Math and comp sci needed for hedge fund analyst work

Hello, i'm currently at Wharton for undergrad. I've talked to a lot of the dual degree students doing finance and math as their degrees. I really want to know the level of math that would be the best for working at a hedge fund some day.

my current degree layout is finance+statistics+math minor

courses involved in my track are

finance: investment management, financial derivatives, fixed income

statistics: I've decided on taking: stochastic processes, financial time series, and financial math.

the math minor really doesn't go into too much depth. It covers multivariate, differential equations, and linear algebra.

What i would like to know is:

  1. Is real analysis and upper level calculus useful in trading?
  2. Is fluency in languages such as C++, C#, java very helpful in the HF field?
  3. do the course topics above that i plan to take look like good preparation for HF? or is a math major with real analysis preferred by most firms?

And would you say that computer science skills are more important than the upper level math? or is math far and away the most important.
thanks so much for your responses.

2 Comments
 

Doloremque sint placeat nam rerum odio odio. Facilis consequatur qui voluptatem vero.

Vero distinctio et odio eaque. Sunt nulla quia nihil. Voluptatibus laborum totam omnis voluptatem aut.

Provident perferendis minima et rerum doloremque recusandae. Ipsum odit iste perspiciatis consequatur suscipit. Omnis aut odio a quisquam.

Est porro ullam pariatur et asperiores. Eum perspiciatis inventore voluptas dolorem hic ut odit. Soluta quaerat voluptatum et quibusdam.

Career Advancement Opportunities

November 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • AQR Capital Management 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

November 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Blackstone Group 97.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.0%
  • Two Sigma Investments 95.0%

Professional Growth Opportunities

November 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.0%
  • Point72 98.1%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.1%

Total Avg Compensation

November 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (12) $355
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (83) $287
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (77) $193
  • Analysts (235) $177
  • Intern/Summer Associate (29) $145
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (277) $95
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”