IB leading into Quant?
I’m currently thinking about how to position myself during university and would appreciate some honest perspective from people who have seen IB, markets, quant, or adjacent roles up close.
I know that quant research/trading is a very different track from investment banking and that it requires a genuinely strong mathematical/statistical background. I’m not assuming that “interest in markets” or a bit of Python is enough.
My question is more about career path design. If someone studies economics but deliberately takes the most quantitative route possible — maths, statistics, econometrics, programming, and serious independent modelling work — how realistic is it to keep both IB/private equity and quant/markets-related paths open during undergrad?
I’m especially interested in whether people have actually seen moves from IB into more technical markets, quant strategy, etc. roles, and what made those moves possible.
I’m mainly trying to understand what is realistic, what is rare but possible, and what is probably just a bad assumption early on.
You can move from quant to IB if you want to until like you second or even third year but you’d prob have to start from AN1 but you CANNOT DO THE OPPOSITE. IB at junior level is full of chimpanzees and requires no brain power who would glaze over when faced with a quant interview. Would stick with quant as upside is way higher even tho less stable and you actually maintain your self-dignity
I think anyone who actually has the mathematical ability to be able to do quant, probably lacks any soft skills whatsoever. Almost all of them are completely incapable of talking to their siblings and family. So, expecting them to be able to talk to a CEO who makes more in an hour than their quant salary makes in a year is really not realistic. I would imagine quants sit in a room and watch videos of fish tanks because real fish tanks scare them.
All this to say, if you are good enough to be a quant you probably don’t have the social skills to do anything else tbh. If you can hold a normal conversation for more than 4 minutes, then you probably don’t have enough time to be a quant.
Cope
cope
You can keep both open early on, but at some point they split pretty hard. IB/PE cares way more about finance story, deals, networking, and polished execution, while real quant roles care about whether you are actually cracked at math, stats, probability, and coding. An econ major can maybe keep both alive if it is a very quant-heavy version plus serious technical work outside class, but if by “quant” you mean top QR/QT seats, you are still going to be competing with math, CS, stats, and physics kids who have much stronger default signaling.
IB to actual quant is possible but definitely rare. Usually when people say that, they mean moving into macro, trading, systematic investing, or some market-facing role that is more technical, not jumping from M&A to Jane Street QR. So the bad assumption is thinking “quantitative econ kid interested in markets” keeps every door equally open. It does not. Early on, sure, explore both. But by sophomore year you probably want to decide whether you are building a banker profile or a genuinely technical one, because the prep is pretty different.
Really appreciate the comment. I’m gonna take the advice seriously.
In quant. I think you should decide if you prefer charisma based culture or merit based culture. people tend to be a lot better at one than the other. then either full send technical roles (quant trading, dev, etc) or business/finance roles (IB, sales&trading, consulting)
I suggest you check the LinkedIn of folks at Quant and see whats their background, past internships and work experience. I have personally never seen anyone from Econ being able to pull it off.
You need a minimum of one or two top tech experience to get interview at these places.
Definitely disagree. Seen a lot of people from top Econ programmes get offer from quant programmes. From an application POV, you'll always be at a disadvantage and will get less looks, but if you genuinely have the skillset (more natural ability) you should be able to take advantage of the opportunities that come your way.
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