Undergrad Cornell vs UF vs Rutgers
I am currently a high school senior and got admitted to Cornell (philosophy), UF (philosophy), Rutgers(CS). I want to break into wall street, quant or trader. I am rice asian.
Cornell I need to pay full tuition, UF gave me a scholarship (16k in 4 years), Rutgers I am instate.
Going to Rutgers and UF is roughly the same cost
Going to Cornell is 200k more than UF and Rutgers. And from my understanding, it is a lot easier to transfer majors at Cornell compared to the two others
My parents are willing to pay for it, but they are retired and we live on passive income (rent from properties and treasury bonds) around 200k per year.
Which school should I go to, and how does the quant/trader recruiting scene differ in these three schools
Go to Cornell. Doesn’t matter what you major in so long as your GPA is good and you have relevant summer experiences. That, and of course, network, study your technicals, etc. Rutgers and UF are not targets in any way; maybe you can land a job at an investment bank somewhere on the street if you hustle but Cornell is a completely different league - literally an opportunity to write your own ticket. From an opportunity standpoint, Cornell all the way.
Cornell and its not even close.
Current Cornell student going into IB
200k is a lot of money and I don't want to downplay that, especially if it would burden your family. I don't know your financial situation so I'll leave that calculus to you.
All I can tell you is Cornell is materially better than UF / Rutgers. Recruiting, at least for common roles like IB or S&T, is very structured and is yours to lose if you take all the right steps. Get involved on campus (clubs/frats/biz frats help but aren't even necessary), get a high GPA, network, and prep for interviews and you will have a great chance at getting a solid offer. I can also confirm transferring to Dyson is 1) easy with a good GPA and 2) not at all necessary as major doesn't really matter at Cornell.
Recruiting will be fundamentally different than UF / Rutgers where you have to hustle and be very lucky to snag one of the few non-target non-diversity offers.
All of this applies to IB, S&T, and other common roles. You did say you're interested in quant and trading though. A few kids go to great MM hedge funds every year, but just a few. There are simply less seats. Top quant seats like Jane Street or Bridgewater are incredibly difficult coming from anywhere, Cornell included. However, if you know you want to work on Wall Street, Cornell will give you a significantly better chance than the other schools, and that can be worth far more than 200k in the long run.
$200k becomes a rounding issue long term in this situation, especially if he recruits MF PE. Upward mobility in every sense of the word.
I agree, I just wanted to be respectful of how much 200k is to some families. He also said he’s interested in quant which is much harder to break into than IB, but even then he could start with something more common out of undergrad then find his way to the seat he wants.
Thanks for the insightful answer, but I don't get the part about "major doesn't really matter at Cornell"
Also, I want to become either a quant or front desk trader after I graduate. Do you think its a good idea to major in CAS math and minor in Dyson business. The reasoning is Business minor will give me a chance to get recruited to IB, while Math Major will allow me to be a quant in case IB recruiting doesn't work out for me.
I really want to make it to wall street because of the high compensation. But I don't want to put all of my eggs into the same basket, since going all in on business major and not getting recruited leaves very few alternate employment options.
I'm open to better major+minor combo that will give me a shot at both Quant and IB
If you want to be a quant, it's a whole different story. You'll need to study math, physics or CS.
For trading/IB, any major is fine but some trading desks will want to see a more quantitative major.
For quant role, would you recommend math or CS?
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