Best Decision to get into Quant Positions?

Hey everyone,

I am currently a sophomore studying Aerospace Engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, my GPA is 3.7/4.0 and I recently decided to change up my education. After doing an internship at an engineering firm I realized I did not want to be an engineer. I am great at math, physics and problem solving in general, and decided that a career in finance would be better for me in the long run.

After doing some research over the past few months, I narrowed down my ideal career options to Quant Dev, Quant Research or S&T. I understand that these positions are extremely competitive and demanding and I have a question that I haven’t been able to find the answer to. I got accepted to Purdue University for a major in Applied Mathematics and will probably be adding a minor of CS or Data Analytics to it, but given the fact that most firms are going to hire from target schools, is it even worth it? My alternative options would be to retake old courses over the summer in hopes to increase my GPA and apply to better schools, or to continue with engineering and complete a masters in mathematics at a better university. I’d appreciate any advice on the topic as I am pretty lost right now.

Thank you for your time