Tuesday, July 24, 2007

MS in Management Science & Engineering at Stanford FAQ's

I have gone through the course details at the website. They appear to be dealing with core financial subjects. As I am from an engineering background, I would like to know if there is any prerequisite knowledge necessary to take up the course.
USUALLY BEING FROM AN ENGINEERING BACKGROUND IS ENOUGH TO TAKE UP MOST OF THE COURSES IN MS&E. I TOOK A FINANCE CLASS AND THE ONLY PROBLEM I FACED WAS IN CATCHING UP WITH THE SPEED OF THE CLASS IN GENERAL. IF ONE PUTS IN SOME EFFORT DURING THE BEGINNING TO UNDERSTAND SOME BASIC CONCEPTS, ITS NOT THAT BAD USUALLY. OF COURSE SOME OF THE UNDERGRADS FROM US WHO HAVE MAJORED IN FINANCE AND ECONOMICS SEEM TO BE WAY AHEAD OF US ENGINEERS. HOWEVER, IT IS NOT USUALLY A PROBLEM.
- What is the placement scenario ? What kind of jobs are offered (technical/business)? Is it easy to find the right job or needs a lot of effort?
THIS IS A TRICKY QUESTION AS PLACEMENTS IN STANFORD ARE USUALLY VERY GOOD , HOWEVER THERE ARE SOME STUDENTS WHO REALLY STRUGGLE TO GET THE JOB THEY WANT. SO TO MAKE MYSELF MORE CLEAR ONE NEEDS TO WORK HARD FROM THE BEGINNING TO ENSURE THAT YOU GET THE JOB AND COMPANY YOU WANT. MOST OF THE TOP COMPANIES RECRUIT FROM MS&E AND I DON'T SEE A PROBLEM IN GETTING SOME JOB ATLEAST!
- From your experience, do you think there is any particular student profile Stanford looks for?
STANFORD LOOKS FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE EXCEPTIONAL IN SOME AREA OR OTHER. USUALLY MOST OF THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS I MET HERE HAD A GRE SCORE MORE THAN 1400. ACADEMICS WERE PRETTY GOOD, TOP 5% OF YOUR CLASS AND SOME EXCELLENT PROJECTS AND RECOS, THE USUAL STUFF I GUESS!
- What can I do to better my chances? (Ex:Contact professors/students and get their recommendation/reference, Do internships in the related field.etc)
WHEN R U GRADUATING? WIL YOU GET SOME WORK EXPERIENCE BEFORE YOU GET HERE. THERE IS NO HARM IN CONTACTING THE PROFESSORS AND IN GENEREAL GETTING PEOPLE IN THE DEPARTMENT TO KNOW YOU.
- Most of the students I have come across have very good resumes. Either they are from the IITs or other elite institutions and have good work ex and international papers. Do you think it is too ambitious of me to apply to Stanford? Is there anyone you know whos got an admit with just a good gre score, sop n cgpa?I have a few friends from VIT with a similar profile who got an admit in the environmental eng program but I would like to know about students in MS&E.

I GOT AN ADMIT WITH A GOOD GRE SCORE, SOP AND RECO;S. SO I DON'T SEE HOW ANYONE ELSE CAN'T GET IN. BUT AT THE SAME TIME LET ME WARN YOU, THIS PROGRAM IS GETTING VERY POPULAR IN INDIA AND LOTS OF STUDENTS ARE APPLYING. INFACT THIS YEAR, I WAS SPEAKIGN TO THE ADMISSION PEOPLE AND S HE WAS TELLING ME THAT CHOOSING AMONGST THE INDIAN STUDENTS IS GETTING VERY HARD...

was going through the course list, and some of the courses that would interest me have been marked saying that they are limited enrollment courses. What does that mean ? I select a concentration say Entreprenurship and Policy, than would i not be given preference over the othes who might have opted for say OR ?


