What MFE Schools I be considering.

[Mehrab Kooner]

Hello All,

I have just recently graduated from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. I went to their Sauder School of Business and received an Bachelor of Commerce degree in Finance with an overall of 75%.

Here are some of the relevant courses I have taken with grades:

Calculus I - A-
Calculus II - A-
Calculus III - B+
Elementary Differential Equations I - B-
Matrix Algebra - A (Pretty much Linear Algebra)
Introduction to Linear Programming - B+
Program Design - A- (Java Programming Course)
Program Design for Engineers - A+ (C++ Programming Course)
Object Oriented Computing - A-
Descriptive and Elementary Inferential Statistics - B+
Intermediate Statistical Inference - B
Corporate Finance - A

**However, my biggest issue is I took the GRE exam and scored a 153 on the Quantitative portion. Due to not preparing properly for the exam and having to make a 4 hour commute and crossing a border to reach my nearest available test center. I do not have enough time to rewrite the exam and apply for schools.**

NOTE: Retaken exam, new score 160Q


Given my situation, do I have a shot at getting into schools such as NYU-Poly and Columbia MSOR? If not are there any suggestions to schools I should apply to for an MFE. I would prefer to be in the NYC area and take a program that has decent placements rates.

 

[mhy]

Your grades are fine, but your GRE is way too low. Admission to any MFE would be a long shot; retake the exam and get as close to 170 as possible.

 

[Butanjin]

Y not prepare a solid application for next year/intake session ? In the meantime try to get a job with one of the big 5 banks, preferably Capital Markets but even a Risk Management role ( preferably Market Risk but some other legit reporting groups should do) would help your career profile.

 

[Mehrab Kooner]

Ok. I have gotten an admit at Birkbeck College, University of London for an MFE. Also, I do have 8 years of experience in managerial positions for smaller firms.

 

[Butanjin]

My bad I was thinking you were a fresh graduate. Good luck with the career move.

 

[Mehrab Kooner]

You are right I have just recently graduated. But I have been working full time while pursuing my degree. I am 27 years old and have been working as an operations manager for a private construction company, organizing logistics, budget financing, inventory management and contract negotiations.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Ok. I have gotten an admit at Birkbeck College, University of London for an MFE. Also, I do have 8 years of experience in managerial positions for smaller firms.

Would really love if you can share your timelines of admission to Birkbeck MFE program on our Tracker

 

[Mehrab Kooner]

OK I have added my info

 

[Mehrab Kooner]

Hey Guys,
Just wanted to post an update, i rewrote the GRE Exam with about 2.5 weeks of prep and scored 160Q. Will that help my chances?

 

[TehRaio]

Hey Guys,
Just wanted to post an update, i rewrote the GRE Exam with about 2.5 weeks of prep and scored 160Q. Will that help my chances?

yes of course, 160-170 scores on the quantitative are excellent.
took you only 2.5 week? that's great.

 

[CasanovaJ]

160 could be OK for NYU-Poly, but other places might still be a bit tough--

http://www.math.columbia.edu/mafn/admissions/test-score-statistics/

 

[Mehrab Kooner]

160 could be OK for NYU-Poly, but other places might still be a bit tough--

http://www.math.columbia.edu/mafn/admissions/test-score-statistics/

Thanks for the help, but I think these statistics are from Columbia's Math Department and MSOR is in their Engineering department.

Also, looking at Baruch College's admission statistics:
http://mfe.baruch.cuny.edu/admission-stats/

It does show them letting in a few people with GRE Scores of 159 - 161 in the past. So, maybe I should try working on the rest of my application instead.

 

[CasanovaJ]

Hello All,
I would prefer to be in the NYC area and take a program that has decent placements rates.

What are the placement rates for Columbia MSOR and NYU-Poly, and what part of your background do you think would compensate for your being (at best) in the very bottom quartile of Baruch's GRE statistics?

I'm not trying to be rude here-- I'm just trying to prompt you to think through a $100k investment.

 

[Mehrab Kooner]

What are the placement rates for Columbia MSOR and NYU-Poly, and what part of your background do you think would compensate for your being (at best) in the very bottom quartile of Baruch's GRE statistics?

I'm not trying to be rude here-- I'm just trying to prompt you to think through a $100k investment.

I believe my extensive work experience in operations mangment and logistics can compensate for my lower scores. Also, GRE scores can vary depending on the test given and how the test taker performs. On the two power prep practice tests I score 161 and 164. So, I don't necessarily believe myself to be in the lowest quartile just to have preformed worse than expected. I believe schools know this and take into consideration that test scores can vary depending on the day.

In addition, I do not think I will be applying to Baruch college. I just included their statistics because they are a top quant program and still accepted students with GRE scores in the lower 160s.

 

[TraderJoe]

Your GRE score is actually extremely high. You will have an excellent chance of admission at IIT-Chicago or Minnessota. The quality of education at these schools is as good as the quality of education at the top-ranked schools. But you should be mentally prepared to return to your home country after you get your degree and find a job in your home country.

 

[Mehrab Kooner]

Your GRE score is actually extremely high. You will have an excellent chance of admission at IIT-Chicago or Minnessota. The quality of education at these schools is as good as the quality of education at the top-ranked schools. But you should be mentally prepared to return to your home country after you get your degree and find a job in your home country.

Thanks for the advice, I have already applied of the University of Minnesota FinMath program. From reading the reviews it seems that job placement within the twin-cities is high upon graduation. However, I have also been researching Stevens MFE which also seems to be receiving positive feedback in its reviews. They also have a GPU Computing in Finance course that really interests me, where they use the NVIDIA cuda platform. Maybe something similar to Bit Coin mining using the GPU opposed to the CPU.

Also, I am a Canadian citizen so going back to my home country won't be that bad either.