Top Master Financial Engineering Chances

If you did not get top grades in very rigorous math courses in college, it will be very tough to get into a top mfin program like princeton. However, you have an AMAZING GMAT score (how long did you study for that 790? good lord), and you have pretty good internships under your belt. If you can get strong recs, I think programs like columbia financial engineering/carnegie mellong mscf/berkeley financial engineering will definitely be possible. However, if your math grades were not excellent, I think princeton/stanford/nyu will be pretty tough to get into.

With you gmat score, why don't you work for a few years and then do a top MBA in the U.S.? It will open more doors for you in case you decide quantitative finance is not the right path.

You definitely have a good shot (790, wow!). I'm assuming you have the bare quant requirements down (differential calculus, integral calculus, multivariable calculus, linear algebra, ordinary differential equations)?

If you are still doing your degree, I recommend taking a few more quant classes next semester (probability, stochastic processes, PDEs, maybe an introductory programming class), and just kill those classes. You have a good enough background that I think the only glaring concern that the admissions offices would have would be 1) insufficient evidence of competency in quantitative coursework, and/or 2) insufficient evidence of motivation in quantitative finance. I think both of these concerns can be tackled by doing extremely well in a couple of more quant courses in your final semester. This would also be a good chance for you to develop a solid relationship with a quant professor so that they can attest to your quantitative abilities in a recommendation letter. Good luck!

You mentioned you have no proof of knowing how to program. Does that mean you do know how? If not, how can you know that programming is what you want to do?

As far as chances, agree with all of the above. No chance without the pre-req math classes, some chance with. What exactly is your objective of attending one of those programs?

AFAIK, Berkeley requires trading and programming experience.

Just dug out my notes from a Berkeley MFE info session. No guarantee of the accuracy of what I scribbled down:

-Finance experience (FT or internship) + CFA level I required.
-Programming experience required. There is a crash course in c++ offered right before the term begins. -Almost all students had degrees in math/stats/physics/engineering. Many had advanced degrees in those subjects. -Very very few students with degrees in business administration are admitted (unless coupled w/ quantitative second majors or advanced degrees)

Hey thanks for the great anwers so far. I studied 4 weeks for the GMAT, but i was preparing for it while going to uni, so i definitely did less than most people I know. My maths grades are prety good, For example in high school I got a perfect score most of the time. In university my maths grades place me in say the top 20% of the class. The problem is that I tend to do careless mistakes, which fuck up my scorss. Relevant courses would be multivariate calculus, linear algebra, financial mathematics, and statistics (by far my best subject). We even had one course which covered some programming but it was very very basic. There is no option to choose any courses in my uni, so I could not have chosen more. So Carnegie Mellon comp. finance would be possible? It seems like this is oen of the very best programs, if not the best. Would like to work in trading, but more on the quant side (jobs that cannot be easily replaced by computers). The entry level comp is amazing, i think at cmi it is more than USD150k, which is way better than M&A.

Andy Nguyen at Quantnet.com is the de-facto expert on MFE admissions. And his advice/help is absolutely free.

Recommend posting this there.

You mentioned that you have no programming skills test. Does that mean you do not know how? If not, how can you know that programming is what you do?

As for the possibilities, according to the above. No chance without the math pre-req, with a chance. What exactly is the purpose of attending one of these programs?

I can do some programming. In uni we had this on course and I realized that while everybody else was struggling, I found it very, very easy. I also wrote a couple of programs myself during class, But I am sure that the level is very basic. I meam I can use and understand classes, recursion, pointers and all that stuff, but it's not like there was any official projects that I completed and can show off. Wjy do I want to do this? USD150k entrance salary (at least) and good chances for hedge funds I guess, But I get the point. I just do not have the background. I guess I will stick to a regular master in finance say at lse or maybe even a master in management in st. Gallen, HEC, you name it

If you beef up your math/coding background to compensate for your major, I'd say you definitely have a shot at top MFE programs. You should apply to Princeton and MIT because those are Masters in Finance programs so less quant oriented. I haven't really done much research on Princeton and MIT though so I'm just guessing here. Definitely take this to quantnet.com

Well, Princeton and MIT try to be both MFEs and Finance MBAs. They're also much smaller.

MIT tends to go for younger applicants, Princeton tends to go for older. Princeton gives a lot more bang for the buck (MIT charges Sloan tuition), but MIT is the shorter program that gets you into the workforce in a year.

They both require a strong MFE-like quantitative background. And they both have 90% placement rates, the vast majority of that into the front office. (Largely because nearly all admits CAME from the front office)

I have 780 in gmat 2.5 years of work ex in total at organisations like Wipro Technologies and Capco.I am a CFA level 2 and FRM level 1 holder.I don't have any amazing internship experience at any top notch organisation and my GPA is pretty low (3.18).What chances do I have at various MFE and Mfin Programmes??