Seeking advice for MFE Profile

[zephyrus]

Hi everyone!

I'm a final-year undergraduate student pursuing a dual degree in Computer Science and Economics at BITS Pilani (India), a tier 1 private university in India. I am interested to pursue MFE and would like to have some insights on how to strengthen my profile. My GPA is 9.2/10 (around 3.79/4).

Some of my college coursework is:
1. Finance: Financial Engineering (10/10), Financial Risk Analytics and Management (10/10), Derivatives (took a non letter grade during COVID), Security Analysis and Portfolio management (10/10), Financial Management (10/10), Business Analysis and Valuation (9/10), Financial Accounting (8/10)
2. CS: Parallel Computing (10/10), Deep Learning (10/10), DSA (8/10), Database Systems (9/10), OOP in Java (9/10), Computer Networks (10/10), C Programming (10/10)
3. Economics: Macroeconomics (10/10), Microeconomics (10/10), Banking and Financial Markets (10/10), International Economics (10/10)
4. Math and Statistics: Multivariate Calculus (9/10), Linear Algebra and Complex Variables (7/10), Prob Stats (8/10), Differential Equations (8/10), Discrete Math (8/10), Statistical Methods (9/10), Econometrics (10/10)

Although my work experience thus far is not directly related to quantitative finance, I have secured a six-month internship at a high-performance distributed database startup, where I'll be working with C/C++.

Also, this might be unrelated but I have a second-author publication related to big data analytics (for high speed data streams) in an IEEE Journal (acceptance rate 19%).

I'm planning to take the GRE in Sept/Oct (under the new shorter scheme).

I'd like to seek some advice about these:

1. Should I wait to gain explicit work experience in a quant role before applying for the Fall '24 intake, or would my current profile suffice? Looking at older posts and also tracker, most elite programs seem to emphasise on work experience in the quant domain
2. Does college tag matter for international students?. Since I'm a non-IIT student from India, I believe some programs like Princeton, Baruch might not be within reach for me. Is there something which can remedy this? Also what could my target programs. (Dream programs are Baruch, MIT, Princeton, UCB, CMU)
3. How much value does CFA L1/L2 exam add to an MFE application? Is it worth pursuing to boost my profile?
4. Are there any specific skills or knowledge areas that appear weak on my profile for the MFE admissions committees that I should focus on developing?

I would greatly appreciate any advice, suggestions, or personal experiences you can share. Thank you in advance for your time and support!

Looking forward to hearing your insights and recommendations.

Thanks

 

[MikeLawrence]

1. If you know for certain that you will get the quant work experience (and you are in a position where you can afford to add that time into the timeline) then it might be worth it, but as it is your profile is pretty solid already.

2. I'm not sure how to judge your college, as I'm not too familiar with the Indian universities (other than IIT's from tracker). Someone else can better answer this. I will say that it isn't a deal breaker. The top MFE's do tend to have graduates from top schools, but that is typically because those students are usually better prepared. Baruch makes the claim of never turning away a qualified student; they only accept ~27, so the standard is high. However, your profile looks like it could fit in there. It depends on how competent you are, you can answer better than I.

3. I've seen CFA L1/L2 on several top profiles, but it isn't the norm. I think there are better things to have, like work experience, but if it ties into your specific career goals/story and you can explain why you went for it then it might be worth it.

4. Have you had any finance work experience, or just not any quant related? That is one things you can check off.
Otherwise: coding/C++, checked; Math/Stat pre-reqs, checked; Basic Fin/Econ knowledge, checked; You have the pre-reqs, get some interview prep and I don't know what else to tell you.

 

[gen_engineer]

Hi your profile seems great!

What I would suggest is that you look at getting a 6 month finance internship instead - in quant research, trading or quant risk. I think such internships will demonstrate why doing a financial engineering degree makes sense for you.

 

[zephyrus]

1. If you know for certain that you will get the quant work experience (and you are in a position where you can afford to add that time into the timeline) then it might be worth it, but as it is your profile is pretty solid already.

