Washington University in St. Louis MSF has been consistently one of the top masters in finance programs in the United States and it is long overdue I write an update post on the program. There have been a number of changes over the months since I last wrote about the university and I continue to get emails from interested students asking about the school. The interest year over year has been consistent and I definitely owe all of you an update on what’s new at this top program.
2017 Class Profile
WUSTL does a good job with their class profile, breaking it down with a lot of detail, across each of their MSF sub-programs. It is interesting to look at the data they have provided, especially since they show you individual statistics for each of the three specialities within the overall MSF program. I’ve tried to lay out the most relevant points below, but check out their website for additional data points.
| Corporate Finance & Investments | Wealth & Asset Management | Quantitative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total number of students: | 29 | 47 | 48 |
| Average GMAT: | 674 | 699 | 723 |
| Average GRE V | Q: | 153 | 159 | 152 | 160 | 157 | 168 |
| Average GPA: | 3.48 | 3.47 | 3.55 |
| International students: | 31% | 83% | 90% |
A couple take aways that came to mind when looking at this. First, I was shocked to see how many international students were in Wealth and Asset Management track. The quant track was rolled out to be STEM and to also absorb many of the international applicants. Which makes sense since quant roles tend to be more forgiving with the sponsorship. But WAM was a surprise.
Second, the difference in GMAT averages. I tell students all the time to not count out a program simply because their GMAT is below average. Plain fact is, the population of domestic applicants to these programs hasn’t dramatically increased over the years. The difference has been international students who typically have higher GMAT’s (but often times worse splits). While these students score higher on the GMAT/GRE, getting sponsored is increasingly difficult, a place where domestic students have a clear advantage. If a program is serious about placements, domestic students have a much better shot at getting a job. Hence the programs being OK with lower GMAT scores. Word to the wise – not every program breaks these stats out, but every program has a similar split.
Finally, class size was interesting and further reinforcing my comments about the relative static pool of domestic applicants. It will be interesting how MSF programs do in the future as international students stay closer to home because of the tightening opportunities in the US.
Application Deadlines and Info Sessions
We are getting late in the application cycle right about now as programs start to fill up their classes and look for those final gems to round out their 2019-2020 class. Washington University in St. Louis is no different. Right now applicants are faced with one more round before the window closes.
- Round 3 – Applications due by March 27, 2019
As for those students interested in the program, but still doing their due diligence, the WUSTL program has a couple of online information sessions upcoming for you to get your questions answered. Sessions that might be of interested are as follows:
-
Final Round Application Tips Grad Programs Webinar February 27, 2019 – 12:00PM CST
-
Specialized Masters Programs @ Olin – SMP Webinar March 7, 2019 – 8:00 AM CST
I encourage all of you to check these out as they are a great way to get your questions answered in real time, as well as to see what other students are asking.
STEM Certified
I looked through the site and it seems as if the only program that is STEM certified is the Quantitative program. This makes sense and I believe I have posted about this in the past. I checked the Wealth Management track to see if they had it, but it did seem like they did. This is interesting because of the high level of international enrollment. I’ll reach out to the program to see if maybe this is certified and I just missed it.
From my time looking around the site it looks like there are a lot of new things happening with the program. All positive as well. I know they had a change in the admissions office and there is a new person heading the program. I will try and get some information or an update out of them. Hope this helps!
Here is a link to the Washington University in St. Louis Masters in Finance Program
