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

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Quote from trader99:




And the funny thing is, FF will finally be a small fish in a big pond. He might be top student at NYU but he'll meet his match and beyond at Oxford. He was a big fish in a small pond. Then he'll realize he might no longer be the "best" when he's in class with some of the best students in the world, not just at NYU. They might even laugh behind his back.

-99
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People have always laughed behind my back. Such lack of confidence in my abilities has only served to make me stronger all throughout my life. I sincerely hope that I will be challenged like never before at Oxford. Let me say the NYU's mathematics department is among the finest in the world. It's applied mathematics research is probably the best you will find anywhere in the world.

I can't say I was the best in my class at NYU. What I can say, is that I have often been able to prove advanced theorems in mathematics and computer science which even the most talented of my peers couldn't hack (perhaps even those who laughed at me?). That should say quite a lot about my ability to succeed in mathematics (especially considering the fact that NYU's math department is as good as it is).

Besides, if you ever find yourself in a place where you are the best in the pack, you probably belong somewhere more competitive. I sincerely hope that I am not the most talented mathematician at Oxford for otherwise the contention expressed in a previous post to this forum (i.e. that Oxford isn't really that great for mathematics) will prove to have been true. For nearly 1000 years, mathematics has been studied at Oxford. I am privileged to have been offered the opportunity to study there as well.

Thanks
 
Freedomphiter...you do have one thing, and that's a big set of nads. You came to a pretty rough place to get help. I'm going to get a little rough on you, so sit down and pour a glass of wine.


1) You have debt, and so does everyone one else here. Mortgages, wives, ex-wives, children and commissions. Wall Street got it grapes crushed with 9/11. I've lost MANY friends in those towers, and it sucked to see the smoke bellowing from the front of my house. Walking outside to check the mail, and finding confirms from MSCO in front of my house.

2) I grew up as a poor NYC guy who went to CUNY, and paid for my tuition with the money I made as a broker. Where you went to school is meaningless. Do yourself a favor, and preface your question with "I want to trade", rather than I graduated from "X". I not only taught top grads, but interviewed them too. When someone told me that they graduated from UPENN Wharton, I would say to myself, "Oh boy!!! This guy will be hitting my bids and lifting my offer." It doesen't matter how well you think you will be trading, the market and your psyche will be the REAL indicators. I've seen THOUSANDS of people, say "I'm going to be a great trader.", after they made millions "PAPER TRADING" and then get crushed like a zit on a 14-year old by GSCO.

3) You're better of with a degree in psych, rather than math. The only thing that guarantees is you'll be able to calculate your losses faster, and give a head trader your theory on "probability analysis" while he's packing your belongings in a "bankers box" and calling security to kick your butt out the door. On Wall Street, the only thing that matters at the end of the day is your P&L. Now don't get mad because you feel you picked the wrong major, who knows maybe you did or didn't. Just take a REAL look at the market and what it's REALLY about. Most of the books you read and professors that taught you know crap about the REAL market. Trading is a "head" game that has been mastered by people with a FRACTION of your scholastic achievements. The only thing your degrees can do is magnify your success as a trader. Without trading success, they're just degrees. My friend is a Harvard MBA, and he got an email from them. For the first time in Harvard's history they reached out to their alumni, asking for help in placing this year's grads. That goes to show you how helpful that degree is.

Don't get me wrong, congrats on your degree. It's a great thing: not too many people have the money, conviction or the brains to have that diploma.

I see Don Bright offered a hand, feel free to drop me a line as well. I'll make some phone calls and coach you on what to say and how to say it, only because I respect you determination. Be well.
 
Quote from RAMOUTAR:

Freedomphiter...you do have one thing, and that's a big set of nads. You came to a pretty rough place to get help. I'm going to get a little rough on you, so sit down and pour a glass of wine.


1) You have debt, and so does everyone one else here. Mortgages, wives, ex-wives, children and commissions. Wall Street got it grapes crushed with 9/11. I've lost MANY friends in those towers, and it sucked to see the smoke bellowing from the front of my house. Walking outside to check the mail, and finding confirms from MSCO in front of my house.

2) I grew up as a poor NYC guy who went to CUNY, and paid for my tuition with the money I made as a broker. Where you went to school is meaningless. Do yourself a favor, and preface your question with "I want to trade", rather than I graduated from "X". I not only taught top grads, but interviewed them too. When someone told me that they graduated from UPENN Wharton, I would say to myself, "Oh boy!!! This guy will be hitting my bids and lifting my offer." It doesen't matter how well you think you will be trading, the market and your psyche will be the REAL indicators. I've seen THOUSANDS of people, say "I'm going to be a great trader.", after they made millions "PAPER TRADING" and then get crushed like a zit on a 14-year old by GSCO.

3) You're better of with a degree in psych, rather than math. The only thing that guarantees is you'll be able to calculate your losses faster, and give a head trader your theory on "probability analysis" while he's packing your belongings in a "bankers box" and calling security to kick your butt out the door. On Wall Street, the only thing that matters at the end of the day is your P&L. Now don't get mad because you feel you picked the wrong major, who knows maybe you did or didn't. Just take a REAL look at the market and what it's REALLY about. Most of the books you read and professors that taught you know crap about the REAL market. Trading is a "head" game that has been mastered by people with a FRACTION of your scholastic achievements. The only thing your degrees can do is magnify your success as a trader. Without trading success, they're just degrees. My friend is a Harvard MBA, and he got an email from them. For the first time in Harvard's history they reached out to their alumni, asking for help in placing this year's grads. That goes to show you how helpful that degree is.

