Quant?

First off, 95% of what quants do (up through director levels in most cases) is coding...maintaining models and databases, changing them to conform to whatever IT protocols the desk is using or changing to, debugging old code, etc. I guarantee that even if you can beat out the competition to land a spot you will not be doing any math. So, the first question you have to ask yourself is, "Do I really, really like to write and maintain code?" It also kinda goes without saying that you should have a high level of programming competence.

You can make good money as a quant, and you have relatively more job stability compared to a trader, but chances of moving into a trading spot on the sell-side are slim. On the buy-side you might have a better chance since quants are more involved with developing trading systems but, again, the math involved with these systems is not particularly complex in most cases and you will still be spending most of your time coding.
 
FWIW, if I were thinking along the lines being discussed here, I would go into learning how to price weather derivatives, e.g., weather options. Think about it. Not only that, the challenge (imo) is greater there than in other quant areas, so the itellectual interest can stay keen.

In life, just as in markets, it helps to climb above the trees and see the forrest.

nitro
 
Quote from rateesquad:


I still will be majoring in Investments and Math. Although after discussing this with my advisor I will only minor in Eco.
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Maybe I'm getting old (I don't think I've been out of school this long...) - but is Investment now a viable major? It seems a bit... flimsy... a little too "art history", so to speak. It's certainly not a traditional econ/finance/accounting/math/compsci/etc... discipline.

People might [rightly] disagree with me, but I don't think customized/unique sounding majors help you on the Street.
 
Quote from sjfan:

Maybe I'm getting old (I don't think I've been out of school this long...) - but is Investment now a viable major? It seems a bit... flimsy... a little too "art history", so to speak. It's certainly not a traditional econ/finance/accounting/math/compsci/etc... discipline.

People might [rightly] disagree with me, but I don't think customized/unique sounding majors help you on the Street.
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In Baruch it is a Finance/Investment major. I am not making this up. So lets just suppose it is a FInance major. Sorry for confusion.

http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/ugradprograms/eco.htm#Major
http://zicklin.baruch.cuny.edu/programs/undergrad/degrees/fin.html/

PS I just found this should I switch from Finance major into this
http://zicklin.baruch.cuny.edu/programs/undergrad/degrees/or.html
 
I got my everning MBA at Baruch and have fond memories. That was before the new vertical campus and I had to trudge around to three different buildings.

My favorite was when my last class was on the 20th floor, and you you couldn't catch an elevator because of the crowds so you had to walk down 20 flights of stairs.

Any body rememeber Professor T K Das?
 
Quote from rateesquad:


PS I just found this should I switch from Finance major into this
http://zicklin.baruch.cuny.edu/programs/undergrad/degrees/or.html
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I woudn't. The coursework doesn't look terribly relevant to quant finance. It's missing several pretty key courses; it looks more like a supply/chain/opim/etc type of major.

Just stick with the finance major and develop some decent economic intuitions. Take some math/stats courses (optimization, stochastic calc, real analysis) on the side;
 
Hey guys thank you all for the input.

SJ what classes are missing in that program? Can I feel it in with math or Finance major? This is only a undergrad class, I am assuming they will teach me something in the BS right? Or should I just get it prior to that?


Hershey. Thank you for that interesting thought. I see where you are going with this. But, I have couple of problems. 1) I have to finish all core curriculum classes. Next semester my classes look something like so: LAW, STATISTICS, MATH (this is for the major), ECO 1002(Macro), LITerature. (Somehow we are required to take 2 Eng classes and one LIT). I am planning to bump up my GPA to at least 3.75 next year. Assuming (the worst case scenario 3 A's, 2 A-'s). Then it is on from that. But, otherwise you have a valuable point. I acknowledge the fact that I will need 4.0 every semester but, it is not easy...what is right...I guess if you want to be on top you have to try harder right?

Thank you all so far. Keep it coming this is actually helping me tremendously.
 
Make sure you take plenty of solid math. Take as much calc as you can. Take linear algebra (or adv, if there's one). Take real analysis if there's one (take it pass/fail if you can - it's not worth working that hard on it - but it's eye opening). Then, be sure to take some advanced micro (it's not advanced unless you hear the words "euler equation"), take some game theory (not game theory unless you hear the words "pooling baysian equilibriums").... get a decent foundation - the rest you'll pick it up either in grad school or on the job (if you chose not to do quant - this stuff'll prep you for thinking).

Oh, don't blow off your required lit/writing/history classes; they make you a better person. and the girls are usually better in those classes. Take them your senior year if you can - that way you are already ahead of everyone else; they'll look up to you as a senior and you can take advantage of your better learning/time management/etc skills to earn better grades easier.
 
So at what point do you teach yourself computer programming? So what if you understand Brent's Method for solving for implied volatility. Can you implement it as an algorithm in a C++ application?

As others have pointed out, you will need programming skills to work as a quant.
 
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