Chicago Degree for Trading gigs??
I could use some WSO input for a dilemma i'm having. I have a buddy who really wants to go into trading and cannot seem to catch a break, he goes to the same SUNY school as I do and is considering transferring to UIUC to have more access to the Chicago trading scene. BTW,He is in his already about 100 credits into his Bachelors(no real trading exp). I have told him he would probably have an easier time coming out of UIUC than here but should stick it out and graduate instead of transferring and having to deal with the loss of transfer credits and huge tuition increase. I am pretty sure I'm correct here but just want to make sure I'm steering him in the right direction. What do you think?
by buddy, do you mean yourself? if not, then your buddy is a lazyass who cant do shit for himself and will never get a job in s&t considering your posting this on his behalf. just sayin
he should prolly finish his undergrad then grab an MSF from uiuc
STW has some good advice there, but I might have a better plan if your friend can pull it off:
-Your buddy needs to study as much math as he can at SUNY. Ideally get some sort of engineering, physics, math, or actuarial science degree. He needs to get Calculus-based probability, Object-oriented programming, numerical methods (CS), Linear Algebra, and Differential Equations.
-If he has a GPA 1.5-2 standard deviations above average at SUNY, can get a 790-800 on the Math GREs, and can get three recs from professors (yes, a tough proposition at a state school- I've been there), he should give some serious thought to the University of Chicago's M Fin Math and Michigan's MFE programs instead. Would give him access to a lot more firms and opportunities. I say this, sadly, as a UIUC alumn.
I totally agree. However, he only has calculus 1 and statistics 1 and he is an economics major. I don't think he is really cut out for the quant type degrees. Are those really the only degrees recruited from as far as trading goes in Chicago? As an UIUC alum is there at least a decent chance he could pick up a trading gig? I really don't want to see him waste his time and money and then come out without any opportunities. Are there any schools you would recommend with good OCR from trading firms or banks with trading divisions?
I don't believe UIUC's MSF program is going to help all that much here if he already has an Econ degree from SUNY. That said, if your friend is smart, a lot of Chicago trading firms will give just about anyone with a college degree an interview if they happen to be in town. Wolverine, Peak6, The Gelber Group, and Rosenthal might be places worth investigating.
Bear in mind that UIUC is also 2 1/2 hours each way from downtown Chicago.
I would encourage your friend to pursue opportunities at F500 firms, save money, and do his own trading off of it.
Tell him to take more math, without a doubt.
Illini has good advice. If you do end up in Chicago, don't overlook Northwestern's program. A professor named John Birge started the MFE program at Michigan, went to NW to set up thier department, then moved on to U of Chicago. All three schools are top targets in Chicago.
as a prop trader in NYC -- for better or worse for the following comment -- ive gotten the feel that since a lot of the chicago shops tend to be options/market making shops they require a lot of quant stuff while equities and portfolio management shops will be less quanty due to the discretionary role involved -- and they are in NYC
A quanty degree per se is not necessarily required. Plenty of my friends that studied economics, albeit at a target school (Northwestern, Chicago), got into good options trading shops in Chicago. However, if he's not good at quick calculations like mental math and probability, he's not going to get a job doing options trading. That's basically what they do for the entire interview.
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