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Some questions on admissions

kartikchopra

Joined
9/4/10
Messages
24
Points
11
Hi,

Well this is my first post on quantnet & here goes.

I am a final year student of bachelors of engineering in electronics & telecommunication from pune university in India. My Gmat date is on Oct 1,2010. I have 0 years of work experience & my gpa is just above 3.5 according to a gpa calculator that i used on one of the prestigious US universities site to convert my percentage scores to a 4 point gpa. I want to pursue MFE/Mfin/MS in finance course in US universities.

I was always interested in finance,programming & economics from the beginning but decided to go for engineering as its a 4 year course in India rather than a 3 year course(like those for economics,commerce & finance).

But engineering has helped me achieve some mastery in the following programming field.The languages known by me are

1) C & C++
2) Matlab

Also we have studied 3 math intensive subjects known as Engineering Mathematics I, II & III which included the following

1) Advanced Calculus
2) Differential equations
3) Matrices
4) Probability
*(these subjects also studied in year 11 & 12 of school)*

Also most of our subjects in engineering do involve some form of calculus and/or differential equations.

My final year project is on secure banking system using biometrics & secure gsm banking

In year 11 & year 12 of school I also studied Economics along with my other science subjects. That has given me a basic idea of

1) Microeconomics
2) Macroeconomics
3) Economic strategies in India for socio-economic issues

I however have not studied any finance related courses.

Now for the questions:

1) If i get a 700+ in gmat(i am pretty sure i will), should i apply to the schools or drop a year, give gre & do some related courses meanwhile & then apply.

2) Do the US universities require college transcripts or university transcripts (there is a difference, I guess fellow Indians who have applied would be able to help me out on this)

3) Do the universities require year 10 & year 12 transcripts from school?

4) Now the biggest question, I have a slight(or huge) problem with my application currently.

You see our course is a 4 year course divided in to 8 semesters, Now i have the transcripts till the end of my 3 years which means i have 6 transcripts(one for each semester)

The problem is that in my 6th transcript, i have got a backlog in one of my practical exams, this was due to the fact that i had a severe stomach ache during the practical exam & i had to quit it in between & leave as it was getting unbearable. Later on an intestinal infection was discovered.

So now i want to know whether this will cause a huge negative impact on my application? (I think i saw the director of admissions, Baruch MFE on quantnet, I request him to answer this question as Baruch is one of the schools i want to apply to & one which i am considering seriously due to the location & fee advantage)

I am going to clear this practical exam by this November but our result's out only in February(along with the 7th transcript, The 6th transcript will change so i will have a new transcript ie. 7th & an edited old one ie. 6th) & that is too late to apply for a fall 2011 admission.

Thanks guys for making an amazing forum, the best there is on the internet. I am really looking forward to my answers soon.
 
1) It's important that you get 800 points on quantitative part of the test. Total score is not very relevant - but the higher the better.

2) You need a transcript which will list the courses you've taken, number of hours/credits and grades. How you or your school call them is not relevant.

3) No hight school transcripts are required.

4) You make your situation more complicated then it is. First of all, February is not late to apply. Second, when applying you can submit whatever you have on hands now, and explain that you will have more by the admission deadline and what will be there. After you admitted, only then official papers will be needed. Finally, address all the issues with any of your documents including transcripts in your admission essay. But don't talk about "ntestinal infection" and things like that. It's enough to say that it happed due to the health problems.

Good luck!
 
Uncle Max said:
1) It's important that you get 800 points on quantitative part of the test. Total score is not very relevant - but the higher the better.
!
Click to expand...

Thanks Uncle Max but theres just one detail you got wrong, I am giving the gmat right now & not the gre. Should i go for the gre?

What if i get a 50+ in Gmat quant? Is it good enough? (like we say that 800 is good enough for gre quant to get admission)
 
Andy Nguyen said:
Do the GRE which will give you a broader option to different programs.
Click to expand...

I agree that gre would be good but i have exams starting november so i would not be able to give gre atleast until January. Though i find the gre quant to be fairly easy, still i want to ensure that i get a perfect quant score.

Anyways Andy, Do you agree on all the information that Uncle max has given me & do you think i should apply this November for Fall 2011 admissions if i get a 700+ with a 99 percentile in quant on the gmat?
 
GRE/GMAT is only one component of your application and it is not sufficient to get admission by achieving a hight score. According to your profile, 3.5 GPA will be one of your biggest problems to get admitted to the top program like Baruch.
 
If you worry about not getting 800Q GRE, you have BIGGER problems to worry. More than 50% of applications I've looked at have 800Q and 450+ verbal score but majority of them got rejected quickly.

You have no idea how competitive admission at the most sought-after programs are.
Collection of Admission Numbers from MFE Programs | Quant Network
15 Reasons Your MFE Application Was Denied | Quant Network

I'm not interested in hearing about your sob story, what your problem was. I want to hear no excuses of your bad grades. I want results, achievements. This is a cut throat business and we do ourselves a disservice by lowering the barrier of entry.
 
Now that is concerning. Do year 12 scores from school also count (stupid question though) , I had a gpa of 4.0 in it.
 
Uncle Max said:
GRE/GMAT is only one component of your application and it is not sufficient to get admission by achieving a hight score. According to your profile, 3.5 GPA will be one of your biggest problems to get admitted to the top program like Baruch.
Click to expand...

What is the minimum acceptable GPA? How important is it if I graduated 10 years ago? My undergrad GPA is below 3 and my MBA GPA is 3.55, does that mean I should waste no time with top schools?
Thanks.
 
You aren't asking a specific question which will lead to less useful answer.
Some programs will state their minimum cut off for TOEFL/GRE/GPA. Many don't.
Some will use a secret internal cut off number such as 100 for TOEFL.
While a high GPA is good, how you did in relevant courses are more important.

If you graduated 10 years ago, what have you done since then and what are you doing to prepare for the MFE?

You can see it's not fruitful to say much from the basis of some scores. Only when the whole application is presented, I will have a better idea.

Many people are going into the path of self-destruction when they cast a wider net. Like MBA, admission to top MFE programs are getting very specialized now. you need to customize your package to each program.
 
The GPA is only a part of the picture. If you are applying right out of college, it becomes very important since there is nothing much to show besides that. If you have been working for a few years or already have graduate degrees, the weight given to the undegrad GPA should be lower. It doesnt make sense to deny admission to a candidate based on the undergrad GPA if he/she has relevant work experience or other credentials.


AlexandreH said:
What is the minimum acceptable GPA? How important is it if I graduated 10 years ago? My undergrad GPA is below 3 and my MBA GPA is 3.55, does that mean I should waste no time with top schools?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
karthik which university's website did you calculate your gpa?
 
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