Admission to the Financial Engineering MS Program at Baruch College is available to qualified applicants who have the potential to become successful graduates of our program. Applicants should have strong undergraduate quantitative credentials that demonstrate mathematical ability, as well as interest and commitment to the field of finance. The applicants may have earned degrees in any discipline, provided that they demonstrate by way of test scores, undergraduate transcripts, and letters of recommendation that they are prepared for a demanding course of quantitative study. All applicants must have a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited four-year college in the United States or its equivalent in another country.

The application for admission is available on the Embark system and must be completed online. Click here for the application form.

Test scores required are the General Test of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). (We prefer that students take the GRE test). Standardized test scores (GMAT, GRE) must be sent directly to Baruch College using the following codes

• For GRE/GMAT test: 2012

The Application Evaluation Process. The standard for admission into the Financial Engineering MS Program is the same for applications for part-time and for full-time study, as well as for applications from international and US-based applicants. The standard for is set before the application evaluation process begins, and the same one is applied to every application until the end of the admission process. The admission standard is increased every year based on the strength of the prior year’s applicant pool.

Our program does not have a target number for enrolled students. We are committed to admitting and educating as many students who meet our admissions standard.No application is denied because of a lack of seats in the program, and no applicant is accepted to the program to fill a quota.

We only offer admission into the Financial Engineering MS Program in the Fall semester. The reason for not having Spring admission is that every student is expected to take at least one core math course in the first semester of study, and that is only possible in the Fall semester. See this link for more details.

Application deadline for Fall 2011 admission : April 1, 2011. Applicants are encouraged to submit their application as early as possible. Admission decisions are made on a rolling basis. The first round of application evaluations will be at the beginning of December, followed by another round at the end of January, and then by evaluations every two weeks. Every application is evaluated by at least three members of the Admissions Committee.
While all the applications are evaluated based on the same admission standard, applying before March 15 should be considered optimal. This would allow enough time for the candidate to be contacted by the MFE Admissions Committee should further details be required to clarify certain areas of the application.

All applications for admission to the Financial Engineering MS Program at Baruch College that are completed by April 1 will be evaluated by April 15. Any applications that are not complete by April 10 will not be evaluated.

Personal Essay. Applicants should touch upon the following topics:

• Why are you interested in Financial Engineering?
• Why do you want to study in the Financial Engineering MS Program at Baruch College?
• What career path do you envision after graduating from the MFE Program?

Prerequisite Courses. Applicants are required to have taken a minimal set of courses in finance, mathematics, and computer science, before being admitted into the MFE program, as follows:

• Knowledge of Finance, as demonstrated by one undergraduate class or work experience
• Calculus (two semesters)
• Probability (one semester)
• Linear Algebra (one semester)
• C++ programming skills at the level of one undergraduate class, or by completing a certificate degree

In order to qualify as a prerequisite, each course must have been passed with a grade of B or better.

Some applicants with a strong background in other areas such as practical knowledge of finance may be admitted into the program without having met all the prerequisites via conditional admission. They will be required to complete the prerequisite courses before enrolling in the program, and take the summer refresher seminars.

Letters of Recommendation. Every applicant should include three letters of recommendation with the application. The recommenders should be individuals who can comment on the relevant skills that would make the applicant successful in the MFE program. There is no requirement that at least one letter come from an academic recommender. If the applicant has significant work experience, it is advisable that at least one letter touch on that.

Refresher Seminars. The mathematics department offers refresher seminars in C++, Advanced Calculus, Probability and Linear Algebra during the summer before the beginning of the Fall semester. These seminars focus on topics to be examined in greater detail in the MFE program, and cover a number of challenging financial applications.

All students admitted into the Baruch MFE program are required to take the refresher seminars before the start of the program. For those admitted students (and, in particular, for the international students coming from abroad) who want to opt out of some of the seminars, assessment tests for each of the seminars will be administered in May. Provided that one scores well enough on a test, the corresponding refresher course requirement will be waived. (An automatic waiver is provided for the C++ refresher course to any C++ professional programmer).

The refresher seminars are closed to people not admitted in the MFE program. For more information on the refresher seminars, please follow this link

Requests for more program information should be directed to:

Office of Research and Graduate Studies
Weissman School of Arts and Sciences
Baruch College
One Bernard Baruch Way, Box B8-211
New York, NY 10010-5585

Tel: (646) 312-4493
E-mail: Cathy_Levkulic@baruch.cuny.edu

Baruch College is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action institution. The College does not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, sexual orientation, alienage or citizenship, religion, race, color, national or ethnic origin, disability, or veteran or marital status in its student admissions, employment, access to programs, and administration of educational policies. Questions concerning this policy may be addressed to the affirmative action officer. The Board of Trustees of The City University of New York reserves the right to make changes of any nature in the academic programs and requirements of The City University of New York and its constituent colleges. All programs, requirements, and courses are subject to termination or change without advance notice.