Chances of getting into good schools for MSF
Hi, I'm an international student but have completed my undergrad in engineering from a TOP 20 US Eng school. I'm keen on pursuing my MSF in the US. I wanted to know my chances of getting into Vandy, URochester, Boston College, UTexas Austin, U Utah and Villanova. Any other school recommendation guys? The question also is concerned towards great placement post education & work sponsorship to international students. I know it is tough to get a work sponsorship but still want to pursue MSF in the US.
Will be applying in the first round for Fall 2017 admission.
My Profile: Age 24
BS. Material Eng from Top 20 US Eng school. Bad 2.9 GPA though.
Passed all levels of CFA, FRM & CAIA exams in one attempt.
Just started working at a PE firm in my home country as an analyst. Will have more than 1yr work exp. till school starts.
Managing a personal & client portfolio since last 1.5 yrs worth a huge amount.
gmat score: 700. Will again be attempting for a higher score.
I'm concerned about the schools being inflexible about their GPA req. and completely neglecting CFA & other exams which, will put me in a disadvantageous position.
Awaiting your feedback guys.
Anyone?
With your background, passing all levels of the CFA (by 24 wow congrats), and even the 700 GMAT I would say you stand a great chance at Vandy/UT and are probably a lock at Nova/BC. I would eliminate Rochester and Utah from consideration.
Thanks bro. When I spoke to UTexas Austin fellows, they said that MSF won't add value u should look at something else. Now I'm in a dilemma whether to pursue MSF or not. As I might have passed CFA all levels but I don't have a strong work exp. there. So I might even have to cross out MBA in near future. What is ur take on it? As a far fetch idea i'm planning MBA from Canada in 2 yrs. Will it be too early?
I don't know your whole story, and I have not even applied to business school before, but I imagine with a bit more work experience (perhaps waiting that 2 years as you alluded to) you could be competitive at a decent business school. I picked a few T25 MBA Programs from U.S. News as examples.
Georgetown: GMAT 80% range: 640 - 740 GPA: 2.92 - 3.77 Owen: 650 - 720; 3.1 - 3.7 Kelley: Average GMAT: 668 GPA: 3.36
Thanks for the info bro. Will check out more abt it on the US News website. I guess if I really want to get into good school, I will try offsetting my low GPA with even higher GMAT and 2+ WE. The only thing I worry about US education is the post-education work Visa thing. One ends up investing so much into the MBA program n then a lottery decides your fate whether you can work there or not. This whole process makes that MBA investment very risky, therefore, I was considering pursuing MBA from Canada. Canada has a much friendlier immigration policy and lower competition (downside: lower reputation also but regionally recognized well), thereby, higher chances of me getting in with lower WE. Any take on Canadian business schools? Good ones there are Ivey, Rotman, McGill & Queens. Queens has MFin+MBA (16 months) which I feel would suit me well. What's your view?
My understanding is that Ivey's MBA is a one year program. This is a huge downside since you don't get to intern over the summer and receive a return offer for the following year. In terms of MBA in Canada I would only look at Rotman or McGill.
Depends on what you want to do. If you want to be banking that GPA will follow you into recruiting which will make it extremely difficult to get looks.
Yeah, I'm targeting IB but I'm flexible enough to pursue something like PW/IM. It is all about working at a BB firm post education. Yeah, that whole GPA thing is killing me. Tried offsetting it with CFA but unfortunately IB really doesn't care about CFA.
3.0 GPA in a hard major 700 GMAT CFA Work Experience
Vandy (50% Chance) , URochester (100%), Boston College (75%), UTexas Austin (60%) , U Utah (100%) and Villanova (100%)
Vandy, BC and UT Austin will all depend on the strength of the foreign applicant pool. I don't think the GPA will be your biggest hurdle though. IMO, the issue is you are trying to stand out from the other pool of foreign applicants. Many (most tbh) have an engineering background and have some or all of the CFA done. The work experience is good and will help you. Vanderbilt gets a ton of foreign applicants with amazing profiles. They also don't let a ton of international students in the program. So your odds will largely depend on the strength of the applicant pool for that year.
Same with UTA. I give you slightly higher odds there since they prefer non business undergrads. You'll most likely get into BC, but their process is rather nebulous. They could say yay or nay, who knows. You'd be a good applicant there and I do think you'd get in, but don't put all your eggs in that one basket.
Thanks TNA. You have been real specific about my program acceptance chances. Yeah, even I observed that the international incoming students are usually one notch above the class profile. The competition is just too crazy. Yeah, I'll apply everywhere above, making sure at least I'm in a position to make a program choice, esp. from the top notch programs. TNA, ur msfhq website is really helping prospective students in shortlisting the right programs. Keep up the good work!
Hey TNA, if one goes purely by placements (irrespective of the region), how would you rank the MSF program from best to very good. Please feel free to include other programs as well which you feel are worth considering.
Vandy 50%, really? Get off your high horse. I've read about kids with "poorer" profiles get in. Don't listen to this guy, OP. And by the way, his profile isn't "poor", just his GPA. MSF admissions are very different, your GMAT will offset the GPA. The main problem will be your CFA.
And @OP, if you really went to top 20 school and have passed all CFA exams, then start networking immediately. You don't need an MSF, trust me. Start looking for unpaid summer internship if you have to. Get the BIWS networking toolkit and work hard! If you're willing to start from the bottom, then your GPA shouldn't be a problem. If you want BB/buy-side with no experience, good luck with that.
Dude, go clown elsewhere. Vandy sees 700 GMAT's all the time. That doesn't offset a 2.9GPA.
