Stanford MS&E

[lorcar]

Originally Posted by LuminousIdeas

Lorcar, would you mind if I asked you about your profile?
Personally, I don't think your economics background was the main reason behind the reject.
You mentioned that you only applied with 2 LORs instead of 3. What about your GPA and GRE?
Sorry for bothering you with these questions and I wish you best of luck with rest of your applications.

No bothering at all.
First, i dont give the GRE such a role in the application process: all my friends studying in top american schools says it's only a sort of threshold, u dont need to get 800 (and many stories on this forum tell about people rejected with 1600) but u need not to get a very low score. Moreover, they doubt some read the Verbal score.
I decided to pursue postgraduate study last september, when my jub hunting didn't give any positive result. In october i ordered the books and started to do all the stuff for the application process (and on this perspective this forum in truly the best source)
I gave my gre twice, since during the first test i was on excessive tension. It was a complete defeat. With PowerPrep I used to get Q>= 770 and V around 500 (I got 273@TOEFL) but the first official score was very far from these numbers. I posted all the info in the right discussion of this forum, u'll find all the details. I gave it a second time just before the deadline, and I got Q= 740 if memory doesnt fail, but V was really low.

In 2002 I got a degree in Economics from a top italian university, summa cum laude, thesis on game theory about spectrum auction (my advisor got his phd in decision sciences from the same school @ stanford, and he was very sure about a positive result). I was also exchange student@ Erasmus university in Rotterdam (Netherland) for 6 months, where i mainly studied Financial mathematics. My GPA: we dont have such a scale, but I had 28,3 out of 30, and here it is not a low average, not at all. Last summer I also took a summer course @ LSE in london, in industrial organization and competition policy, since I spent 6 months as stagiaire at the European Commission (something not so easy to get) in the Information Society Directorate, dealing with public policy and regulation. At the same time, 2 years in a row I was admitted to participate at the seminar organized by the Italian Communication Authority (it's a sort of scolarship).
Professional experiences: 1- during the university years i worked for a startup
now leader in the online brokerage of mortgage in italy (this was the second LOR, the guy got an MBA from MIT)
2- after i got my degree, i had to come back home and take care of the family business for 1,5 years, i was entrepreneur in the bulding sector.
My SOP were based on my desire to keep working in the regulation sector and public policy and my experience of European law making process.
I was not able to obtain a third letter from the European Commission: their rule prevented my boss to write a letter for me after only 5 months i worked there.
So, my background is: quite quantitative at univesity, sound understanding of technological issues (but with a business oriented perspective), specially wireless stuff.
I applied to TPP @ MIT (i was also in contact with a TPP former student, who told me in advance it could not be the right program for me, since i had already knowledge of the law making process, while TPP is mainly targeted to engineers aiming to do Policy) and MS&E @ stanford, saying in the SOP i wanted to pursue the Policy Track.
Second best (still waiting) are: NYU MS in Economics, and Oxford - Master in Financial economics.
Since i dont want to think i have been rejected for the GRE score, I think the main reasons are:
1- no third letter (both schools wrote asking for the the third)
2- degree in economics for the MIT
3- years spent @ university: in italy i can stay many years as u want, u are not forced to finish within 4 years (the official lenght), and when i finish i was already 26,5 y.o.
4- Maybe excessive focus on public policy: although Stanford advertises this as likely job for MS&E graduated, i think is a little bit more targeted to people of OR or IE, and Public Policy is a "residual" track

Now I have a good job in italy, nothing to do with what u read, but i would have loved to spend 2 years in a gorgeous campus...that was the main reason that drove me to apply: being in a vibrant place, where everything can happen. I know that I applied to the most prestigeous schools, but it is also true that in USA there are not so many master degree available if u don't want a PhD, only NYU. I could have chosen other Master programs in Europe, but i did not want to stay here anymore.
I was loving the idea to leave this desk in July before reaching US....now the idea that i have to stay here longer than this summer drives me crazy...

[LuminousIdeas]

Sorry aw2129 for hijacking your thread.

Lorcar, Thank you so much for your comprehensive and very sincere reply.
I haven't gone through all the application process yet, so I am in no position to judge the importance of GRE. Thanks for shedding some light on that issue.

Frankly, I am quite impressed by your profile and your accomplishments. I hope you will receive your admits from both NYU and Oxford soon. I believe you deserve that!

Regards

[aw2129]

Lorcar, I don't have a clue why they rejected you. As far as I am concerned you should get an admit.

[lorcar]

Originally Posted by aw2129

Lorcar, I don't have a clue why they rejected you. As far as I am concerned you should get an admit.

thank u!
since i think u are going to be in Palo Alto around end of August, plz convince them, i'll be there at most in 10 hours....

[waseda]

Originally Posted by aw2129

Lorcar, I don't have a clue why they rejected you. As far as I am concerned you should get an admit.

May I ask you what was your GRE score?

[lorcar]

Originally Posted by waseda

May I ask you what was your GRE score?

yes, u may ask! but since i dont want to be incorrect, i suggest u to check my post in the "just finished my gre" forum. but i think final Q = 740 but V was lower than first time i took the test

[aw2129]

Waseda,
It is not so good, 1410 V+Q but only 4 for AWA.
Today I received news from Columbia, got wait-listed for their PhD program.
Not exactly what I want to hear, but will do.

[waseda]

Originally Posted by aw2129

Waseda,
It is not so good, 1410 V+Q but only 4 for AWA.
Today I received news from Columbia, got wait-listed for their PhD program.
Not exactly what I want to hear, but will do.

You applied to MS&E, Columbia and Cornell?
Why not MIT?
And why not a MBA (which need GMAT) in the four above universities?

[mishranishi]

hey aw2129,
congratulations for stanford & best of luck for columbia.

Nishi

[aw2129]

Originally Posted by waseda

You applied to MS&E, Columbia and Cornell?
Why not MIT?
And why not a MBA (which need GMAT) in the four above universities?

Well, I did applied to MIT LFM program, which is a dual MS/MBA program and already got rejected. I did bad during the interview with one of their alumnus.

I wouldn't mind getting an MBA, but most MBA programs are longer than an MS in Engineering Management, and therefore cost much more money. You can easily spent $120K or more for top MBA programs. Therefore I only applied to one MBA, which is MIT's LFM, because they'll pay for everything if you get admitted. Plus I haven't taken the GMAT yet.