What would a recruiter at a hedgefund say if someone studies/studied medicine and physics parallel? Would it be seen as positive or negative?

I am currently studying medicine with only As so far. I always felt like the studies do not challenge me similiar like math or physics would. Because I have a deep interest in those, I plan to enroll in addition into a physics degree programme. How would a recruiter receive such a double commitment? How would it change my chances to be accpeted to internships or else? (Given good grades in physics degree)

 

They probably wouldn’t care as much as you hope it will.

A physics degree will certainly help u get into the door for quant related internships while a medicine degree would help with roles that have biotech coverage.

There’s a lot more quant roles than there are biotech investing roles, so I would definitely prefer also getting a physics degree for job security if you can.

 
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Congrats, You’ve reached the age when you have to start making some hard life changing decisions without all the facts.  

You may have the talent and intellectual horsepower to do both majors and master all the exams, but it’ll come at a cost of less enjoyment of your college experience and you’re just delaying the decision on which path to take. 

If you are committed to medicine, focus on maximizing GPA and MCAT. That means mastering the physics,organic, bio chem, cell  or whatever they test for now, i know its changed. 

If you are committed to Quant/CS Finance.. focus on GPA and being able to do math Olympiad counting problems in your sleep. Discrete, linear, calc 3, topology, 

Remember, while you’re being a dilettante playing in the physics and math labs, theres thousands of students with 4.0s and scoring 520’s gunning for med school slots.  There  are also thousands of qualified MFE and Quants vying for a small number of seats too. ( a lot of unemployed MFEs actually) these are all bright people who’ve spent the full 4 years(probably longer tbh) focused on nothing but math or pre med or CS.  Its very hard to compete with the elite in two sports.   MJ was great at basketball…..

Make a decision and run with it! Having both won’t help in recruiting. They’re very different skill sets. MD/PhD is judged on domain expertise/research.

Being kinda good at both is useless to a hedge fund. They’ll just hire 2 experts: one MD/PhD  for their biotech and a quant dev to code up the algorithm the math phd came up with.

 

Firstly thanks for such a reply. You made very good points, make me more aware of the necessity to make a decision at some point, which is difficult to accept. The probable impossibility of dual-expertise (quant and surgeon) is really something that I think a lot about. I am already in medical school (good school in europe) and feel not ready to decide which way I want to go, which way I can bring the most value to society. I forgot to mention in my thread, that I mostly intend to apply for internships, all over the finance world to figure out if this path is the right for me. I know these are very competitive and hence the question how I can better my chances through adding physics (because medicine might help me only in consulting). I try to gain experience to make the decision you mentioned in your answer. What would be the way for someone studying medicine to be an interesting candidate for internships in the finance world? 

 

Consulting and ER are options that  can lead to HF/VC/PE…. 

There are also internships specifically for you… I think Point72 and Citadel have specific programs to bring doctors onboard. There are others.

—I dont work in finance but don’t see anyone posting so I’ll give it a stab. Welcome any clarity if I’m mistaken.—

You can make yourself more attractive by doing what a finance person would do.. be able to pitch them a company. the -really- short version:

 Recommend looking on LinkedIn for people in ER or whatever you’re targeting with phd/pharmD/ MDs. Then look at their path/reach out to them for advice esp alumni.

How would I come up with a pitch?  

 I don’t do this professionally but … check biotech stock ratings, find something thats in your wheel house, find analysts covering it. Dig into it.  Do you have a strong reason to be in agreement or more interestingly, a strong conviction against sentiment?   Get that right and you’re a hero. Haha get it wrong, and you went against consensus and you’re a loser… but that’s another topic. Repeat until you find an interesting company..

Be able to read a company’s studies(that they paid for…) and know how they’re manipulating and omitting things in their analysis. What does the study really say if anything. What does the current literature/studies say in general. 

Lots of doctors ask why they have to memorize the Kreb’s cycle while working at the urgent care or doing an ex lap at 3am on a weds. 

The kind of doctor that a hedge fund wants is the one who wrote the paper on what  variables effect  mitochondrial leakage. And then be able to translate that knowledge into will it make or lose money and how much and what are the confounding factors, large and small. 

 

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