What 'level' of schools would I be competitive at?

[Bryce E]

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[Michsund]

Being a non-Asian is sort of an advantage. I had a 3.4 gpa and only had work experience at a recruiting firm for quantitative hedge funds. I would say your personal statement is extremely important as I believe it got me interviews for Princeton and CMU. My gre was 167-q and 156-v. I believe if I had done better that I may have been accepted to Princeton as that was one of the primary complaints. Once you get an interview at a school you must present yourself as someone who knows what they want to do and how your past actions will help you achieve that goal. If you do this you will get into a top school.

 

[Michsund]

Being a non-Asian is sort of an advantage. I had a 3.4 gpa and only had work experience at a recruiting firm for quantitative hedge funds. I would say your personal statement is extremely important as I believe it got me interviews for Princeton and CMU. My gre was 167-q and 156-v. I believe if I had done better that I may have been accepted to Princeton as that was one of the primary complaints. Once you get an interview at a school you must present yourself as someone who knows what they want to do and how your past actions will help you achieve that goal. If you do this you will get into a top school.

Big plus for me was that I’m a US citizen, but I’m not sure how much that affects admissions.