Where to start? - Physics and astronomy major at UT Austin

Hi everyone. I am a physics and astronomy major at UT Austin and over the past year or so I have gotten really interested in finance and think that this would be a much more exciting career than one in measuring electron energy distributions or co-authoring papers with 500 other people. I have a good understanding of stats, PDEs, complex variables, and real analysis. I am interested in doing something in quantitative finance for either a hedge fund or bank. I guess what started this fascination was the turmoil on Wall Street in September. I wanted to understand the cause of the financial crisis and rather than just accepting a first order discription of what happened, I did what I typically do and read way too much into the fine detail of things and discovered that a lot of what I have been learning in my physics classes is seen in the behavior of the stock market. Anyway, I know that people with non-business backgrounds make it all the time so I was wondering if someone here could tell me where do I start? How do I get my name and resume to the right people and make the required contacts? All answers are much appreciated!

 
Best Response

I would start by reaching out the alumni now, who work in your desired field. It is too early apply for summer analysrt positions, but, you can start networking with alumni in your fields of interest, so that in a few months, when recruiting season is upon us, you can reach out to some of those contacts (with whom you should have already established a few dialogues), and inquire into their summer analyst programs, who would be the best person to get your resume to, and possible, whether they could submit your resume as well. It's not a definite, but you have the time to build a few alumni relationships, which should get you on the right path.

Besides that, keep doing what you're doing, visit market/help sites, surf the web, and read up on companies, and even boutiques that you can reach out to in the next few weeks. It's definitely a process, but your interest in the field and your ambitious attitude should definitely help you along. Essentially, you want to know the business, know why you like the business, and try to meet some people in the business to give you some insight into the process (both job and interview) and provide you with additional avenues to contact people.

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I have a good understanding of stats, PDEs, complex variables, and real analysis....I discovered that a lot of what I have been learning in my physics classes is seen in the behavior of the stock market

make a statement like that and an interviewer would ask you ~how so?~ and if you can't give an articulate response then you've dug yourself a ditch.

 

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