B-school Best Major for high frequency trading or Analyst

So I am attending the University of Texas at Austin and I wanted to know what you guys think is the best major for getting into high frequency trading or something similar. Right now I was thinking of doing Finance and Computer Science, but a family friend told me Accounting is a good route to take in order to become a successful trader and get recruited. Also UT is number one in the nation for accounting, so i was thinking of taking Accounting, Computer Science, and minor in Finance. There is also a option to get a masters in Accounting and Computer Science if I stay a extra year. So if you guys could share with me which majors you recommend to pursue, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you for the responses in advance!

7 Comments
 
Tiger BloodYour family friend is an idiot. If you want to get into HFT do math and comp sci.

Partially agree. I suggest Finance and math, finance and comp sci, finance and stat, etc. Just make sure you have some sort of relevant, quantitative STEM major in addition to finance. Also, if you don't go the comp sci route, make sure to have a couple of programming courses in the mix.

 
Best Response

For HFT in particular, you need a highly quantitative major -- this meaning mathematics or statistics. They probably hire computer scientists to build models and algorithms that then play into the markets that you will trade as a high-frequency trader. Finance is a no brainer...most people I know that are in this area are Finance + Mathematics..a few finance/stat double majors, as well as a few finance/ comp sci majors. I have yet to see someone from an accounting background get pulled out of recruitment to become a trader right out of undergrad/ grad school -- there is just not enough high-level math involved...as opposed to finance/mathematics -- calculus based math.

 
burnt tangerineThere is a huge disparity between McCombs and CoNS (math & comp sci) recruiting

Ok, for those of us who don't know: who gets recruited more? This is not self-evident.

 
SirPoopsaLot
burnt tangerineThere is a huge disparity between McCombs and CoNS (math & comp sci) recruiting

Ok, for those of us who don't know: who gets recruited more? This is not self-evident.

McCombs. Op should probably do finance+stem if he is dead set on HFT and wants a job out of undergrad, although I though HFT was reserved for PhDs...

 

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