How is Georgia Tech for Quant HFT/SWE roles ?
Hi,
I’m a UK international student recently admitted to Georgia Tech. I am waiting on many more decisions from more elite schools (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford e.t.c.), and wondering whether GT would be a good platform to start a career in technical roles such as SWE and HFT at top quant firms like Jane St., Citadel e.t.c. I could afford GT with little to no student debt, but would have about $130k of debt for somewhere like UCB Haas, Stanford, Harvard e.t.c.. My main reason for posting this is to hear from people in industry about whether this kind of serious debt is worth it for any advantages it gives in pursuing these highly competitive industries.
Thanks for any responses or advice on career path viability from GT or peer schools.
It doesn't close off your odds, but speaking honestly (many won't admit this) GT vs. say Harvard makes it materially harder to get an interview, harder to survive the first couple years, and harder to advance. After 5-10 years out of school it matters materially less, but realistically there is still an implicit bias with decision makers.
I was in a similar position once and took on slightly less debt than you (maybe the same inflation adjusted) to go to one of the schools you mentioned, turning down full rides etc. Internship savings + signing bonus was enough to pay the debt off entirely and looking back it is very unlikely I would be in a similar seat if I had taken the discount path. For many the cost doesn't make sense, but if you are studying something technical and aiming to work in quant trading (the literal highest paying field out of undergrad... with high paying internships too and the best part about earning in college is a low tax bracket), I would compare potential career earnings to the debt you're quoting and you will find it is a drop in the bucket. Worst case if you drop out and land as a SWE in tech, it will put you a few years behind initially but still has many opportunities to pay off long run. I would of course consider carefully how much conviction you have that this is the field you want to pursue and how good you are, but if so go for it, that amount of debt in this field is very earnable and quickly too.
Would you say there is a tangible difference between GT and, say, Berkley/Columbia/CMU etc. (ie. either CS dominant schools or ivys/ivy peers but not the elite of the elite, meaning Stanford/Harvard/Princeton/Yale/MIT etc.)? Not OP btw just curious, was my understanding that the tangible career return at both the short-medium and medium-long term was really only seen from the elite echelon of schools above, and that the difference between Berkley/Georgia Tech/Northwestern/Columbia/Duke etc. was marginal
Much less
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