Applicant is Indian with an engineering degree. Vanderbilt has a class size of roughly 50 students. 26% are international. That is 13 slots. Average GMAT is 690 (this means international kids will have an average GMAT of 700 or above). There will be a ton of people with various levels of the CFA, engineering degrees with GPA's above 2.9 and a 730-50 GMAT.
50% is a very realistic odds assessment.
God, I just read the rest of your ass advice.
1) OP went to a top 20 ENGINEERING program. =/= top 20 overall program. 2) Telling the OP to simply network because he has all 3 CFA levels done is utterly useless. Without school and being in the US this will be impossible. You also have Visa issues to worry about. 3) GPA will 100% be an issue without a grad school GPA to compensate. 4) A 700 is a good GMAT. Compared to international applicants it isn't that special. Chinese and Indian kids skew these GMAT averages. Fact.
IMO, I would stop giving advice when you have zero understanding of the process of basis. You are essentially a troll at this point. This guy is looking for actual help and you do nothing for him by saying this shit. A 50% shot at Vanderbilt is a good percentage and worth applying to. I'd consider this a reasonable stretch school to apply to.
Furthermore, how about a little respect? Especially considering the amount of questions I've answered for you. But I guess my advice is ass and worthless until it is you asking for it.
Its for a fact that poor GPA can be overcome by a great gmat score. I guess I need to try harder. Its tough being in a foreign country to network the way to secure a job abroad. Given US has some really competitive pool, its next to impossible. I have recently joined a PE firm, that should add a year worth of experience till I join an MSF program. Yeah, no ambitions here. Just looking for a way to get into a good school and then rising from the bottom. For Vandy with avg. GMAT of 686, I might have to work my butt off to get a much better gmat score. Thanks for the advice bro.
If IB is what you're after then I would give the Georgetown MSF program a serious look.
I just checked Georgetown MSF program. It is an online program. Not sure if they have a part-time MSF but as an intl. student I'm not allowed to pursue a part-time program. Thanks anyways!
Not sure if you ever went for your MSF but they offer full time in person now in case it is a consideration.
No interest in European MSF programs?
Actually I am. Haven't given them a serious consideration yet. Need to check them out. The only issue is that most program there, excl. UK, may place me in other parts of EU and I'm worrying about the communication issues that I might face. If you can suggest few programs which have good placements in UK, I would definitely check them out.
Ex-UK I would recommend Bocconi, HEC, Esade and St Gallen. Don't know much about the other two although I hear they place well, but Bocconi and HEC most definitely place a ton of people in IBD in London each year.
You'd be competitive at SSE. I love their program. Very cheap, beautiful campus and city, lots of alums in London and some in Dubai, and they have this exchange semester program to some of the very best business schools in the US(think M7). You should apply! I don't think they have a GPA cutoff but check out their website to make sure. HEC would ding you, save your app money. It's almost as selective as LSE. As for Boconni, yeah I like their program but I hate that city. Boconni is virtually unknown outside of Europe. The major plus for the SSE is the exchange semester.
Not sure what you mean by UK schools 'placing out somewhere else in the EU' - presumably you wouldn't get a job where you didn't meet the language requirements (often Native + English, or just Native fluency), so it wouldn't be an issue in that sense. You would have to place in the UK/(ex)Commonwealth or the US/Canada for English, or your native country presumably. Also most UK schools have majority of their placements in the UK from what I remember seeing (at least per their report).
Basically you cited language as an issue with UK schools; I don't see how it is.
I think I didn't say it right. I meant, if I pursue an MFin program outside of UK, I need to find a job in UK only (english only req.) as I do not possess the language fluency to work in any other EU country.
Guys any idea about the IE Business school program? Its placements in UK? They claim to be best school for IB placements.
Carnegie mellon. Have a friend that landed S&T at a BB.
Where did that come from? They don't even have MSF
Sorry, MS in computational finance.....which I put in the same category as an MSF or MS FIN engineering. Didn't realize I needed to split hairs.
i agree with IBbafoon. there are nice discussion about school. it will be helpful to everyone.
Hi All,
I was also think of getting an MSF and was hoping you can tell me which programs are reasonable for me.
3.4 gpa from a california state school in Biology. CFA level 1 passed, post-bac classes at a community college and cal-state ( linear algebra, econ etc) 4.0gpa.
My goal is to get into IB/PE like OP. Was thinking to do a MSF prior to MBA. .. Any help would be much appreciated!
I got accepted into Vandy's MSF program for Fall 2016. Undergrad Math GPA 3.24; Finance GPA 3.5; GMAT top 4%. I am also international, but I got my bachelor degree in US. At the same time I know of at least one of my future classmates who had a pretty low GPA with a high GRE score. I think you might have a chance at Vandy. I would recommend calling the admission office and talking to somebody they might give you an honest answer. Feel free to PM me.
Hey there @julienkgb. I'm glad to hear that Vandy is flexible enough to accommodate students with low GPA. I gave a deep thought and after discussing with lots of fellow monkey and have decided to go ahead with an MBA rather than MSF. Given that I have already completed CFA, MSF won't add much value.
I wish you good luck with ur MSF! And thanks for the input!
unless it's a good MBA, don't bother yet. you'd be in m7 in a few years if you work the work.
Already with a CFA/FRM blah blah certification what are you going to learn ?
MSF will merely a recap of it and a waste of money. 2.9 Engg GPA= 3.5 Non Engg GPA, in my books.
Either put in some more time and apply for top MBA or go for a MFE degree where you will actually learn some shit. None of the schools you listed have any brand value that includes Vanderbilt too.
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