<p>I'm considering getting a Masters of Finance degree after undergrad, but I'm having trouble finding grad school data. I'm most interested in admissions data (average cumulative GPA and other requirements and considerations) and rankings. Specifically I am looking for universities with a focus in finance or a highly esteemed finance program.</p>
<p>Unfortunately when I search for this data I am only finding rankings and information regarding MBA programs with a finance focus or just a general graduate school list. This is not what I'm looking for. I've resorted to going through the MBA program rankings and checking to see if they offer a Masters in Finance, because if their MBA program is highly regarded their Masters of Finance probably is, also. I'm not having much success in getting the data I'm looking for and narrowing my search for a grad school.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any suggestions on how I might view rankings and admissions data for Masters of Finance programs? Any links would be especially appreciated.</p>
<p>Average GPA and other requirements are generally not published widely because programs are idiosyncratic. Individual programs have their own requirements, and they vary wildly based on the reputation of the program and the desires of the professors and other staff there at the school. Averages would be more or less meaningless, because the ‘average’ GPA of an entering student getting an MS in finance might be 3.3, but that could just be because the low-tier programs and high-tier programs are averaged together. At the higher-tier programs you may need a 3.6 whereas you may only need a 3.0 at the lower-tier programs.</p>
<p>It would be like taking all of the undergrad programs in the country and computing average SAT scores and GPAs for accepted students - there’d be no acknowledgement of the difference between getting into Stanford or CSU-Northridge, you know what I mean? Except for grad programs it’s even worse, because they rely less heavily on stats than undergrad, and more heavily on your individual preparation for the program.</p>
<p>What is far better for you to do is to find individual programs that suit you and then look at their websites for more information about their admissions requirements and averages. Many programs will publish the profile of the average student - work experience, grades, GRE/GMAT scores, etc. Also, don’t assume that if one program is highly ranked a related but different program will also be highly reputed - that’s not the way grad programs work.</p>