How much does GPA matter in MFE admissions

[Joy Pathak]

Oh Wow. Never knew that Andy. That is excellent. Makes me value this forum/Site even more.

 

[coolharvard]

In general, GPA plays a small part of how we evaluate an applicant profile. Very low GPA is very indicative of one's academic performance. However, high GPA in many case does not translate to a higher probability of admission.

There are many things taken into account when we evaluate GPA. It's one thing having high GPA in a super competitive institution, it's another having a 4.0 from a community college. It's one thing to have high GPA from one of the Ivy schools that are known for grade inflation, it's another to have relatively lower GPA but with other credentials to make up.

Just curious, what Ivy schools are known to have inflated GPA? I live in West Coast, so I don't hear much about the reputation regarding inflated GPA from Ivy League.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

A more interesting question would be "which Ivy school is not".
Just for fun reading, refer to a related thread I posted recently Princeton to clam down on grade inflation - QuantNetwork - Financial Engineering Forum

It's a fact of life in higher education and it's why as gate keepers, we don't take lot of things on face value.

 

[coolharvard]

A more interesting question would be "which Ivy school is not".
Just for fun reading, refer to a related thread I posted recently Princeton to clam down on grade inflation - QuantNetwork - Financial Engineering Forum

It's a fact of life in higher education and it's why as gate keepers, we don't take lot of things on face value.

Well, from article, we can only say that Princeton does not inflate their students' GPA. However, we can not conclude anything from the other 7 Ivies.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Let's settle this matter once and for all. If you need data to back up this open secret, there is an article for you.
Want a Higher G.P.A.? Go to a Private College - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com

 

[Akshay Sekar]

Hello.

TL;DR :
Very similar to the question at the beginning of the thread. Only difference being I haven't done an MBA. Hence do elaborate on my chances of overcoming a not so great GPA with work experience in a financial services company and CFA level 1.

Background :

I'm a graduate from NIT Trichy in Computer Science, an institute considered for the most part to be on par or slightly below the IITs, nonetheless, a premier institute in India. I have a GPA of 7.47/10 and I am currently working in Fidelity Investments as a software developer (1 year). I am preparing for the level 1 exam of CFA which I'll be taking in December.

Given the background, I have a few basic doubts:

1. How much will my GPA matter to get into the top universities for MFE(Columbia, CMU, GaTech). Will my work experience in a financial services company and CFA clearance help with offsetting the lack of GPA.

2. How different are Financial Engineering, Quantitative Finance, and Computational Finance. A fair estimate of the percentage of computer science exposure that is associated with each of them.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!