Ph.D. Financial Engineering

[Pearl]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone had applied for the following Ph.D. programs and received an offer of admission?

Columbia IEOR Ph.D.
Cornell ORIE Ph.D.
Princeton ORFE Ph.D.
Stanford MS&E Ph.D.

 

[Benjamin]

Results

I applied to the above programs for PhD. I have not heard from them.
However, I got rejection from Northwestern IEMS two days ago...

 

[MrX]

I have heard good news from Princeton's ORFE program (departmental decision only, not the final university decision yet)

 

[Benjamin]

I have heard good news from Princeton's ORFE program (departmental decision only, not the final university decision yet)

Congratulations MrX.
Do you have industry experience? Or are you just out of college?
If possible, could you share your profile with us...

 

[MrX]

Congratulations MrX.
Do you have industry experience? Or are you just out of college?
If possible, could you share your profile with us...

Just finished my undergrad. Ended up with two honors degrees in mathematical fields from a big state university. Had two internships, one in insurance, the other in financial engineering.
Got a good introduction to Stochastic Calculus as a RA. Took a few PhD level courses as a senior. GPA over 4.0.

 

[atreides]

How is it possible to get a GPA of over 4.0 ? At my university you could only get an A, B,C, D, F .

Got a good introduction to Stochastic Calculus as a RA. Took a few PhD level courses as a senior. GPA over 4.0.

 

[doug reich]

How is it possible to get a GPA of over 4.0 ? At my university you could only get an A, B,C, D, F .

A+ > 4

 

[atreides]

I remember blowing through a bunch of my college courses finishing with 100+ points due to extra credit and all, but that only earned me an A, also I had a couple of painful 88's and 89's and of course that earned me a B. If I recalculated my GPA based on A+,A,A-,..etc criteria, I would probably be up to at least a 3.85.. Do grad school administrators take this into consideration..or do they treat all GPA's as equal and just a number.

A+ > 4

 

[Benjamin]

Just finished my undergrad. Ended up with two honors degrees in mathematical fields from a big state university. Had two internships, one in insurance, the other in financial engineering.
Got a good introduction to Stochastic Calculus as a RA. Took a few PhD level courses as a senior. GPA over 4.0.

Thanks. I sent you PM.

 

[IlyaKEightSix]

Well I just applied to Stony Brook for a Ph.D a month after their January 15th Master's (or all graduates?) deadline. The one reason being: Robert J. Frey. 12 years at Renaissance and built a fixed income strategy that got folded into the flagship Medallion fund itself. He's developing the quantitative finance program in their applied math/stats college currently, so I'm hoping I can somehow get in because all the quant practitioners I've emailed told me that even the entry level market is really horrid since all of the Lehman/Bear people will take even entry level stuff if only to take a job right now.

If not, it's back to the job hunt. Either way, I want to end up at D.E. or RenTec before I'm 30. I know it sounds absolutely ridiculous, but I want to climb to the peak of the mountain, and hopefully passion and ambition will make up for my lack of utter top notch 800 Quant GREs Putnam Winner platinum superstar talent.

 

[Pearl]

"I have heard good news from Princeton's ORFE program (departmental decision only, not the final university decision yet)"

What doed that mean? I had some kind of phone interview, very brief where I was just told that I had a good chance of being admitted.

But have you heard anything from Cornell, Columbia or Stanford yet?

 

[Benjamin]

But have you heard anything from Cornell, Columbia or Stanford yet?

There were only 1 acceptance posts for each of Stanford and Columbia at thegradcafe.com
Either they applied early or they are students that have very good profiles and schools noticed them early. Because, most of the students did not get the results so far(including me)

 

[chintanm]

I've applied to all 4 programs you mentioned. Was contacted by Princeton for phone interview, but have not heard from anywhere else.

 

[Benjamin]

Congratulations. Since I had not received any calls, it means I am not on the short list...

 

[MrX]

"I have heard good news from Princeton's ORFE program (departmental decision only, not the final university decision yet)"

What doed that mean? I had some kind of phone interview, very brief where I was just told that I had a good chance of being admitted.

But have you heard anything from Cornell, Columbia or Stanford yet?

I was told that I've passed the departmental evaluations. That's what I meant.
I got similar news from Columbia last week.

 

[Pearl]

So you basically have been admitted to Columbia and Princeton.
That's great for you.

 

[chintanm]

I was told that I've passed the departmental evaluations. That's what I meant.
I got similar news from Columbia last week.

What is the order of preferences? (Question for everybody)

 

[Benjamin]

What is the order of preferences? (Question for everybody)

It is not easy make preference. I will do:
1)Stanford 2) Columbia 3) Princeton 4) Cornell

chintanm, you should answer your question, too

 

[Pearl]

I pretty much rate all the four programs equally, would have a really hard time choosing between two or more programs.

Thanks for all your replies and please let know if you get any exciting (or depressing... ) news!

 

[chintanm]

What is the order of preferences? (Question for everybody)

I like all 4 of them - and would feel lucky to go to any of the 4.