Will UCLA Summer Session help me at Masters in Finance admissions?

International Students
1

<p>Hi. You can call me Annie and thank you for your time to take a look at my post :)</p>

<p>I want to apply for the UCLA Summer Session and I was wondering if it was the right choice for my future.</p>

<p>I’m an undergraduate student from KAIST which is located in South Korea. KAIST is a highly prestigious school which always ranks 1st, if not 2nd within Korea. But I realized such advantage won’t work so well in America compare to South Korea.</p>

<p>I am majoring Industrials and Systems Engineering. I’m at my 7th semester and I hope to get an admission from graduate school at this summer ~ fall. I am planning to change my major to Finance (not the Financial Engineering. My GPA shows I’m not an Engineering type of girl) when I apply to Master’s degree.</p>

<p>First of all, although it shows signs of improvement, my GPA is quite low. My GPA at freshman is 2.32, at sophomore it was 2.36 (3rd semester was 2.06. At 4th semester it was 2.66) and at junior I had a dramatic increase to 3.19. But overall, my GPA is 2.6
I’m aiming to be 3.5+ at this semester since it will be the most recent record of my academic work. I’ve also been studying for GMAT (I thought GMAT was my type than GRE. Plus, I will be applying for MBA after the graduate school and job so I’ll need it again at that point. I haven’t taken the actual test yet because I want to be fully ready for it.) and I’m realistically aiming to score 700+.</p>

<p>With such low GPA, I’m not hoping for a Top school. I just want to get accepted by decent school for the time being.</p>

<p>The reason I want to get a degree from Masters in Finance is
A. I want to make up for the low Undergraduate GPA.
B. I want to learn more about Finance since it’s very different from my current major.
C. It’ll be easier to get a job in America if I hold a degree from University at America.</p>

<p>And I really want to spend this summer at the States by attending UCLA Summer Session.
[UCLA</a> Summer Sessions-Home Page–](<a href=“http://www.summer.ucla.edu/]UCLA”>http://www.summer.ucla.edu/)
I want to show them that I can really improve outside of KAIST (I have no work experience at all). These KAIST students are like, really smart… I’m planning to take 3 finance-related courses as well as few liberal arts course I need in order to graduate (I can transfer credits to KAIST).</p>

<p>I’ve thought of summer internship at finance-related area but I think the chances are very slim since I’m a foreigner with no degree in America, my current major isn’t Finance and because the current job market isn’t so good.</p>

<p>Do you think it’s a good strategy to apply for the Summer Session? I’m also open to other suggestions.
By the way, I wouldn’t mind if it costs a lot of money or doesn’t pay me.</p>