[2015 ENTRY ]Cambridge MPhil in Finance and Economics

Hey guys,

I know its quite early to talk about entry to the MPhil in F&E at Cambridge, but I really want to get everything right in that, so I already started my preparations.

For people interested in previous years applicants/application processes, please visit:
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2557008 [Entry 2014] and
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2204991&page=3 [Entry 2013]

I would also like to hear some thoughts/tips related to my profile, especially regarding further tests/internships/extracurricular activity/recommendations/etc. that I should do or take prior to my application:

I am a 19-year old German girl, studying Economics at a distance university in Germany (no brand name) in my last semester (I will graduate in December). I started when I was 16, studying parallel to school (that's why I did a distance course; it is officially fully recognized as a BSc though). I finished the IB as best of my school, graduating with 40 points and higher level subjects in Economics (7), History (6) and Math (5). At university, I am currently in the top 5%, most likely finishing at top 1%-level with an approximate GPA of 3.6. I had a focus on operations research and finance during my studies. However, I didn't do too good on my econometrics course :s-smilie:

I already did an internship at a Top 3 bank in Germany in the area of Supply Chain Finance as well as an internship at a consultany in London (middle class, no top tier).
My extracurricular activities cover sports (I am a passionate triathlete who just bought her starting place for an Ironman next year as well as a paraglider :smile:

) and social activities (I have participated in service projects in Ecuador, Colombia and Honduras, all of them focused on improvement of chances for children from disadvantaged families due to education, which is sort of a matter of the heart to me as I grew up in a children home myself. Furthermore, I was leader of the swimming and running society, member of the Round Square Club at my school and mentor for students who are the first to study in their families). I also did a semester abroad in Croatia and I am on a fluent level in German (obviously^^) and English as well as intermediate to fluent level in Spanish and Croatian. I am/was also holder of several scholarships, one of them from the German National Academic Foundation. Currently I am in the process of applying to several top consultancies for an internship from October onwards with a focus on corporate finance/financial services.

The major problem that I do see now is, that I wont be able to provide academic references as my professors don't really know me. They basically only saw my grades and that's it, so I thought that it might be more helpful to hand in references from my teachers as I attended boarding school, so they know me quite well, but I am not sure if Cambridge would accept that... Another issue is also that my math/econometrics grades were basically my worst grades during school/university (although not too bad :wink:

)...which is kind of counterproductive to my wish to study the MPhil F&E :P Does any one know if the GRE test with a high quantitative score would make up for that?

Any thoughts on that?
What other similar programs can you think of, that are offered at top universities and that combine Economics (I am especially into Macroeconomics :smile:

) and Finance?
What is your current state of application? Have you already started?
Do you think the chances of being accepted are higher for the MPhil Economics/Economic Research at Cambridge (as we can only apply for one course :frown:

)

I am exited to hear from you!

Best wishes!

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 1

ony92

Not sure if troll or not :rolleyes:

.
Your situation is too specific. I would suggest emailing someone form admission committee (probably in a month or so when they won't be occupied by admissions).
Generic stuff: They don't care about the results from high school, extracurriculars or internships, all they care about is academic performance. Your GPA is fine but I would seriously question rigour of any distance learning programme and semmester in Croatia does not help either (at my school it is an equivalent of "I just want to drink every day and do nothing for 6 months"). Remember that 10 months is really short period of time and if you have serious gaps in your education it will become hellish. You will need recommendations from professors at Uni (again email them for this). It is one of the most important things in the application. What was your micro/macro/ecox sequence like? Varian/Mankiw/Woolridge or something more advanced?
There are only few programmes with the mix of econ & finance you seek. It is mostly a mix of micro + finance because macro is mostly useless in finance. Anyway take a look at MFE Oxford Said or MFE LSE. Since you're German St Gallen is also great option - MBF with econ electives or MQEF. It should be easier to get into.

(edited 9 years ago)

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