Are the days of college dropouts working on wall street as traders at hedge funds over

1) I am not contemplating over dropping out.

I am wondering are there any cases of people you knew who dropped out of college and working as traders anymore, like in 1980s

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Yes. If you're a college dropout there's 0 chance you get into any hedge fund with institutional backing unless you've got a major family/personal connection that has money in the fund/is close to the PM (in which case you still have to be competent) or you're some sort of savant/entrepreneur that dropped out to pursue something actually challenging because college is largely a joke. Maybe if it were some small time $100m fund out of Florida that the PM raised from his friends & family you'd have a shot but that's probably never going to result in eventually working your way over to a "real" fund. Credentialism is a bitch. 

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It was extremely rare in the 2000s. But it did happen. People wound up in BB prop desks and running large books at hedge funds a decade later.

It was extremely rare in the 2010s. But it did happen. Someone dropped out and built expertise in a niche alt dataset that became coveted by hedge funds. He’s also famous now.

I’m sure it’s going to be extremely rare this decade. Also certain a few people will pull it off. Likely something entrepreneurial, a niche technology, or a lot of hustle involving the founder of a fund.

 

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