Young College Student Looking for Grad. School Tips/Advice

[soundwaffle]

As the title states I am a college student who is interested in graduate school. I was wondering if anyone can give me advice about what can make me seem more appealing to these top notch graduate programs since I'm sure that GPA/GRE Scores aren't everything. Does the "ranking" of your undergraduate university matter in the admissions process?

 

[Ryan Shrott]

Everything matters a bit. Some things more than others. Academics and GRE scores probably matter most. Relevant job experience is also important. The "ranking" of your undergraduate university matters to some people, but maybe not so much to others.

 

[soundwaffle]

I need some more clarification on this whole "ranking" matter. For example, let's say that an admissions committee is looking at a kid from Harvard with a 3.2 GPA versus a kid from a top 200 university (so a university not so bad nor so WOW) with a 3.8 GPA. Would the 3.2 GPA be as good or even better than the 3.8? Also, do internships count as relative job experience because I know that these graduate schools accept people right out of undergrad.? If not university prestige then what separates the people from the numbers because clearly only a handful of applicants are chosen from a pool of equally qualified people?

 

[Ryan Shrott]

Your questions are very difficult to answer because all schools differ in application procedures. Having said that, I can speak on behalf of my own experiences with the application procedure. To answer your question, I think many schools would rather accept a student with higher grades from a less renown school. The personal essay is also very important and many schools consider it be as important as grades, GRE and work experience. You are correct that only a handful of students get accepted to the top schools. In order to be one of these students, you should excel in most of the attributes that compose an excellent application. At the same time, you should try to distinguish yourself from these students. STAND OUT! But don't spend your life on your 'resume'. You should focus on improving the skills which may help your career.

 

[soundwaffle]

I really hate playing the percentage and numbers game, but it's hard to ignore it considering the fact that I'm looking at all these stats from the quannet application tracker (still a pretty useful tool overall in my opinion)... you're probably right -- the interviews and essays are what most likely differentiates people from numbers. Aside from all of that, standing out in this type of situation is pretty darn tough!

 

[Four]

Your GPA, GRE scores mean everything, at least for the top MFE and MS Financial Math programs. I was told by an admissions officer once that if I don't get a certain score on the quantitative GRE test, then don't even bother applying. So, if you're not scoring above a school's cutoff you will not be accepted to the program. The good news is that because of the flood of international students with perfect GRE scores applying to schoosl like CMU and Columbia an American student can be accepted to these programs with slightly lower GRE scores. From my own observations in grad school this is because few Americans applicants can actually score that high on the quantitative GRE. The essay and work experience will further separate you from other equally qualified students with the same GRE scores and grades.

Ultimately, imho if your work experience is decent and essay is interesting then the dealbreaker will be your scores and grades. If you scored a 900 on the math GRE subject test I don't think there is any essay or resume that anyone can write that can beat this.

 

[soundwaffle]

Thanks to both of you for the advice! So if I get like a 3.7-3.8 from a top 200 college and a 90%+ GRE & GRE Math Subject along with some (2-3) internships, part-time jobs, awards, & research assistance then do I have a good chance for MIT or Princeton? (Considering I have decent essays & interviews too) Oh and one more thing, is the GRE Math Subject test an optional test because I see that many of these graduate schools don't REQUIRE it since they only want a GMAT or GRE score.

 

[whatismyname]

Thanks to both of you for the advice! So if I get like a 3.7-3.8 from a top 200 college and a 90%+ GRE & GRE Math Subject along with some (2-3) internships, part-time jobs, awards, & research assistance then do I have a good chance for MIT or Princeton? (Considering I have decent essays & interviews too) Oh and one more thing, is the GRE Math Subject test an optional test because I see that many of these graduate schools don't REQUIRE it since they only want a GMAT or GRE score.

Great chance at MIT. Maybe not at Princeton. These are both MSF programs.

Math subject test is useless, especially when you are applying for MSF.

