Work experience: Credit Suisse (Exotic derivatives valuation review) 1.5 yrs
* Relative working experience may help also but some fresh grads can also get in because school likes fresh idea as well.
GMAT: 720 + 4.5 (not very high, it shows school would not just focus on test scores)
TOEFL: waiver (undergrad was completed in English)
Recommendations: 2 from current managers (1 AVP, 1 Director); 1 from prof. in school
* I think the recommendation is quite important. It is better to find someone who knows you well so that he/she can write something sincere and valuable. All my referees know me more than 1 year and the recommendation letters are written by themselves.
Interview: general questions: why CMU MSCF? what is your career plan? where do you wanna work? what schools else did you apply? bla, bla~~~ * The interview was just to test whether you can communicate in english well and the passing rate is generally very high~~~
I think the key thing they are looking for is whether you can survive in the program and have the potential to find a job after graduate~~~~ After all, the school's reputation is partially supported by the replacement rate!