[eanach1]

Hey all!
Am applying with 2013 start in mind and am aiming for the top ranked courses in Europe as I want to give myself the best chance possible to get a good position after the masters. I don't have a background in finance which it seems is acceptable to most of the finance schools and I do have good academics to sell myself- 2.1 in my degree and 1.1 first class honours in my postgrad studies.

I'm going to apply to my top 5 choices that seem the best and most reasonable and then fingers crossed I get accepted to at least one.

Would love and would be really grateful to hear about how people got on with their applications to the top finance masters- HEC Paris, Rotterdam, Warwick, Oxford, etc. and also if any rejected your application and why you think that was. I do realise that my results aren't that exceptional and there are bound to be people with these results and better who get rejected?

Thanks for any feedback, will be a great help as I'm coming from outside finance.

[Frankgl]

Hi,

i'm actually writing because I've got a similar question.
I'm a bit unsure because by the time I will apply I will have no really noteworthy extracurriculars and only one relevant internship (Big4 M&A). I do however have a good GMAT (760, Q49, V45) and decent grades (the equivalent of a bad first) from a decent university (St. Gallen). What are my chances of getting into the top programs (read: Msc Finance LSE)?
Would it be smarter to wait and get some more experience?

With regard to the original post: I can only speak about my own university, but they have a pretty transparent admission system (http://www.unisg.ch/Studium/Zulassun...onProcess.aspx, click on "MBF admission rules" on the right"), i.e. you can calculate your chances based on GMAT score etc. Not sure if you are interested in Switzerland though, but the program is not bad.

[lego]

I've done quite a lot of research on the subject and got offers from some of the programs you both are interested in. I'd love to answer you, bit I don't have time at the moment because of exams. Send me a PM in 3 weeks and I will share what I know.

[effofex]

(Original post by Frankgl)
Hi,

i'm actually writing because I've got a similar question.
I'm a bit unsure because by the time I will apply I will have no really noteworthy extracurriculars and only one relevant internship (Big4 M&A). I do however have a good GMAT (760, Q49, V45) and decent grades (the equivalent of a bad first) from a decent university (St. Gallen). What are my chances of getting into the top programs (read: Msc Finance LSE)?
Would it be smarter to wait and get some more experience?

With regard to the original post: I can only speak about my own university, but they have a pretty transparent admission system (http://www.unisg.ch/Studium/Zulassun...onProcess.aspx, click on "MBF admission rules" on the right"), i.e. you can calculate your chances based on GMAT score etc. Not sure if you are interested in Switzerland though, but the program is not bad.

As long as your motivations are ok, you should be able to get into Imperial, LSE, Cambridge etc. for MSc Finance. I think only LBS would be beyond you at this stage, since they like 3 years of full-time experience.

[poorstudentguy]

Hello,

I will also be applying for Masters in Finance this autumn (dreaming of Imperial College) and maybe you can also help me.

- My grades look less than stellar because of my university's grading system. I am certain to be in the top 15-20 % of my class though, although I have no proof as my university does not release percentiles or anything similar. However, just looking at grades, I could not even dream of getting the equivalent of a 1st.

When I apply for a MSC, will they take this into account? Like, do they have a database or something with grade distributions of other unis?

- My uni does not count the first Bachelor year when calculating the grade average. I am a bit better there, will this help me or is this irrelevant if its not in the final grade?

[alokalamban]

My take on supplementary courses from personal experience
http://alambanlives.blogspot.com/201...lementary.html

[InTheNameOf]

Hi,

As an Msc Finance student that has gone through all that, I can only say that most of the clichés you hear over and over are true:

1 Most of the time, there is no particular aspect of your profile that will automatically disqualify you as a candidate, as long as you can compensate that weakness with other parts of the application (e.g. average grades but outstanding GMAT and relevant work experience)
2 The sooner you apply, the better
3 If the school accepts GMAT and GRE, take one of them (or both) even if it is not compulsory!!
4 Reach for the stars! After all, you can always apply for the easier schools later...
5 Don't only look for the name, visualize how the master experience would be in each school and think about where you would fit better