the top of my home uni's stats department, and I'm nowhere near where he is.

Also, with the work experience your grades matter much less.

But with the rest of your profile as well, you should have a fair shot at any program. Nothing is guaranteed though, even for top candidates.