<p>Alright, so I have already applied RD to NU and am awaiting my decision. My plan is to attend Northwestern and study economics. Afterwards, my goal is to get an associate job in investment banking or get a job in consulting. I have heard that the MMSS program is very highly regarded and would greatly help me in breaking into investment banking. Is this true? Because I don't know if I am actually really interested in MMSS. I am more interested in Finance and Economics. Saying all this, would it be wise for me to apply to MMSS? And, if I was accepted into MMSS, would I be able to decline and just major in economics? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>bump…anyone</p>
<p>I’m in a similar situation with you…luckily my interviewer is someone who was in MMSS so I’m looking forward to asking her for some advice before deciding.</p>
<p>If i applied and was accepted, I’m not required to enter into the program am I? Can I just decide to decline the offer and go with econ?</p>
<p>No, you are not required to enter MMSS if you are accepted to both Northwestern and MMSS. But on the other hand, if you want to do IB or consulting, then yes, MMSS is highly recommended. This is a list of where MMSS students have done internships in the previous years. You’ll notice it lines up with your career goals.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.mmss.northwestern.edu/students/MMSS%20Internships2010-2011.xlsx[/url]”>http://www.mmss.northwestern.edu/students/MMSS%20Internships2010-2011.xlsx</a></p>
<p>Since Northwestern has no degree-based finance undergrad curriculum apart from the Kellogg Certificate in Financial Economics, MMSS takes its place by providing a math-intesive economics curriculum. Basically it shows you’re smart enough to think with numbers in terms of a social science (which might be seen as a different type of finesse than thinking with numbers in a number-based world such as engineering), which is likely why it has the higher degree of recruiting and job placement.</p>
<p>How are MMSS applicants evaluated? I heard the process was mostly numbers-based… is this true?</p>
<p>Yes, it is almost entirely based on numbers for Freshmen admission</p>
<p>For GPA, should you put unweighted or weighted? It does not specify.</p>
<p>I put unweighted, but I don’t believe it matters, for two reasons. First, if you are accepted to Northwestern in the first place, your GPA was sufficiently high. Second, there are much better measures of mathematical aptitude that they already ask you for (SAT II Math, ACT/SAT Math, AP Calc AB/BC score), and those remain the primary numbers of importance.</p>
<p>I guess a third reason that it wouldn’t matter too much is that unweighted/weighted isn’t actually specified on the application. You can always email <a href=“mailto:mmss@northwestern.edu”>mmss@northwestern.edu</a> to get anything about specific application questions cleared up, as that will be a definitive answer.</p>