 

[Four]

A really good gpa from your school imho is non-negotiable. If you can score in the 90+% on the general GRE math portion and like 70+% on the math subject GRE you'll get into a top MFE (it's not a PhD in math program so I doubt if their cutoff is at the 90th percentile!) When you get there though be aware that international students are held to higher standards than Americans (because tbh so few Americans are able to perform at such a high level academically), so you are going to struggle to keep up because the Chinese and Indian students and PhDs are zipping through classes like its kindergarten. That's been my personal experience.

 

[soundwaffle]

This is my first post ever on the forum and I'm very happy that people are sharing their wisdom with me. So is the lack of rank at my university holding me back in terms of my application on paper (I've always thought that and don't want to think that but still do...)? Is it still worth my time to study for a near perfect GRE math subject test score even if I'm only applying to MFin and like maybe one or two masters in financial econ./engin.? I'm asking all these questions because I have a deep seeded fear that I'll try so hard to achieve these goals only to fail due to lack of foresight.

 

[whatismyname]

This is my first post ever on the forum and I'm very happy that people are sharing their wisdom with me. So is the lack of rank at my university holding me back in terms of my application on paper (I've always thought that and don't want to think that but still do...)? Is it still worth my time to study for a near perfect GRE math subject test score even if I'm only applying to MFin and like maybe one or two masters in financial econ./engin.? I'm asking all these questions because I have a deep seeded fear that I'll try so hard to achieve these goals only to fail due to lack of foresight.

Math subject test is not worth much even in MFE application.

 

[soundwaffle]

Math subject test is not worth much even in MFE application.

I thought that these schools heavily look at a person's quantitative background like for example most people here have low gre verbal scores but high quant scores? Oh and could you give me like a description of what a model applicant because the tracker system here doesn't tell me much about the applicant himself/herself. Thanks!

 

[Four]

Math subject test is not worth much even in MFE application.

It depends on the program. Its worth something at the MS FinMath program at NYU.

 

[whatismyname]

I thought that these schools heavily look at a person's quantitative background like for example most people here have low gre verbal scores but high quant scores?

Of course they look at quantitative background.

GRE Math subject test is different from GRE's math part. I took both test, and the former one didn't help much.

Actually, I wasted a lot of time preparing for it.

Edit: GRE is important of course, you should try your best especially when you are at disadvantage in some other aspects.

 

[Four]

Is it still worth my time to study for a near perfect GRE math subject test score even if I'm only applying to MFin and like maybe one or two masters in financial econ./engin.? I'm asking all these questions because I have a deep seeded fear that I'll try so hard to achieve these goals only to fail due to lack of foresight.

You're already at a disadvantage going to a lower ranked school. If you're not willing to do the work for a top GRE score you definitely will not be getting into a good MFE program.

 

[whatismyname]

It depends on the program. Its worth something at the MS FinMath program at NYU.

You are right. Forgot about NYU.

 

[soundwaffle]

Wait so do I still have a chance even if I go to a lower ranked school? I'm not saying I don't want to do the work, what I'm saying is that I want to my current situation because I was afraid that the lower rank would automatically shun me out of competitive admissions. Plus do I take the GRE math subject test or not? If it boosts my application then I'm willing to work for it.

 

[whatismyname]

Has anyone at your school (or similar ranked schools) been admitted to top programs before? If yes, why can't you?

If you are already doing a quantitative undergraduate degree, I would say it's not necessary.

 

[soundwaffle]

Has anyone at your school (or similar ranked schools) been admitted to top programs before? If yes, why can't you?

If you are already doing a quantitative undergraduate degree, I would say it's not necessary.

I know of a kid that chose the full ride at my school over Cornell and I think one of my friends there might be going to Yale after college. My major is finance so would that tell me to take the GRE subject?

 

[Yunhan Chang]

I know of a kid that chose the full ride at my school over Cornell and I think one of my friends there might be going to Yale after college. My major is finance so would that tell me to take the GRE subject?

If you want to do MFE, then maybe yes.

You should take a look at the mock test first, and see how comfortable you feel about it. A large part is abstract algebra, I dont think you will learn that in finance.

I dont want to see you waste a couple of months on this test. It only slightly helps your application. You could have put that time into something more meaningful.

I you are a math genius, then do it.