What are my chances

[Alex.L]

Hi Guys,

I am new to this place and will appreciate if you can take a look at my profile and estimate my chances, I am thinking about applying to top 15 MFE programs in 2016.

1) GRE: 168Q + 158V +3.5
2) GRE matth sub: 90%
3) work experience: so far 2 year back office analyst(IT) in a large Canadian IB.

4) GPA: GPA is my major concern. I got a low CGPA 3.2/4.0 from university of Toronto engineering department (top school in Canada), Math courses include Calculus, linear algebra, probability and stats, different equation, financial engineering, operational research and average on those courses is around 3.8/4.0, so basically my math grades are not bad but shitty marks for other courses.

5) I am also pursuing a master degree from u of Toronto, took some advanced courses like stochastic process, financial engineering, optimization,computational finance got 3.8/4.0 average on those courses.

I am not sure how they will evaluate CGPA vs. math related GPA. Can you guys estimate my chances for a top 15 program based on above profile ?

Thank you,

Alex.

 

[Pavlos Sakoglou]

Hi Alex, I am not a FE student yet but I think we are in the same place here, since I am trying to get admitted.
I spend the past 5 months preparing myself and reasearching what you are asking, I went to plenty universities gathering info (mostly in NYC), I followed information sessions for the programs, I met and asked current students of MSFE programs, +++, and some of my conclusions are these:

1) Depends the university you are applying at -> what prerequisites they want candidates to have. They usually set a minimum and the more competitive you are the better
2) Depends the timing you are applying. Some universities are evaluate applications on a rolling bases and it is advised to apply the earliest possible. Other universities evaluate with phases and that means you can game them, like figure out in which phase the less people apply and apply with them to be more competitive.
3) The Cover Letter is really important too, cause it is the only mean that you can technically "talk" to the admission's commitee and actually persuade them that you will be a great candidate for that program. My personal opinion on that is to explain them your "why", why this program really motivates you and why you want to follow this career +++.

At average, most universities require GPA 3.0 or more in specific courses and the average candidate has around 3.5 or something. Also, they usually require probability, linear algebra, programming (C++ or python), calculus, finance. About the GRE/GMAT, I don't think they have a minimum usually, but the average candidate belongs to the 85% percentile.

On the information you shared with us and in my experience, I believe you are really competitive and you won't have a problem at all. Maybe you lack some finance backgroung, but it is considerably easy to get it via coursera.org or self studying. But I would also advise you to target only the top 5 universities and focus there rather than splitting your time to many. Send them emails and ask about what they want from you, search their websites, etc, and prepare likewise. But again, you shouldn't worry.

I hope I helped! Good luck!

 

[Alex.L]

Hi Alex, I am not a FE student yet but I think we are in the same place here, since I am trying to get admitted.
I spend the past 5 months preparing myself and reasearching what you are asking, I went to plenty universities gathering info (mostly in NYC), I followed information sessions for the programs, I met and asked current students of MSFE programs, +++, and some of my conclusions are these:

1) Depends the university you are applying at -> what prerequisites they want candidates to have. They usually set a minimum and the more competitive you are the better
2) Depends the timing you are applying. Some universities are evaluate applications on a rolling bases and it is advised to apply the earliest possible. Other universities evaluate with phases and that means you can game them, like figure out in which phase the less people apply and apply with them to be more competitive.
3) The Cover Letter is really important too, cause it is the only mean that you can technically "talk" to the admission's commitee and actually persuade them that you will be a great candidate for that program. My personal opinion on that is to explain them your "why", why this program really motivates you and why you want to follow this career +++.

At average, most universities require GPA 3.0 or more in specific courses and the average candidate has around 3.5 or something. Also, they usually require probability, linear algebra, programming (C++ or python), calculus, finance. About the GRE/GMAT, I don't think they have a minimum usually, but the average candidate belongs to the 85% percentile.

On the information you shared with us and in my experience, I believe you are really competitive and you won't have a problem at all. Maybe you lack some finance backgroung, but it is considerably easy to get it via coursera.org or self studying. But I would also advise you to target only the top 5 universities and focus there rather than splitting your time to many. Send them emails and ask about what they want from you, search their websites, etc, and prepare likewise. But again, you shouldn't worry.

I hope I helped! Good luck!

Thank you Pavlos for your detailed reply and patience. I really appreciate you shared your experience with me

Yeah I will definitely consider some other courses in finance to improve my chance.

Good luck to you as well buddy!!

 

[moretodo]

I believe you are a competitive candidate. Be sure to highlight that you did well in the relevant courses in your SOP

 

[Alex.L]

I believe you are a competitive candidate. Be sure to highlight that you did well in the relevant courses in your SOP

I will ,thank you