UCB MFE UCB MFE Admission Results Discussion

[Andy Nguyen]

Sure thing. I'll set up something later today and assign a few students as moderators of the group so they can invite/approve memberships to the group.

 

[YYL]

Thx Andy.
We have also set up a facebook group. But it is set to be "secret" to protect the students' privacy.
All students shown on the tracker have been invited, but it clearly not includes everyone.

So if any of you want to join us please send me a message.

 

[Chashu]

After being told on phone that you are admitted, how soon do you get the official mail?

 

[RainLee]

After being told on phone that you are admitted, how soon do you get the official mail?

I was told the admission via phone in early March and finally received the official letter last week... poor me
I know someone received it in mid-June. I guess the delay was because the graduate division would deal with the students of fall entrance first, then the spring entrance.

 

[Chashu]

OMG that is so much of delay. Don't they atleast drop a mail so that we have something in written that we can read everytime we find it difficult to believe that we are in

I was given the news last night over phone by Linda and I am just dying to have it on mail before I start celebrating!

 

[Chashu]

Plus when do you confirm that you are accepting the offer? And how much is the deposit?

 

[RainLee]

Plus when do you confirm that you are accepting the offer? And how much is the deposit?

Congrat~! I made the deposit of $3,500 within 3 weeks after the verbal admission. They will tell you the deadline for deposit via email.

FYI: you may expect to receive an informal admission letter within a week, and the official letter is just a piece of letter which contains no more information than the informal one

 

[Applicant MFE]

Hi All,​

​

I just wanted to know the chance of getting admitted into the program after being put on "Hold" status. I have also been asked to undertake preprogram courses in stats/Maths/C++. I haven't received an invitation for an interview, does this mean something to you? Can you advice me please.​

​

Thanks​

 

[Gan Yu]

From my experience, UCB will give you some tasks (including taking their pre-program courses) to fulfill when putting you in the Hold status. And from time to time, they will collect updates from you on those tasks and at the same time will add some more tasks to fulfill (still saying that there is no guarantee when you fulfill all these old and new tasks blablabla...). In a word, I don't think UCB thinks much of the time and efforts of applicants. In my view, it's not worth it to continue if you are in the Hold status.

 

[Applicant MFE]

From my experience, UCB will give you some tasks (including taking their pre-program courses) to fulfill when putting you in the Hold status. And from time to time, they will collect updates from you on those tasks and at the same time will add some more tasks to fulfill (still saying that there is no guarantee when you fulfill all these old and new tasks blablabla...). In a word, I don't think UCB thinks much of the time and efforts of applicants. In my view, it's not worth it to continue if you are in the Hold status.

What do you recommend me to do?

 

[ssk]

Which round did you apply ?

I submitted my application in Jan, was told that I am on hold in March and was given a set of tasks to do (including pre-program courses, taking a PDE course, C++ course, taking CFA level 1). Although I was planning to do most of their recommendations, there was not much I could do at that very moment since the pre program course are offered next year, CFA level 1 is in December and the courses I wanted to take were offered only in the Fall semester in my area.
After about 2-3 months without me sending me any updates to them they told me that Linda (the program director) wants to interview with me and she told me that I am accepted during the interview but she still wants me to do all of the items they told me before.

MY UNDERSTANDING is that hold means they want you but they want to see if they get better applicants. Not sure how it translates if you are a round 4 applicant since most of their seats are already taken.

if you really want to get into any MFE program I suggest you doing what they ask you to do. It will only make your resume stronger. You may have to wait and re-apply next year but if you complete all of the pre-program courses your chances of getting in next year are very high.

Hope this help ...

 

[Applicant MFE]

Hi, thank you very much for answering, I hope I could run with the same luck you did and meet you in the program. I applied during the 4th round. They also asked me to take the pre-prog courses and some additional courses. I'm going to take the pre-prog courses and I'm looking to take the other courses they recommended about PDE, C++, Matlab and Nummerical Analysis. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find these programs in my country and I'm looking to take some online courses but I don't really know which are the accredited institutions they refer to. The only difference is that I didn't receive any invitation for interviews but as well as you said I would have to wait for some more time. How did you prepare for the interview? Best wishes and regards.

 

[ssk]

Its not luck, trust me

You can contact the MFE program via email and ask them what institutions they recommend for taking online courses. They are usually very helpful.

I assume you have already done one interview which is with a current student and very technical ?

The second interview with Linda is not technical and its more about you as a person, your plans, why UCB, etc.

 

[Applicant MFE]

No, I have not been interviewed, that's the strange thing. Actually I have already reached them they are very kind and helpful.

 

[Applicant MFE]

Hi, any news about what happened to sky or parka?

 

[Sky]

I was rejected. Moreover, UCB didn't even notify me in time. My application status online read "Hold" until the first day of classes. I kept trying to contact them during my time in the pre-program courses (and shortly after), but nobody responded. So, on the first day of class of the actual program (a Monday, if I recall), I gave them a call again (since I knew at least somebody had to be in the office), and that is when I found out that I was rejected. They did say that they sent the notification letters out on the Friday before classes began. Wow. How do they expect the letter to get to me in time? And, moreover, I'm in the states. I know that there were a ton of international students applying as well, so I think it would take even longer to get to them!

I have a funny feeling that they didn't even really look at my application. I say this because, in their initial response to me about my Waitlist status, they suggested that I take some courses that I had already taken as an undergrad. I sent them a question about it, but they never responded.

 

[Keith Tan]

if an acceptance notification is not received up till the day the classes start, save your time and and automatically assume your application failed. the world still goes on. if you're accepted, you will receive tons of notifications to register, financial bills, scholarships, etc regardless of a formal acceptance. approximately one month before classes start universities would have confirmed attendance of incoming students.

 

[Applicant MFE]

I am still on status On Hold, and still not receive an interview appointment. I am starting to prepare for the preprogram courses. So I guess I have no chances right?
Even though I will take the preprogram courses because I think it will streghten my application process at other programs. Thanks for your comments.

 

[Ian Kaplan]

I'd say 3/4 of my time is simply typing everything in LaTeX.)

LaTeX does produce beautiful documents. I have been meaning to learn it, since it has nice integration into R via Sweve.

I currently use OpenOffice, which has a very nice, LaTex like expression package. I've been using this for over a year for my MFE homework.

 

[alain]

... since it has nice integration into R via Sweve.

Learn knitr http://yihui.name/knitr/