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So, what's more now?

Power

Power

Joined
5/17/11
Messages
4
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11
I am currently a junior/senior from Michigan State, triple major in Finance, Math and Statistics. Taken fairly amount of Grad-level Stats/Math including Time Series, Stochastic and 3 asset pricing and derivatives for finance, withholding 3.8 GPA. I want to go to Chicago/Stanford/NYU or Boston MFE PHD and I am gonna take my GRE soon. What kind of score do I need to be possibly admitted? Any funding for any of those programs?
p.s. No working experience.
 
with your profile and target schools (especially Stanford), 800Q is a must!!!??? I heard from people that 620+ is okay for V. I am not sure about A :)
 
kamikade said:
with your profile and target schools (especially Stanford), 800Q is a must!!!??? I heard from people that 620+ is okay for V. I am not sure about A :)
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I cant find anywhere to check the AVE GRE Verble in current class profiles, which makes me nervous.
 
In my university, lots of students got admitted to very top notch programs with 800Q and often between 500-600V. I doubt your verbal score is very relevant - unless you got a very bad one - since it does not even measure your communication skills but your knowledge of sophisticated vocabulary... I guess that's why universities don't even bother publishing it.
 
Yes, its true that Verbal score is not as important as Quant score. However, it is more likely that the one with better communication skills (interview, verbal score?) will have more chance to get in; assuming that both have the similar technical strength.

I have talked to some MFE students and most of them have 760-800, their verbal scores vary though. I know one guy who has only 520 but got in Columbia a couple years (or 3) ago. But most of the time, people told me that they have 600+ for Verbal so I said that 620 would be more competitive. It could be because I talked to more native English speaker than second language learner. I am not sure too
 
800Q is generally a must because if you can't, a question mark pops up. Either you had a bad day or not a good test taker. Not good in either case. Statistically speaking, the separation between 800 (94 percentile) and 790 (91 percentile) is small but it pays to get 800. And don't boast if you get 800. Majority of applicants have 800.
Verbal score means little for domestic applicants. Many programs who don't conduct in person or phone interviews, use this score to filter international students' English skills.
Writing skill is important for everyone, more so than verbal. We are looking at a minimum of 4.5 to be competitive.

This general guideline applies only to the current GRE test which will soon be replaced by a new scoring format.

Stanford is a very small program and in the view of many industry's watchers, a dying program. They have 13 students this year, all foreign students with bachelor degree, majority of them from Asia (9 out of 13). If Stanford closes this program within a few years, I would not be a bit surprised.

I would say your GRE plays a 10-20% role in the whole evaluation so don't bet that a perfect score in this test will be indicative of a better chance.

Of the programs you mentioned, Boston does give out scholarships (tuition reduction) to attract students who may otherwise go to other programs.
 
You mention "MFE PHD", which is a bit confusing, because it is not clear whether you are seeking to enter a Masters degree program or a Doctoral program. These really are quite different, as the former is a professional degree designed to get you a good job in industry, while the latter is a research degree intended for those who plan on academic careers.

As for the Ph.D., the general GRE quantitative test does not measure very much as far as the math that you will really need in a quantitative doctoral progam. If you want to demonstrate your expertise in this area, you should consider the GRE math subject exam (which is offered at paper sittings only a handful of times per year.)

Also, as you may already be aware, you only have a couple more months to satisfy your dream to get an 800 Q score on the GRE general test, as the exam format is changing from August 1st. The new scoring scale will be 130-170 in 1-point increments (in contrast to the familiar 200-800 scale in 10-point increments.) Note that if you do sign up to take this new version during August or September, you will only be charged 1/2 of the usual fee, but your scores will not be made available until sometime in November.
 
I am gonna take my GRE soon
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Power - I'm sure you are aware, but just in case you aren't - The GRE is changing its format and the new test format starts from August onwards I believe.
Therefore if you are going to be revising, try and get one of the newer GRE books. Kaplan have one out for example which gives a break down of how the test has changed.
I'm going to take the GRE in September I think, so the new test will be in play by then.

Anyway good luck!
 
I got offered a 12k scholarship to the BU MSMF (equivalent to MFE) with a 800Q, 500V, and a 3.38 GPA fwiw. Really to get a 800 just take the GRE a few times unofficially by yourself or in a (free) Kaplan proctored testing environment. They run free tests every so often at the Kaplan office at MSU. It'll give you a feel for the timing.
 
MSUPokerGod said:
I got offered a 12k scholarship to the BU MSMF (equivalent to MFE) with a 800Q, 500V, and a 3.38 GPA fwiw. Really to get a 800 just take the GRE a few times unofficially by yourself or in a (free) Kaplan proctored testing environment. They run free tests every so often at the Kaplan office at MSU. It'll give you a feel for the timing.
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I just took it. Didn't like my V at all since I only finished 20 problems and got 430 only. 800 on Q tho. I will retake it in June. Where is the Kaplan Office. Is that the one by Marriot. How is ur working experience stuff.
 
MSUPokerGod said:
I got offered a 12k scholarship to the BU MSMF (equivalent to MFE) with a 800Q, 500V, and a 3.38 GPA fwiw. Really to get a 800 just take the GRE a few times unofficially by yourself or in a (free) Kaplan proctored testing environment. They run free tests every so often at the Kaplan office at MSU. It'll give you a feel for the timing.
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I retook the GRE test, and got 790 on V and 800 on Q, which is not bad. I am off to BU during the second summer session to take a Chemistry and a Abstract Algebra. Hopefully, I can get some information. How is life in Vegas.
 
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