An 18 year old chimp(haha) extremely interested in finance
I am about to choose HKUST for a bachelor's in Quant finance, but before that, I wish to obtain some information about the financial industry. My thoughts are that studying quant finance + (a double major in comp sci) at a bachelor's would allow me to best develop my quantitative/critical thinking side as a strong foundation. However, I suppose I do not particularly enjoy spending all my time sitting behind a desk trying to build models/validate models/full-on research (this is my general stereotype based on what I have read on quant finance jobs); I do also sometimes enjoy being at the forefront negotiating, etc.
TLDR;
I have an intense passion (cliche, I know) for finance that I transferred from chess (considering that finance appears to be like a huge chess game). Thus, I hope to understand a bit about my prospects (globally) if I were to take quantitative finance at a bachelor's in a HK University.
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How hard would it be for me to get into other areas of finance, such as IB, PE, ER, HF, etc.?
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As an HK student, what are my prospects in the US or London? Would I have to make up for geographical/educational background with an MBA?
I think what I am trying to get at is:
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How 'flexible' would I be job-wise and growth-wise in the future after taking quantitative finance compared to subjects like economics/finance/business at an undergrad?
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Based on what you have read, what sort of financial jobs would I fit in?
Any opinion is HIGHLY VALUED, so please be as critical as possible.
Thank you very much in advance!
I’ll first say shorten the post, I didn’t and I’m guessing majority of people won’t read the whole thing. However upon reading the first bit, you described a passion for Equity Research, AM or the HF industry. Some form of public markets investing anyways... All I can say is lol if you think IBD is anything like Billions.
You come across like a kid in this post, try shortening it.
If you study in Hong Kong you can forget working in the US or London.
"Would the Chinese market be of any interest great interest to me?" - this you can only answer yourself.
"How likely would it be for quantitative finance students to get into things like corporate finance?" - stupid questions, how many decimal numbers do you want your answer in?
This is really shit posting.
Thanks for the comment and the insight! I will further shorten my post and come up with better questions👍. Also, rip my US prospects, but I'll see what I can do in the future.
At least from the people I've seen, its easier for someone who studied quant finance to move into more "vanilla roles" than vice versa. No matter how much we like to hype up stuff like IB, its intellectually easier than more quantitative stuff, and can be learned.
Thank you very much for the response!
I had the same thoughts but needed some confirmation. I could always move to less quantitative roles after having a background in quant finance👍
If you're in HKUST QFIN you're good for any area of Finance you want in HK. For 2020's class, they've placed people in Point72, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Barclays and Citibank, at least as far as I checked with Ekkachai.
The major's just to get your foot in the door. How you actually place depends on how well you interview and polish yourself and how well you network.
Why are you going to study in HKUST if you're not interested in working in HK?
You have, realistically, a very small chance of going to work in the US/UK.
Yes, you could make up for this with an MBA, QFIN has placed well in MBAs historically, MIT, Princeton, Yale in the US and Imperial in the UK.
But not only do you have to contend with how expensive an overseas MBA is, you also have to contend with the fact that taxes are even higher, there are fewer benefits, and the pound has been weak for years now.
Not to mention, unless you're born there, it's kind of unlikely for you to be able to climb up the career ladder.
Speaking of financial jobs, I frankly have no idea. Your interests are so broad I really don't know.
But don't worry too much about that, you've got four years to figure it out. (Although realistically you should have it figured out by the end of Year 2, since internships start recruiting at the start of Year 3).
QFIN only really ramps up in Year 2 onwards, although you will be crushed if you're trying to do the COSC-QFIN double major, so fair warning.
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