Hello everyone,
I hope this message finds you well. Could someone help me evaluate my profile for MIT MFin admissions, please?
Nationality: Peruvian
Age: 20 (will be 21 by the time I graduate)
Undergrad degree: Economics (+ Minor in Finance) in the top Economics university in my country. Graduating in December
Internships: Research Assistant at my university + Investment Banking at a Bulge Bracket office in my country
Accomplishments:
+ Merit Award (2nd highest GPA out of 1000+ students during my freshman year)
+ Got a scholarship to study at the LSE Summer Session, it was awarded to only one student from the Faculty of Economics (~800 students)
+ Took a Fixed Income Course at LSE, got an A+
+ 1st place in a Latin American economics competition (hosted 40+ universities): I was part of my university's 5-students team
+ Got a diplomatic commendation (3rd place) at a Harvard National MUN. I was part of my university's official MUN team. I liked to participate in the Economics and Financial Committees
+ Student representative of the Faculty of economics
+ Very likely to be graduating with valedictorian/salutatorian honors
+ In Peru, we do not use a 4.0 scale GPA, but my cumulative GPA is around 88%, with 85%+ on quantitative courses
+ Teaching assistant of Linear algebra, Statistics and Corporate Finance courses
Volunteering:
+ Helped build houses and taught classes in rural areas of Peru, during two summers
Other:
+ Currently working at a research paper with a Professor, it is focused on non-linearities in financial markets
+ Really passionate about mathematics and the mathematical foundations of modern finance. On the other side, I am currently starting to like Machine Learning applications to finance
+ I like riding my bike and running, have participated in several local marathons
+ I enjoy writing occasionally at a local magazine. Some are serious articles, others are Freakonomics-like articles, in which I use economics and finance theory to explain daily dumb events, it is fun
I am worried that because my university is not universally renowned I might be at a disadvantage.
I am also worried that I scored a 70% on my econometrics course. Despite 70% being not low, I believe it might be considered "low" by MIT standards. I do have an explanation though, here in Peru it is very normal to be an intern while studying, and this happened when I was doing the IB internship (which lasted 6 months). As you might have heard, IB is pretty demanding (60+ weekly hours) for junior positions
Planning to take the GMAT by the end of the year
What do you think? Do I have reasonable chances of getting into the MFin class?
Really appreciate your opinions