Assessing My Opportunities
EDIT: I will make it rain with my free bananas on any good advice or insight.
I figured this would be the best place to get an honest assessment of where I stand and whether it is realistic to pursue a trading/sales career.
Quick Bio about me:
I am currently a sophomore at a midwestern state school. Accounting major with a 3.8+ GPA, unique and I would say impressive extra curriculars, one of which is finance related (500K+ student fund).
This summer I have an internship at a buy-side shop working with a sizeable (1-10b), but low risk, fixed income portfolio. Not trading, but I will get modeling experience and some connections in the industry. Interned the previous summer in PWM.
SAT scores of 2170: CR:760 W: 710 M: 700
ACT of 34 with basically the same breakdown (Reading comprehension 36 to math 32).
National Awards for a sport in high school, did not pursue at collegiate level.
Basically, without an engineering background and highly developed math skills am I going to be entering a career where the deck is stacked against me? Are there desks where someone with my background would be able to play on a level playing field with the more math inclined competition? I am by no means bad at math. Didn't take a math course the last 2 years of high school and didn't study for standardized tests because of early college decision resulted in rusty on tests. Extremely quick with mental math, but never took a class higher than Calc II.
I am intelligent enough to hold my own and learn on the job/before the interview process, but am I already too far down the progression to be competitive. Am I a better fit for the ER/CFA route which is behind door #2?
Thanks and rip away.
youre good just network
Do you have any specific desks that I should reach out to when networking? I will have a background in fixed-income but people seem to say that is one of the more quanty desks.
that stuff doesn't matter, who you know matters. reach out to who you are able to actually get in contact with. have good interview skills and you'll have your in..
Latrell -- as long as you don't try to choke your interviewer, you have a shot. Few people will care about the student investment fund....that has practically nothing to do with trading.
Haha thanks. Starting pay has to be over 10m, i've got a family to feed.
Random thoughts
-You are absolutely fine. There are plenty of people without math or finance backgrounds.
-As long as you don't try to get into a quant group you will be fine (and they generally require PhDs anyway)
-You might have it harder in structuring desks, but I have seen people with Medieval History degrees there as well, so you can definitely do it.
-You seem to have no idea about S&T. Fixed Income is not a desk, there are like 200 desks in Fixed Income, each one with a different level of complexity. You need to read and inform yourself a whole lot more so you can get a better understanding of the industry.
-Since you can do pretty much anything in the floor, after reading and doing your internship try to find out what products and roles you like, and read technical books on it. The only concern people might have about someone in accounting is wether or not you know anything about financial markets and products.
-Not trying to be an asshole, but your extracurriculars are not impressive, or at least the student fund isn't. Your experience won't be impressive either. It is definitely good, but your CV is not going to bow anyone away. You wouldn't believe the ridiculously good CVs you se... You shouldn't think they are when going to interviews, so prepare accordingly.
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