Med School to Hedge Fund: How to?
I'm in my 2nd year at med school, and I'm really not interested in being on this path anymore. I've always been more interested in investing, and I'd like to get to work for a hedge fund.
I've been trading/investing/speculating for 4 years, blogging about my investments on my website, and posting research reports on Seeking Alpha. I've managed to get a decent track record with my investments (beating the markets, but not by crazy margins) and posted some timely articles on Seeking Alpha.
I've got a good gpa (3.9), SAT 2260, MCAT in the 99th percentile, so perhaps I could make the case to a hiring manager that I've got some smarts? I don't have a great pedigree however, and I didn't get into a great med school.
I worked for 2 months at a proprietary forex trading company (summer before med school), and I'm currently working for a professor of finance up in Canada on developing trading systems based on information theory in my spare time.
Does anyone have any advice on how to get to a hedge fund job from where I am?
Is an MBA the next step here? MS Finance? Just starting sending out resumes blindly? Will I need to try to go for an intermediate step, like an equity research analyst for biotechs? And if so, is the full MD a requirement? Any help would be much appreciated.
FYI: I worked for about a year and a half as a Petroleum Analyst at an oil/gas consulting firm, so I have a bit of work experience and pretty decent excel skills. Not sure if that is relevant/useful.
http://m.upi.com/story/UPI-33181378499597/?fms=1
There definitely have been people that made the switch. famous example http://www.businessinsider.com/michael-burry-raising-capital-for-fund-2…
Thanks for the support WhartoniteInvestor. I have heard about Burry before, and his case gave me a bit of encouragement that it could be done. However, he did have a bit of luck making the connection - I think Joel Greenblatt (or one of his analysts) was reading Burry's posts regularly, so they provided initial funding for Burry's fund. I'm not sure what my odds are of getting picked up by a hedge fund manager like that...
It is interesting that you mention that case Macro Arbitrage. I've actually interviewed at an "expert consulting" firm before. As for that specific case, I'm not sure how much inside info was actually leaked, but the whole industry was really begging for an SEC investigation sooner or later.
Finish med school and apply for residency. See if you feel the same way at the end. If you actually want to peruse medicine, you'll be all set. If not, at least you were hedged. Plus if you have your MD you actually have credentials. You can join a biotech HF, but without the MD you are 1) behind the curve as far as wasted years in med school, 2) no credentials to show for it, 3) no confirmed expertise.
As far as the loans, if you continue in medicine it will be as expected anyway. If you go HF then you'll make more than enough money that the $200k loans won't hurt you long term and actually will have served a purpose.
Honestly your other options/ suggestions scream "I'm throwing dart at a board in the dark... Yea I'm clearly smart, but I can't decide what I want to do nor have I thought about how me, as a package, comes across without a thought out plan." If you finish med school and can talk about what I suggested above, it shows you realize when something isn't working out, but you maximize your return/figure an intelligent way out. Just like how fuking up coffee as a intern is a read through to your ability to handle situations, your story and transition from med to HF will speak about your ability to handle investment situations that go awry.
Just my 2 cents.
Thanks so much for the thoughtful and well-constructed feedback.
I was mostly considering the MBA and MS Finance as ways of augmenting my MD with some actual Finance credibility. Just to clarify, I take it that your feedback is, forget these options, just focus on getting the confirmed expertise on my record, and then work it from there, because the rest will be a waste of time. (And, of course, even more money.)
Would an MD help me advance once I was in a HF? I was under the impression that even as an MD, I would pretty much be in the same entry position as people fresh from undergrad.
Thanks again for your feedback.
CFA would be a good start (better than more school IMO), and there are many places that specialize in HC that look for people specialized in that field. Leerink Swann is one that comes to mind.
do not go back for more school...u already have a ton of schooling. Finish up with med school and then use your background to pitch yourself to hedge funds as an expert in health care stuff. I would the think the uniqueness of your background would at least get you some looks and if you really have been following the markets and researching trade ideas then you should have something interesting to say at interviews.
You guys are awesome.
Yeah, I'll probably try to knock out the CFA exams in my fourth year (4th year is supposedly easy compared to 3rd year, where you work like 100 hours a week). I think you need a sponsorship and work experience for the full charter, but at least with exams that should give me an edge.
I will definitely have some good things to talk about in interviews, I generally have a 2-3 pitches on stocks I like at any given time, plus decent market knowledge. And I'll try to keep up articles on Seeking Alpha and my blog so at least there is some sample of my analysis and investment rationale out there.
Thanks so much for your input.
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