Can a Graduate Degree from Oxford U help me get a salaried position in trading?

macal425 · May 30, 2003

Thunderdog

Were you aware that the reason lots of people attacked him was that he came here and posted his question on every single possible forum yesterday. This clogged up the front page of ET for some while. Although it was a mistake, he did not apologize for it but instead displayed an arrogant attitude towards those people attacking him for showing a lack of common sense.

Kap · May 30, 2003

With regard to equity trading - well the only ones I know dont' havs Bsc's Msc's, Phd's or MBA's, there ex picture frame sellers from the local market or milkmen who were good at juggling the pennies across multiple accounts, no matter how much academia u have absorbed u will learn nothing until you start losing.

This Oxford guy should head towards the derivatives arena, Fixed Income derivs, Credit Derivs and exotic options, this is where skills at mathematics and computermodelling are a prerequisite.

And I would recommend CSFB.

Why he wants to play in this soul destroying game eludes me anyhows,

I blame the 80's

vanilla2 · May 30, 2003

yep, i was on the csfb FI floor, it would be perfect for him.

i thought i'd be better on my own, so i left that factory behind.

Ditch · May 30, 2003

Quote from macal425:

Thunderdog

Were you aware that the reason lots of people attacked him was that he came here and posted his question on every single possible forum yesterday. This clogged up the front page of ET for some while. Although it was a mistake, he did not apologize for it but instead displayed an arrogant attitude towards those people attacking him for showing a lack of common sense.

Thunderdog doesn't even trade. Dude looks like a lady...

Kap · May 30, 2003

Vanilla, this all sounds too familiar, I was possible across the desk from you

Thunderdog · May 30, 2003

Macal,

You may have a point, Macal, I don't know. But have you actually read some of the responses in here? Have a look. I thinks there's more involved.

Regards,

Thunderdog

candletrader · May 30, 2003

Quote from Kap:

This Oxford guy should head towards the derivatives arena, Fixed Income derivs, Credit Derivs and exotic options, this is where skills at mathematics and computermodelling are a prerequisite.

Yup, I gotta agree with ya on this, Brother Kap... the Oxford guy also better make sure he takes at least 2 programming languages along with him to interview, to at least give himself a chance against the PhDs... or, better still, he should seriously consider staying on after his masters and doin' a PhD which heavily involves stochastic calculus in conjunction with C++ modeling... boring stuff (imo), but it pays well if you are after a life of corporate slavery...

But, of course, none of this is necessary if all Mr Oxford wants to do is directionally scalp or employ simple arbitrage strategies... gimme a reformed gangster, a competitive sportsman or a card hustler anyday for this latter kind of trading

DT-waw · May 30, 2003

Quote from Ditch:

Your Oxford degree may land you with numerous interviews for a trader's position, but that only shows the lunacy of the selection process for jobs at Wall Street.

Two guys apply for a job at a big investment firm. They have exactly the same trading knowledge & experience. One of them is a Oxford / Harvard / Princeton etc. graduate. Who has more chances to be employed?

Here's an explanation from Why So Many Ivy League Fund Managers? thread.

Quote from MondoTrader:

"However, in the hedge fund industry none of that matters! The only thing that matters is good, consistent, objective returns"

That is just naive and untrue. At any given time there are lots of absolutely shitty fund managers out there, many of them MBA types from top schools. Of course, they don't last very long, but then they just get replaced by more of the same. They pick Ivy leaguers because if a guy screws up, the guy that hired him can say "but he had great credentials, so its not my fault". Credentials help raise money for funds, and help to deflect blame when losses occur.

Ditch · May 30, 2003

Quote from DT-waw:

Two guys apply for a job at a big investment firm. They have exactly the same trading knowledge & experience. One of them is a Oxford / Harvard / Princeton etc. graduate. Who has more chances to be employed?

Here's an explanation from Why So Many Ivy League Fund Managers? thread.

Yeah, why can't the majority of the investment funds not even beat the S&p-500 index? figure it out yourself, ace. I wasn't talking about chances of getting a paid job at some Wall Street firm, but chances of becoming a succesful trader. Like it's already stated a dozen times in this thread: trading is a mental game, success is largely depending on your mental make-up, not analytical skills or intelligence. You may have read the comment "when you can make it at OXford, you can make it anywhere". well, you can forget about that when it comes to trading. My take on this is that it is more likely to recruit potentially succesful traders among marines or prize fighters than ivy leaguers.

indahook · May 30, 2003

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