Dilemma

[hussain]

Hi,
I am third year undergraduate doing my bachelors (B.tech) in Aerospace Engineering from IIT Bombay, India. I want to pursue a Masters in Finance but have a bad GPA (CPI). My CPI presently is 6.03/10 i.e 2.4/4.... I have had a strong academic background upto high school, got through one of the toughest engineering exams (JEE), but after getting admitted i have done nothing good on the academics front. I am confident of getting 1400+ in GRE but i am not sure if that will make a difference. I have had a strong interest in trading. I have been involved in the Indian Stock Markets for a year, then i moved on to sports betting (mostly the trading part of it). My infinite extra currics were the reason for GPA to sink to this level.

I have done enough research on the programs offered. All top universities quote their average incoming GPA to be 3.5+ way above my range. What do i do? What kind of schools do i apply and hope of getting an admit. How do i cover my GPA. Is there any chance of me getting into the top schools.

 

[Uncle Max]

Don't look on average GPA only. If you can explain to admissions committee why your GPA is so low, and can prove that you have enough knowledge to be successful student, you will get in. Of course 2.4 GPA will be your disadvantage, but there are so many other things in your application which may outweigh poor GPA. Make sure to do really well on GRE. In most cases 100% on quantitative part of GRE exam will be the must.

 

[atreides]

Since admission committee usually employ a 'holistic' approach .. you must then ensure that you're absolutely top notch in other areas like : math GRE (perfect score), maybe achieve > 75% percentile in math GRE subject test, have highly deployable skillset (most schools look for people they feel can be successful in the program and beyond), have started one or two entrepreneurial ventures on the side,..etc .
Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, but you must create your value proposition that portrays you as a viable candidate as there is tough competition these days, into most of the major programs

Hi,
I am third year undergraduate doing my bachelors (B.tech) in Aerospace Engineering from IIT Bombay, India. I want to pursue a Masters in Finance but have a bad GPA (CPI). My CPI presently is 6.03/10 i.e 2.4/4.... I have had a strong academic background upto high school, got through one of the toughest engineering exams (JEE), but after getting admitted i have done nothing good on the academics front. I am confident of getting 1400+ in GRE but i am not sure if that will make a difference. I have had a strong interest in trading. I have been involved in the Indian Stock Markets for a year, then i moved on to sports betting (mostly the trading part of it). My infinite extra currics were the reason for GPA to sink to this level.

I have done enough research on the programs offered. All top universities quote their average incoming GPA to be 3.5+ way above my range. What do i do? What kind of schools do i apply and hope of getting an admit. How do i cover my GPA. Is there any chance of me getting into the top schools.

 

[hussain]

Thank You for the reply but is there anything else for specific i should concentrate upon apart from the test scores and internships to improve my chances

Sorry for being pessimistic but thinking practically i wanted to know what kind of schools should i realistically aim for. The difficulty is there are no proper MS Finance school rankings because of the variety of courses offered by different schools i really have no idea about any university apart from the top ranked which are good and i can get admit into.

 

[hussain]

@atreides
thank you for the reply http://www.quantnet.com/forum/member.php?u=8118

 

[confused]

Hi Hussain,

Since I have not been to the IIT's I dont know how low a 6.0 is. But your conversion from 6.0 to 2.4 is absolutely inaccurate. Universities know abt universities and their competence. For e.g. a 60% mumbai engineering is generally looked a t 3.4, from what I know. So dont worry...being an IITian gives u a big advantage

 

[hussain]

what!!!!
mumbai university 60% is a 3.4...are you sure about that...!!!
confused i hope ur not confused on this (kidding)

if thats true then i have no other worries... but please can any one confirm what is conversion of a 6/10 from IIT Bombay into a GPA point scale

 

[bhargav]

Admission committee at Baruch understands GPA from various Indian universities very well.

Instead of overall GPA, you need to worry about performance in Math courses. Having 9 or 10 in Calculus, Linear Algebra, Differential equations, Numerical methods definitely gives you an advantage.

 

[Aditya Chitral]

what!!!!
mumbai university 60% is a 3.4...are you sure about that...!!!
confused i hope ur not confused on this (kidding)

if thats true then i have no other worries... but please can any one confirm what is conversion of a 6/10 from IIT Bombay into a GPA point scale

There has already been an issue of writing professionally on the forum. It is not a "gr8" idea to use "..." or "ur".

I guess that is a "gr8" advice

 

[hussain]

Okay...

 

[confused]

Well,

there is no known formula to convert our scores to the GPA. Colleges have their own methods on the basis of their knowledge about universities. That is why they suggest us to not try and calculate the GPA on our own, on their websites. My idea of a 3.4 may be inaccurate (A friend who had a 60% from mumbai uni was told he had a 3.4 GPA by the college authorities when he reached the US). However, your methodology is definitely inaccurate.

It definitely depends on how competitive you were in class, and if you were, the committee would know about that.