MFin Programs- am I competitive?
Hi,
I would like some honest feedback to know if I would be competitive at placements at top tier MFin places such as MIT, Princeton, LSE, of Oxford MFE.
I am about to graduate from University of Waterloo (Canada) B.Math mathematical finance with an 81%~ dont really know how that converts been told it should be a 3.7 but can't be sure.
I have a mathematical background and during my internships I have worked alot with Matlab, VBA, and some testing on C++, but mostly matlab and vba.
Internships:
1) Financial Analyst with a big back (nothing too special)
2) Quantitative analyst(intern) at big bank
I would appreciate honest advice.
Thanks
Waterloo is a brand name Canadian school and Princeton does like Canadians. (apparently they are as smart as other non-US people and North Americans are underrepresented in quant programs.) The banking internships help. I think the GPA is a net neutral at that level, though you personally should be proud of it.
One thing that you didn't mention was your programming background. Some MFE/MFin programs look for some sort of programming course taught at a Computer Engineering or CS curriculum level.
My rough guess:
10-20% shot at Princeton (above average chance and worth an app but don't feel bad if you get rejected.) 30-40% at MIT 60-70% that you'll get in at at least one CMU, Cornell or NYU MFE program if you apply at all three.
Waterloo and the 81% helps, but I think what makes you really competitive is the banking internship. We can improve upon this if you have some interesting extracurriculars. A Math major/ bank QR guy/ ______ where ___ is some sort of impressive sport credential would be a very very serious contender at Princeton. Though as it stands you would be a fairly serious candidate if you have a brand name firm on your resume (RBC, BMO, or any US BB firm).
If it helps, 50-60% of Princeton's admits historically have merely been lucky versions of yourself (this includes myself.) But they got lucky.
Where do you want to work when you finish grad school?
Princeton's deadline is 12/1 IIRC. Do you have a personal statement, GRE test, and referrers all lined up?
@TNA may have some insight on MIT and a few of the European schools. But if you're going for Europe, it would be nice to hear that you want to work in London, Frankfurt, Paris, etc and not New York or Toronto before people do the work of estimating your odds at LSE.
If you get a 700+ on your GMAT you will definitely be competitive at both LSE and Oxford and are likely to get admision from at least one of them. Both like quant-heavy backgrounds and add 2 finance-related internships to that and you're a good candidate. Some extracurriculars would be good though although they will not make or break your admission (GMAT will, make sure you do well).
But it's like IlliniProgrammer says, if you want to work in the US you'd be better off trying to get into Princeton and MIT. It's not as if LSE and Oxford don't have significant brand value in the US would it's really shit if you have to fly there for your AC's etc.
Thanks for the feedback, as far as location is concerned I really don't mind being in the UK, atleast early on in my career. But I am curious to know, are top tier us schools like Princeton or MIT more selective than LSE/MFE/Imperial (top ones from UK)?
LSE Finance and Oxford MFE both have acceptance rates of about 5% so while I do not know about MIT or Princeton, I find it difficult to imagine they are significantly more selective. Exposure to international students is also huge at LSE/Oxbridge. UK students are actually a minority (not a joke).
But I wouldn't worry about selectiveness. You can never go wrong with MIT, Princeton, LSE, or Oxford because they're all super prestigious. Just pick the programme that suits your career goals best.
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