Looking for Suggestions of MFE Program

[Bingshi Liu]

I am a current senior student in Indiana University. I am still looking for full-time opportunity in US but it seems that I have many disadvantages competing with native speakers at this time. So I think I really need some advice for choosing graduate school.

Basically I am finance major in Kelley School of Business. It will be a wise chosen for me to apply for a MF program somewhere but I fell in love with dammit financial derivatives after taking investment class. Therefore, I quit my accounting major immediately last year and prepare to graduate with another degree of B.A. in Mathematics.

My overall GPA is 3.42 and my math major GPA is 3.63. I think my math background is ready for MFE program and some courses from my finance major are also relevant. I have two internships in China as research consultant and financial analyst. However, I am Chinese and my verbal score for GRE is only 144 and quantitative of 169 but I will try another time in December.

Here comes the question, I know I only want to be a trader or quant in the future. Could anyone give me some suggestions about which tier schools should I apply for? I feel really bad fail that GRE test...

 

[TehRaio]

Hi, Bingshi
I'm a student @ IUPUI
have you had the opportunity of taking a look at the rankings on this forum?

 

[CasanovaJ]

I am still looking for full-time opportunity in US but it seems that I have many disadvantages competing with native speakers at this time.

If you can't get a job because you don't speak English, spending a year learning stochastic calculus won't improve your prospects much.

 

[TehRaio]

also just being chinese doesn't explain why you might not be at ease with speaking english. I'm a french native myself and I've had my issues with the language.
regarding the GRE, this is something that you can improve, don't let a score that you don't deem good enough discourage you

 

[Ian Kaplan]

also just being chinese doesn't explain why you might not be at ease with speaking english. I'm a french native myself and I've had my issues with the language.

There is a much shorter distance between French and english than english and chinese. The Norman invasion of England resulted in a number of french works or french derived words in english. None of this is true for Chinese. Also, french is written using Roman characters and Chinese is obviously not. So I think that it is much harder for a chinese speaker to learn english than it is for a french speaker. This said, I think that english skills are critical for graduate work and later employment.

 

[Bingshi Liu]

If you can't get a job because you don't speak English, spending a year learning stochastic calculus won't improve your prospects much.

Come on...I didn't mean that. I'm gonna show you a quick example here. Our business school has a website posting job opportunities for students, it clearly lists that most companies only receive U.S. Citizen, Permanent Resident Visa. I heard that if a company really want a international student, they should pay more than $5000 for signing new working visa for each person and sometimes these visas are limited in quantity to release as well. I don't think my English is awful but I am definitely not the best group of international students in US college. This is life.

 

[Bingshi Liu]

also just being chinese doesn't explain why you might not be at ease with speaking english. I'm a french native myself and I've had my issues with the language.
regarding the GRE, this is something that you can improve, don't let a score that you don't deem good enough discourage you

Thanks for your encouragement. I don't know French but the vocabulary of GRE is so hard for a Chinese speaker. I know this is not an excuse for me to fail the GRE so I will keep moving.

 

[C S]

Come on...I didn't mean that. I'm gonna show you a quick example here. Our business school has a website posting job opportunities for students, it clearly lists that most companies only receive U.S. Citizen, Permanent Resident Visa. I heard that if a company really want a international student, they should pay more than $5000 for signing new working visa for each person and sometimes these visas are limited in quantity to release as well. I don't think my English is awful but I am definitely not the best group of international students in US college. This is life.

Mid-size investment banks regularly spend more than $5000 a head for short (a week or less) courses of basic content for their entering analysts. That's in addition to the money that's spent on visas, health benefits, etc.

We have a surplus of computer displays on our floor of technologists, but some traders complain about only having two or three displays (compared to the 6 or 8 many of their colleagues on other teams have).

The ways of large corporations and their budgets are hard to understand sometimes.

And I'd be careful of making the kinds of deductions I think you are making. I regularly see entry-level international students without outstanding resumes get the benefits that I mention above. On the other hand, they aren't trying to be traders or quants. Rather, they are database or unix administrators,corporate technologists, business analysts, operations, etc. They get paid decently, reap the benefits, and gain valuable experience.

 

[pingu]

And I'd be careful of making the kinds of deductions I think you are making. I regularly see entry-level international students without outstanding resumes get the benefits that I mention above. On the other hand, they aren't trying to be traders or quants. Rather, they are database or unix administrators,corporate technologists, business analysts, operations, etc. They get paid decently, reap the benefits, and gain valuable experience.

<sarcasm> but I want to be a trader and make it rain</sarcasm>

 

[Daniel Duffy]

Interesting post, Ian. I feel we could have a great discussion on this. Here is my favourite on bridging the language gap.

Seriously, learning a language is difficult. Especially the comparatives.

 

[Livi]

In case of not being an english native speaker, can't you compensate your low GRE verbal score with a high TOEFL score?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

In case of not being an english native speaker, can't you compensate your low GRE verbal score with a high TOEFL score?

It can depend on which country you are from. Some applicants from certain countries are known to have very high GRE/TOEFL score but can't interact in English.
It helps if you have taken undergraduate courses in English-language environment. That's why you see a lot of applicants take summer courses in the US to improve their chance. This applies to all degree, not just to MFE.