IN THE MS&E DEPT, DON'T WORRY SO MUCH ABOUT WHAT CONCENTRAITON TO TAKE. TAKE UP THE COURSES YOU LIKE. Some of the COURSES YOU SAW ARE LIMITED ENROLEMENT. THIS MEANS THAT THERE ARE LMITED SEATS AND ONE HAS TO APPLY TO GET IN. IN SOME, WE HAVE TO FILL AN APPLICATION FORM AND BASED ON WORK EX ETC, THE PROF DECIDES WHO TO TAKE. SOME OTHER ONES HAVE A LOTTERY SYSTEM AS THERE ARE TOO MANY STUDENTS WHO APPLY.


Although i have been able to research on the course content etc for the MS&E program, but i was not able to find any relevant placement statistics. I also tried getting across to the department grad. office assistant, but she was also not able to provide me with any number and asked me to write to the Graduate Student Placement Centre to find more information on the same. Would be able to provide some numbers on placements and some rough idea on the starting salaries there.

PLACEMENTS ARE PRETTY GOOD FOR ALL STANFORD STUDENTS. BEING A MASTERS STUDENT, ONE CANNOT EXPECT POSITIONS AND SALARIES LIKE THOSE OF THE MBA'S . BUT MOST OF THE STUDENTS END UP GETTING PRETTY GOOD JOBS . I KNOW OF SOME WHO DID HAVE PROBLEMS, THEY USUALLY HAD SOME STRANGE REASONS LIKE BAD COMMUNICAITON SKILLS OR APPLYING FOR THE WRONG JOBS AT THE WRONG TIME ETC..
THE SALARIES FOR MASTERS STUDENTS ARE BETWEEN $60,000 TO $90,000 PER ANNUM DEPENDING ON THE COMPANY AND JOB PROFILE AS WELL AS YOUR PAST WORK EXPERIENCE.

I also happened to visit your blog where i could see some of the rants about the program and stuff around it .

Also if you dont mind, i would like to hear from you on your background and what convinced you that Stan is where you wanted to be ( i read your blog post on this :) but still )).


SO AFTER COMPLETING MY ENGINEERING IN ELECTRONICS FROM PUNE UNIV, I WORKED WITH IBM FOR A YEAR AND REALISED THAT I WASN'T ALL THAT INTERESTED IN DOING A PURE TECH JOB. I THEN SWITCHED TO A START UP IN A BUSINESS ROLE. BY THEN I HAD STARTED LOOKING AT SCHOOLS IN AMERICA FOR FURTHER EDUCAITON. I DIDN'T HAVE ENOOUGH WORK EX TO GET THROUGH THE TOP MBA SCHOOLS PLUS I WAS STILL A LITTLE STUCK UP ON DOING TECH RELATED MANAGEMENT.

MS&E AT STANFORD WAS A PERFECT FIT. I LOVE STANFORD AND BEING IN THE SILICON VALLEY IS A BIG BONUS.

3 comments:

Sameer S Bejalwar said...

hey..tanushree...i presume iz the same one i scrapped on orkut...btw, this is sameer...m interested in MS&E...but ain't really got an amazing acad background...engg degree in comps wid 68% and a gre of 1400..work ex is 2 years now in tcs...recos from avge engg college in nagpur and may b one from boss here....how is the scene for guys like me...is it worth applying..what r chances...i was looking at mgment relatd subjects...CAT year-on-year is a tough bet...so hoping my GRE score can help me in some way....pls comment and advise ...

Soumya said...

Hi

I've gotten into the MS&E program at Stanford and I want to know how sueful the course is. I feel like people are very hazy about the placement record here, and I also want to know if it is considered a soft course.

Unknown said...

hiii Tanushree, i really liked teh FAQ's you published about the MS&E course at Standford, i am also interested in the same and would like to get in touch with you.
To give you my background i hv done my engineering from Pune and have total 8yrs of experience and currently working at Nvidia.
Request if you can please help me with your email id would be great

-Rupali Deshpande