Recommendation Letter

[Smooth_Lin]

Hello Everyone!

I am applying for MFE 2013 fall, I have a question regarding recommendation letter for application and It would be amazing if you guys could give me some advise , and Please don't be hesitant to type down any of your opinion :D

So, I am in the middle of a situation where I have to choose 3 out of 4 sources to write me rec letters for MFE program application. They are:

• A professor of Math who had her Ph.D in MIT, and meanwhile is the director of a small "Industrial Math Master program" from my insitution.
• A associated professor of Math who is more specialized in financial math, PDE, and derivative pricing, and had his Ph.D in Rutgers University.
• The manager from a mid-size "IT and Data Analysis Company" in China, where I had my CS internship in.
• The manager of the Investment Banking department in one of the largest commercial banking in China, also, where I interned.

I understand that every program might has different emphasis on evaluating rec letter, but assume the quality of all 4 rec letter are the same, which 3 out of the 4 do you recommend to choose based on your knowledge and experience ? (it'd be even better to related the answer to a specific MFE program that you are more familiar than the others :D)

To be more clear, I guess my main confusions are:

1. does the evaluation committee usually care more about the quality of rec letter? or the qualification and background of the person who wrote the letter?
2. which one between professor and manager is a better source of recommendation for MFE program?
3. do you think, when applying MFE, the intern in a company in china is much less credible and considerable than one from the US? and so does the reference letter?

I greatly appreciate those who read through my post! and it's be WONDERFUL if you could give me some opinion on this!
Thank you so much in advance! You guys are awesome!

Rookie - Smooth :D

 

[Andy Nguyen]

3. No, the vast majority of applicants from China who had an internship, did so at some of Chinese banks or financial firms. The fact that they get admitted to many top programs should answer your question.
1-2. These questions are answered directly by admission directors, application evaluators in our upcoming QuantNet 2012-2013 Guide to Financial Engineering Programs. Watch out for its release next month.

 

[Smooth_Lin]

1-2. These questions are answered directly by admission directors, application evaluators in our upcoming QuantNet 2012-2013 Guide to Financial Engineering Programs. Watch out for its release next month.

Thank you so much Andy! Really appreciate it!
what about the recommendation letter? which 3 do you think I should choose? Thanks!

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Thank you so much Andy! Really appreciate it!
what about the recommendation letter? which 3 do you think I should choose? Thanks!

I would defer the questions to official answers from our upcoming guide.
If you can read Chinese, we will publish one of those articles in advance over at our QuantNet China site