Need some advice.. Grad School offer or Rogue Strategy in NYC
Hey guys,
I've been faced with a serious decision. I graduated from a top 5 public university with a 3.5 GPA in Economics. I've been working at an actuarial firm for the past year and a half; its financial research oriented but definitely a job I settled on for "some experience". Before this I was unable to secure any relevant internship experience while I was in college or land a job at a BB.
Anyways after I began work, I decided I wanted to pursue trading. Took a linear algebra course and the GMAT (did well) and applied to a few MSF programs. I was accepted to all of the ones I applied to and between them I am down to Washington University in St. Louis, Boston University (with Dean's Scholarship will amount to $20k in debt) and LSE in the UK (which is my first choice, and will amount to about $50k debt). I will be doing an Msc. in accounting and finance there if I chose to accept, and yes, I know there is a strong possibility I will be working in the UK after that for at least 2 years.
My friend also works at i-banking at a BB in NYC and has offered me his place for the year, because he is taking another job over in Dallas. He's only asking $1k and its in the Times Square area, brand new apartment. I don't have a job lined up right now, but I was thinking of moving up there and trying to gun for a job relevant to trading.. and work my way into the industry. I have enough to float for 6 months, but I know this is a risky strategy, and may lead to an unfortunate outcome. That being said, I'm willing to get my hands dirty and know its not an entirely impossible endeavor.
So.. sorry for the lengthy post but I'm down to the risky strategy in NYC, taking up my MSF offer at LSE or any of the other schools and acquiring around 50k debt, or trying to find some other job more relevant to my interests while I stay at this firm. This has no guarantee for success either.
I know you guys are skilled in this arena, so I'd really appreciate any advice. Thanks.
what kind of trading do you wana do? do you know anything about trading?...
I won't pretend to be extremely knowledgeable about trading, but I do know enough to be interested in it as a career choice.
I have two friends working at BB in NYC on different desks, both buy-side. One works on the Latin America desk, and the other in equities. I'm interested in working on the buy-side, either in fixed income or in FX. My knowledge of the subject comes from a few financial theory classes I took in college, in addition to thesis work in behavioral finance, as well as some recreational reading (Malkiel's portfolio theory, Technical Analysis of Stock Trends, Shleifer, etc.)
While these are broad based 'portfolio analysis' type materiasl, I know a lot of industry involves calculating P/L's, at least to begin with. In the long run, I'm more interested in working in a more economic-based global macro type fund (i.e. Dalio or Soros).
do you know the exist opp r quite limited for traders? and the pay is not that great?
I thought there were exit opportunities on the hedge fund side? And are PE exit pops usually strictly (IB)?
I'm ok with the sacrifice in pay for less excruciating hours than IB. My friends usually work 730-6 or 7 sometimes which isn't that bad. They're also making a 70k base, as analysts, increased to 80k in their second year. I know at least one of the two made 60k in bonus, and he hadn't started trading his own book yet...
If you want to do trading then go to LSE and get your masters. While you're there you'll have full access to OCR and virtually every bank will recruit for S&T. Like you said, most of them will be for the London office, but you'll be able to transition to NY in a few years as long as you have good reviews anyway. I know two people personally who went to LSE intending to do this exact thing. One is now trading for a BB in NY after spending two years in London, and one is still in London because he fell in love with the city. I think that's definitely your best option.
Ducimus ad architecto et laborum iusto et debitis. Consequatur ad dolores harum sunt dolores quaerat explicabo. Perferendis esse expedita doloremque odit et saepe.
Et aperiam nihil libero eos deleniti voluptatem facere. Eum officiis alias quas omnis repellat. Qui modi sequi sed tempore quia architecto consectetur. Autem assumenda nesciunt excepturi vel non quaerat inventore. Qui sed rerum deleniti est libero rerum sit.
Vero quia dignissimos et sequi nobis cupiditate dolor aut. Qui et et et laboriosam dolorem. Nostrum voluptate amet temporibus placeat.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...