• C++ Programming for Financial Engineering
    Highly recommended by thousands of MFE students. Covers essential C++ topics with applications to financial engineering. Learn more Join!
    Python for Finance with Intro to Data Science
    Gain practical understanding of Python to read, understand, and write professional Python code for your first day on the job. Learn more Join!
    An Intuition-Based Options Primer for FE
    Ideal for entry level positions interviews and graduate studies, specializing in options trading arbitrage and options valuation models. Learn more Join!

Would I have a chance at a top school?

mak

Joined
3/10/10
Messages
2
Points
11
I have a BS and MS in mechanical engineering from a mediocre state school. I also had mediocre grades (3.2 gpa) and I have mediocre work experience...haha. I got a 1400 on the GRE with 790 on the quant portion. I ask because I took a look at the UCB student bios and I started to get queasy, so now I'm wondering what school I should shoot for in terms of applying. Thanks for the help.
 
There are always a place for you in the vast universe of schools accepting applicants. The only trick is to apply to a few "top" schools, a few "not so top" schools and find where you have a better chance.

As for the profiles on the website, keep in mind these are written by marketing people to make it sound more impressive than they really are. It's always the case everywhere so don't get intimidated.
 
mak said:
I have a BS and MS in mechanical engineering from a mediocre state school. I also had mediocre grades (3.2 gpa) and I have mediocre work experience...haha. I got a 1400 on the GRE with 790 on the quant portion. I ask because I took a look at the UCB student bios and I started to get queasy, so now I'm wondering what school I should shoot for in terms of applying. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Is it a flagship state school for engineering or a semi-flagship like UIC or UWM? Is it top 100 in US News?

If either is true, stop calling it a "mediocre" state school. Heck, no state engineering program is really mediocre if you're covering Physics, Diffy'Qs, TAM, and everything else.

I had a moderate GPA in engineering from a state school and I got into several financial engineering programs in the same league as UCB and got to final round interviews with what many claim is the best finance program in the country. I opted to stay in industry because of a job offer.

Bear in mind that a 3.7 GPA in Math or Econ is usually a lot easier to get than a 3.2 in an engineering discipline. Stop worrying; focus on getting strong recs and see if you can get your GRE up to 800Q/650V or better yet, 800Q/700V. This is a test that you can study for.

At the end of the day, Berkeley itself is a practical state school- you know how they operate- they value experience, hard work, and competence as much as they value "prestige". They *get it* that not everyone can afford MIT or Rose-Hullman and that getting into some of these schools is sort of like winning the lottery. If you can get some sort of industry experience and prove that you're either a highly competent mechanical engineer or financier, you're going to be a competitive candidate- assuming you've also got strong recs. I wasn't all that competitive on academics, but industry experience and references from two coworkers- one with a PhD- really helped.
 
What's interesting about the GRE verbal score is that I've seen many American with lower verbal score than Chinese/Indian students. On the other hand, their writing score is usually higher. This is very indicative of how people learn the vocabularies to take the test. It's not unusual to see someone with a 600+ verbal score and a 3.5 AWA. This can be contributed to memorization of the voca list and not much of writing experience in everyday life.

I've looked at over 1000 applications to date and I can count on one hand the number of applicants with 700+ verbal (that includes both American and others). Most people would fall into the range of 450+, 4.0 AWA.

Most people would go into the range
 
Back
Top