2. I'm not sure how to judge your college, as I'm not too familiar with the Indian universities (other than IIT's from tracker). Someone else can better answer this. I will say that it isn't a deal breaker. The top MFE's do tend to have graduates from top schools, but that is typically because those students are usually better prepared. Baruch makes the claim of never turning away a qualified student; they only accept ~27, so the standard is high. However, your profile looks like it could fit in there. It depends on how competent you are, you can answer better than I.

3. I've seen CFA L1/L2 on several top profiles, but it isn't the norm. I think there are better things to have, like work experience, but if it ties into your specific career goals/story and you can explain why you went for it then it might be worth it.

4. Have you had any finance work experience, or just not any quant related? That is one things you can check off.
Otherwise: coding/C++, checked; Math/Stat pre-reqs, checked; Basic Fin/Econ knowledge, checked; You have the pre-reqs, get some interview prep and I don't know what else to tell you.

Thanks for your advice.
I have some work experience in financial analytics-data science domain (a 2-month internship at a stock brokerage). I'll definitely try to secure a quant-related internship.

 

[zephyrus]

Hi your profile seems great!

What I would suggest is that you look at getting a 6 month finance internship instead - in quant research, trading or quant risk. I think such internships will demonstrate why doing a financial engineering degree makes sense for you.

Thanks for your reply!
Frankly, I was looking at some related roles at some of the banks (JPMC, Credit Suisse, UBS, Nomura) but they were less about quant and more about strats. Is it fine to just have a finance internship instead of an explicitly quant one?

The internship which I have is actually part of our college curriculum (Practice School system), so its mostly fixed for now. I'll surely be looking for some quant roles on the side.

After these 6 months, I can try for some quant roles for Jan '24 - June '24 period. Would it be too late for the 2024 cycle?

 

[gen_engineer]

Thanks for your reply!
Frankly, I was looking at some related roles at some of the banks (JPMC, Credit Suisse, UBS, Nomura) but they were less about quant and more about strats. Is it fine to just have a finance internship instead of an explicitly quant one?

The internship which I have is actually part of our college curriculum (Practice School system), so its mostly fixed for now. I'll surely be looking for some quant roles on the side.

Strategy roles are pretty good. I have a fair bit of idea about the BITS PS system that you speak of and have seen quite a few people move to good quant fin programs from JPM struct/trading, CS quant, Nomura QIS etc. This is only my opinion but strat roles would make more sense from MFE perspective than tech at a high-performance distributed database startup, given that you already are a CS major with good grades. However, having said that I feel that your degrees in CS and Econ combined with your great grades should be sufficient to get you past all the top 5 MFE programs

After these 6 months, I can try for some quant roles for Jan '24 - June '24 period. Would it be too late for the 2024 cycle?

Yes, I think this will be too late since most programs have their deadlines before Jan

 

[zephyrus]

Strategy roles are pretty good. I have a fair bit of idea about the BITS PS system that you speak of and have seen quite a few people move to good quant fin programs from JPM struct/trading, CS quant, Nomura QIS etc. This is only my opinion but strat roles would make more sense from MFE perspective than tech at a high-performance distributed database startup, given that you already are a CS major with good grades. However, having said that I feel that your degrees in CS and Econ combined with your great grades should be sufficient to get you past all the top 5 MFE programs

Yes, I think this will be too late since most programs have their deadlines before Jan

Thank you. Can I dm you. Wanted to ask a few things

 

[MikeLawrence]

Thanks for your advice.
I have some work experience in financial analytics-data science domain (a 2-month internship at a stock brokerage). I'll definitely try to secure a quant-related internship

Financial analytics/data science is pretty good, by no means something to look down on- definitely something you should mention on applications. I think you have set yourself up very well. Best of luck in the application process.

 

[zephyrus]

Financial analytics/data science is pretty good, by no means something to look down on- definitely something you should mention on applications. I think you have set yourself up very well. Best of luck in the application process.

Thank you!

 

[MikeLawrence]

Yes, I think this will be too late since most programs have their deadlines before Jan

Although, if you can secure it before the deadlines and be able to list that you will come into the program with quant experience from a reputable company then it can work out as a large benefit. I would still try for something, doesn't have to be a full six months.

Getting work experience is always good, plus you'll make money.