Cornell Masters in applied stats to prop trading

Trying to figure out if pursuing a professional masters degree from Cornell in applied statistics is a good idea if the goal is to work for prop shop/quant hf (think jump, citadel, virtu, SIG, akuna, optiver, imc, etc). also wondering how it would compare to the financial engineering masters programs that are similar in length to the cornell applied statistics program. 

I know a lot of these shops recruit from top undergrad programs directly. That being said, Im curious to see if anyone who works in the prop trading/market making space has seen hires come from professional masters programs like the one mentioned above.

Comments (15)

1y 
PodMonkey184, what's your opinion? Comment below:

With that background you can potentially make it into the field but in order to achieve success in trading (less than 5%) you have to have certain personality and physiological traits. Its kind of like a you either have it or dont think and if someone does have it then they would definitely know. So ask yourself the question of if you have the traits needed or not. If the answer is not a clear-cut yes than the industry is not for you as less than 5% of total people trying to enter the field end up successful. Even after citadel's rigorous interview process less than 20% of the people who get in to citadel achieve success. 

1y 
tommysharp, what's your opinion? Comment below:

PodMonkey184

With that background you can potentially make it into the field but in order to achieve success in trading (less than 5%) you have to have certain personality and physiological traits. Its kind of like a you either have it or dont think and if someone does have it then they would definitely know. So ask yourself the question of if you have the traits needed or not. If the answer is not a clear-cut yes than the industry is not for you as less than 5% of total people trying to enter the field end up successful. Even after citadel's rigorous interview process less than 20% of the people who get in to citadel achieve success. 

not this mentality BS again.... its all about if you can pass your technical

  • 1
  • Intern in S&T - FI
1y 

Lol okay prospect

1y 
bigApe98, what's your opinion? Comment below:

Thanks for the reply. I think the MPS in applied statistics from Cornell is a good option over a financial engineering masters because of the broader scope of the material one would learn. learn the math first and the finance portion will come after. And if finance doesn't work out you still have plenty of other options given the degree

1y 
tommysharp, what's your opinion? Comment below:

The guy replied you is in his undergrad and has zero exposure to the industry, GL listening to that. Also, MFE degrees are heavily focused on math and coding instead of "finance".

1y 
bigApe98, what's your opinion? Comment below:

yes im aware. but you can learn stochastic calc/coding AND concentrate heavily on stats with an applied stats deg. if you wanna learn the finance half of it (eg itos lemma, black scholes etc) then just read Hull in your free time or spend sime time on https://alpaca.markets/learn/tag/how-to/ if interested in coding algos. Passing the technicals will force you to get exposure to that stuff regardless. what do you think?

  • Intern in HF - EquityHedge
1y 

The top masters programs consistently sends students to top prop shops.  The issue isn't getting interviews but rather passing the multiple rounds of interviews.  Don't expect the degree will be the difference maker. 

1y 
bigApe98, what's your opinion? Comment below:

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