MS Quant Trading (IED) vs. GS Quantitative Investing (QIS)

Which role is better for a summer internship:

I am looking for a more quant focused role and ultimately hope to end up working at a quantitative position at a hedge fund like Citadel or BlackRock. From my understanding the MS role is essentially a quant trading role (think Jane Street, SIG, etc) whereas the GS role is a more project-oriented data analysis role where you're building portfolio strategies.

Which role is more prestigious? Which is more math-focused? Which has better exit opportunities?

Thank you so so much!

Most Helpful

If your goal is to go work for a systematic HF take the GS position. I know a few people that were doing QIS at GS and moved to top HFs (one actually to Citadel). People I know that interned there did mostly data-oriented projects, which are relevant for HF jobs

EQDs is quite interesting (in my opinion more than QIS if you like stochalc and derivatives pricing) and MS is top notch for EQs but it's less conductive to a HF job. Not sure about MS, but usually you have EQ QIS as a subdivision of EQD (like exotics) but overall EQD is a much broader area and unless you end up in EQ QIS structuring (as QIS trading is not that interesting imho), what you do won't be relevant for a quant researcher job at a HF.

Look up what autocallables are, etc -> very interesting stuff, perhaps more than qis if you are more into stochalc/options pricing than into data science, but qis is better to end up in a HF doing systematic strategies

BTW MS is called quant trading but it's not necessarily quant trading. They call it that way as it encompasses the most technical trading desks like exotics, etc but it's not systematic trading (although I am sure they also have the eq qis team under that umbrella, last time I checked they had 4 desks you could end up with if you got into that internship, including exotics structuring for instance)

Out of curiosity, is this for london?

Magnam saepe maxime quod dolores praesentium laborum. Similique sit est quibusdam voluptas. Quo labore quo aut nesciunt.

Tempore illo non sint excepturi natus eum reiciendis. Et qui cum reiciendis voluptas ipsam cumque. Iusto quo accusamus blanditiis dolore natus.

Explicabo occaecati ipsum facilis voluptas magnam eum. Reiciendis quasi et sed et sint libero. Eum ipsam et dolore necessitatibus unde placeat eaque.

Career Advancement Opportunities

September 2023 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company (==) 99.6%
  • Lincoln International (==) 99.1%
  • Lazard Freres (++) 98.7%
  • William Blair 12 98.2%
  • Financial Technology Partners 02 97.8%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

September 2023 Investment Banking

  • William Blair 04 99.6%
  • Lincoln International 11 99.1%
  • DC Advisory 05 98.7%
  • Canaccord Genuity 17 98.2%
  • Jefferies & Company 04 97.8%

Professional Growth Opportunities

September 2023 Investment Banking

  • Lincoln International 01 99.6%
  • Jefferies & Company 01 99.1%
  • Financial Technology Partners 07 98.7%
  • Lazard Freres 15 98.2%
  • UBS AG 16 97.8%

Total Avg Compensation

September 2023 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (6) $592
  • Vice President (33) $392
  • Associates (159) $260
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $187
  • 2nd Year Analyst (100) $169
  • 1st Year Analyst (306) $167
  • Intern/Summer Associate (48) $167
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (224) $94
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”