Suggestion for improvement.

[Cplusplus]

Hi, I am currently a software engineer. I graduated with a degree in applied mathematics from UCLA this year. I made some mistakes in my undergraduate days. I was not focus in my study, or getting good grades. I wish i can say i party all day, but i was also a nerd. I love to entertain myself with problems. I love to read professional journals in economics, mathematics, and philosophy. I would commonly take a challenging course without my much preparation at all, or get into a course on the fifth week of class. Anyways, i think i have learned my lesson, and am fully committed to what i want for my future. I wish to apply to an MFE program. The mistakes i made in my undergrad days lead to an low gpa( general gpa: 3.1, subject GPA: 3.2). I want to do whatever i can to improve my odds to be admitted into a good program. My plan right now is to work part time, and take some evening classes at SJSU. The classes i will take would be a combination of math, and economic classes. Any suggestion would be great. I don `t care how long, or how difficult.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Your best bet would be to appeal to the "work experience" segment of the applicant pool. Each program admits a number of students who have relevant work experience to diversify their incoming class and to provide balance to the newbie group.
These "experienced" guys normally don't compete head to head with the fresh graduates in term of grades.
You would want to show that you can bring value to the program, be it real world programming skill, corporate policies, work ethics, determination.
If you can show that, you will get your seat in the world.

 

[Cplusplus]

^

I plan to work for a year, and in this year, i will retake classes where i got a B, or less, and take new classes( economic). This would at least tell them that i can handle the academic challenge if i am admitted. Would this be helpful, or not?