Hi All, New to this community, can somebody pls judge my chances of getting into Baruch/UCB? Tks!

[Sharg]

Hi All,

Pls share your opinion on my chances of getting into UCB/Barcuh MFE programs. Thank you. (Aiming for 2023)

Work ex- 6.5 years (All in Mumbai, India)
currently with UBS in valuation for auction preferred securities/strategic equity investments (1 year 3 months)
Previously, worked with Morgan Stanley in interest rate strategy team as a senior research associate for 3.5 years, worked on building VBA/Python/Advanced excel based quant models. Performed thematic research on US rates/global inflation markets.
Worked for a UK based MNC as a credit research analyst, researched high yield names in EU area. (1 years 4 months)
Programming skills- Very good at Python/VBA/Advanced excel

Academics-
CQF charterholder with final project on Portfolio construction using Black Litterman model (87% overall marks). Learned stochastic calculus, linear algebra, portfolio optimization, options pricing, numerical methods, ML, (completed a Python project in logistic regression) etc.
CFA charterholer
FRM charterholder
MBA, Finance, Chapman University, California (GPA- 3.6/4)
Bachelors in Electronics Engineering, India (50%) (very low! lol)
Completed various online courses on investment management, factor investing, portfolio optimization using Python, Data science/ML courses in CQF

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Take the Quantnet c++ cert to raise your hard quantitative credential a bit.
Apply to both.

 

[BlackMamba]

My guess is you'd be competitive for UCB, but that's just a guess. Undergrad GPA may be an impediment... but definitely worth applying. Planning on GRE I presume?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I dont think GRE will be as an important a requirement as in years past due to Covid.
Some programs may waive it permanently going forward.

 

[Sharg]

@Andy Nguyen Thank you. Do I need to to take pre-MFE courses like math, stats, Python considering I have done these in CQF? Does program waive these pre-requisites? I don't wana spend extra money on these. Also, I will take C++ course for sure before applying.

 

[Sharg]

@Peter M Thank you. I have 168Q and 160V GRE score (took the test a year ago). Why do you think undergrad GPA might be an impediment despite 7+ years of industry experience?

 

[Daniel Duffy]

@Andy Nguyen Thank you. Do I need to to take pre-MFE courses like math, stats, Python considering I have done these in CQF? Does program waive these pre-requisites? I don't wana spend extra money on these. Also, I will take C++ course for sure before applying.

Apart from anything else, C++ is a real skill to learn. If you master it you learn _any_ programming language, for sure.
For UCB, you need ODE/PDE AFAIK.

 

[Sharg]

Apart from anything else, C++ is a real skill to learn. If you master it you learn _any_ programming language, for sure.
For UCB, you need ODE/PDE AFAIK.

Thanks Daniel!