Request for Profile Review for MFE 2026 (fall intake)

[Nagan]

I am currently pursuing my Bachelor's degree in Data Science and Engineering from Manipal University Jaipur, and after completing 6 semesters, I have achieved a CGPA of 9.12/10.

I have attached my CV. Currently, I am pursuing 2 internships, both Data science internships at Tata Steel and Celebal Technologies. I am also writing a paper in collaboration with a finance professor from XLRI. The topic is related to finance and ML.

I have also attached my grade transcripts.

All my projects are in Python.

A few downsides that I can notice are:

-B grades in mathematics courses in the last 3 semesters:
Mathematical Foundations for Data Science 2 & 3; Operations Research

-Dropping GPA in the last 3 semesters: 8.95, 8.4, 8.05

-The remote Palestinian internship isn't related to the field.

Based on this profile, what are my realistic options in Europe, Singapore, and Australia? What steps can I take to improve the profile? What kind of personal projects should I undertake at this stage? I haven't yet given my GRE and IELTS.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Take more math courses. The harder ones and get As in all of them.
Take the QuantNet C++ course.
You are competing with applicants with a stronger math or programming background so you need to be on the level playing field.

 

[Nagan]

Take more math courses. The harder ones and get As in all of them.
Take the QuantNet C++ course.
You are competing with applicants with a stronger math or programming background so you need to be on the level playing field.

Thank you for the advice sir but unfortunetly there is no option for taking more math courses, the curriculum in my college isn't flexible. I can do online courses but idk how valuable they might be. I have been preparing for FRM part 1, do u think that will add value?

I will also have to pursue a 6-month internship in my 8th semester as part of the college course, so I will do that in data science or ML role in corporate or academic research. Alongside that the professor I am working with has 2 topics for me so those can be converted to research papers as well. The topics are direct applications of ML in finance. I am interested in pursuing Quant research roles in the future which I will mention in my SOPs so maybe these research papers can be helpful?

I forgot to mention but I have also done NISM8 certification which is a equity derivatives certification for Indian markets. Does it add value?


Also I had a question whether I should also look into Risk management in finance programs? Would that also lead me to IB and hedge funds as QR?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

A more focused approach will yield better result. You have to pick either RM or QR since they don't have much overlap.
If you are interested in risk management roles, there are plenty of those jobs in the US market. The preparation for this role will be different than if you aim for QR roles. There are US programs like NCSU that place well in risk management roles in Charlotte area with regional banks. The FRM may be of value for this path.
If QR role is your target, I don't advise you spend valuable time on FRM or NISM8 certificate as they are not relevant to this type of role. This is the hardest role to break into.
As far as online courses go, some are more well-known and relevant than others. Coursera courses are very basic and hold minimum weight as far as filters go. Some others are much more tailored such as pre-MFE courses by Baruch MFE or the QuantNet C++/Python courses which have been around for a decades and taken by thousands of applicants by now.
You will have to pick what to focus on.

 

[Nagan]

A more focused approach will yield better result. You have to pick either RM or QR since they don't have much overlap.
If you are interested in risk management roles, there are plenty of those jobs in the US market. The preparation for this role will be different than if you aim for QR roles. There are US programs like NCSU that place well in risk management roles in Charlotte area with regional banks. The FRM may be of value for this path.
If QR role is your target, I don't advise you spend valuable time on FRM or NISM8 certificate as they are not relevant to this type of role. This is the hardest role to break into.
As far as online courses go, some are more well-known and relevant than others. Coursera courses are very basic and hold minimum weight as far as filters go. Some others are much more tailored such as pre-MFE courses by Baruch MFE or the QuantNet C++/Python courses which have been around for a decades and taken by thousands of applicants by now.
You will have to pick what to focus on.

Ok thank you sir, I checked about the pre-MFE courses by Baruch but it seems they have been closed for this year.