Don't get me wrong, congrats on your degree. It's a great thing: not too many people have the money, conviction or the brains to have that diploma.

I see Don Bright offered a hand, feel free to drop me a line as well. I'll make some phone calls and coach you on what to say and how to say it, only because I respect you determination. Be well.
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I sincerely appreciate your response. Thanks for the congrats (i haven't gotten the degree yet though). I almost took on psychology as a third major at NYU but eventually decided that it would be too much work (an extra year at NYU) though I did take two psychology classes there. I know that psychology is very important in trading since you always want to know what the masses are doing (or what you think they will do) and formulate a strategy based on that information. As you may know, I traded my own account for about four months and surprisingly the days I did the best, with regard to PandL, were days I played chess before starting to trade. I truly believe that the thought process involved in chess helped me succeed in trading on those particular days. In a similar way, I believe that mathematics can tune one's brain into thinking logically about how the markets work. I know for certain that there are some areas of trading in which mathematics is essential (for i.e. quantitative hedging, fixed income securities trading, interest rate trading and etc...).

By the way, CUNY is strong in many areas (including mathematics...it is currently ranked #30 overall in mathematics) so don't mistakenly downgrade the school you attended. Did you know that Colin Powell got an undergraduate degree from CUNY?

I'll probably keep in touch with you and send you my resume when I graduate. If you show me the ropes, I think I can be successful. I'll keep in touch

Thanks a lot
 
Freedom,

I have no idea if you would be a good trader or not, but my honest opinion is that all your degrees will not be a factor in your trading.


Good luck to you.
 
Quote from FreedomPhighter:





Thanks for the reply. A lot of the people on here are assholes. Why does it piss people off so much that I posted my question to every forum on elitetrader.com? I thought that each forum was distinct since I am new on here. I don't like paying for starbucks or fetching sandwiches from Panera as an apprentice trader. I hope there are other options for me...

I appreciate your response
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Tell them dang traders you have a degree from Oxford, and you won't take any shit from them! By golly, if you make darn sure that everybody knows who is the boss, you should have no problems. When you start your new job, be sure to order the senior trader to fetch your lunch - that'll show them who's boss.
 
Many traders have no diploma at all so they're just jealous :D
They are two types of traders : the independant ones generally the little ones who trade their own money and the institutional ones who trade others people money. The profile of institutional traders are guys with high diploma (in France at least it is often the case, France is in fact so elitist that people from Universities are considered as second class people and would not be accepted only those from what are called "Grandes Ecoles" which are engineering and business schools are generally accepted and they must generally come from the best ones Polytechnique, Mines, HEC, ... ).

P.S.: generally I dare say for having done such kind of school, that you acquire a good background in finance fundamentals but that doesn't transform you into a good trader. Trading others people money only is not what I consider being a good trader.

Quote from FreedomPhighter:





Thanks for the reply. A lot of the people on here are assholes. Why does it piss people off so much that I posted my question to every forum on elitetrader.com? I thought that each forum was distinct since I am new on here. I don't like paying for starbucks or fetching sandwiches from Panera as an apprentice trader. I hope there are other options for me...

I appreciate your response
More...
 
For what primes p, is 2^p + p - 1 = x^2?

Note that 5 works: 2 ^5 + 5 - 1 = 6 ^2.

Is five the only prime? Are there an infinite number of them? Please show me how you would go about solving this problem - the answer is not important, just how you would attack it.

nitro
 
Quote from harrytrader:

Many traders have no diploma at all so they're just jealous :D
They are two types of traders : the independant ones generally the little ones who trade their own money and the institutional ones who trade others people money. The profile of institutional traders are guys with high diploma (in France at least it is often the case, France is in fact so elitist that people from Universities are considered as second class people and would not be accepted only those from what are called "Grandes Ecoles" which are engineering and business schools are generally accepted and they must generally come from the best ones Polytechnique, Mines, HEC, ... ).

P.S.: generally I dare say for having done such kind of school, that you acquire a good background in finance fundamentals but that doesn't transform you into a good trader. Trading others people money only is not what I consider being a good trader.
More...

hey harry,

I guess it's the same in Europe as here in the US. Most ibanks on Wall St and big money managers only take Ivy League level educations. I know it's elitist. And it doesn't reflect anything about one's ability to trade. It's just the way it is. I'm glad I went to a top school, but I must admit it did LITTLE to help me trade. I had to trading learn the hard way myself, because spending years ina rather cushy institutional environment. hehe.


BTW, which top French school did you go to? One of my MIT prof went to Ecole Polytechnique for engineering. Did you go there? Supposedly it's a top shelf school. After engineering, he later on went for phd in finance and now teaches at Sloan.

but, whatever. Anyways.

Maybe one of these days you can explain me your estoeric models. You seemed to make pretty wild predictions. I don't do predictions because my main time frame is daytrade. And I move enough SIZE to make it worthwhile.

99
 
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