Profile Evaluation for MFE Programs 2027-28 Cycle

[gatterman]

Hello!

I will be a BS-MS (it's an integrated program where you complete both degrees together) in Mathematics from a top (but small and new, hence unknown) Indian Institute in May 2025. I have an offer from a BB in their Model Validation team, and it will probably be posted with their Traded Pricing Model Validation group as I join. UGPA is 8.0/10.0, and the MS part is a 1-year thesis-based research MS. I have a solid background in Stochastic Calculus, Algorithms, and Discrete Math. My MS thesis is in Theoretical Computer Science. I also have a publication in the same field at an A* conference where I (along with co-authors) designed a new algorithm.

My low GPA is because my Math Department is very stringent with grades and sometimes even refuses to award the top-most grade, saying that class performance hasn't been as they (the profs) expected. In addition to this, the classes were really small (6-10 people at max), and even for classes clustered together, they awarded different grades for small mark variations (as low as a 0.5 difference in total score out of 100 can get you from a A to a B+ or even B!). I plan to take the CFA exams and hopefully clear it till level 2. My thesis and research work is unrelated to finance, but coursework involved a lot of measure theory, measure theoretic probability, stochastic calculus, and a project on stochastic calculus in addition to many data science, statistics, and core math courses (like abstract algebra and topology).

I just wanted some general evaluation of my profile and comments on things I can do to improve it. How long should I stay in Model Validation? Seniors from my program who joined similar jobs say there will be opportunities where you may be moved to FO after 1.5 years of experience, but I'm not banking on this. The work in traded pricing validation is mathematical, but I'm afraid it'll get repetitive soon. What should be my strategy on this front? Should I keep interviewing for FO jobs, or does it not matter? It's quite hard at present to get an interview if you're not contacting a company through your career support cell. I don't have the option to enroll in seminar courses at reputed institutes because of my location. I'm pessimistic about getting into the top 10 MFE programs, but I guess I will try. What would be your advice? I'll be an international student targeting US schools if that matters.

 

[latus_rectum]

Tip - When you do apply, don't talk about why your grade is low, don't state that the prof/department/school is strict. It doesn't help your case at all, rather it harms it. The grade is what it is.

It's difficult to predict how competitive it will be in 2027-28 cycle as every year the pool of good applicants keeps on increasing, and not linearly. You have a solid background in maths, try to get some programming experience (c++ if you want to do hft, python in all other cases) if you don't have any.
Regarding model validation or if you should switch - it depends on what you want to do after mfe. Is it quant research, quant dev, trading, hft dev, risk (model alidation) ? Depending on the role you want, try to align in that direction. Another thing to think about - After mfe, rarely anyone becomes quant researcher, mostly people are quant analysts disguised in "qr" job title. If you want to do qr, you will need phd.

 

[meowminimeow]

Hey, Can I dm you, just wanna connect

 

[gatterman]

@2 above: Thank you. I wasn't planning on mentioning grades in my SoP. After all, I don't wanna come off as someone who blames the 'system.' I plan to join as a "QR" for a few years, see how well I like it, and then consider getting a PhD. Of course, this is conditional on getting accepted to a decent MFE program.

@above: sure, feel free to DM.