Quant Outlook
3.8 first two years in community college
2.9 3rd year, 4.0 4th year (this year so far) go to a t20 school, but nontarget for finance,
majoring in math and minor in cs (C++ and python specifically)
two internships: NW mutual (left after ~two weeks, had no clue that i pigeon-holed myself into wasting my summer xd) (last summer), doing risk management internship at the SEC this year (and/or SWE internship at sbux or credit analyst intern at f500 RE brokerage)
misc: building some trading algorithms and working on backtesting (ones stock-based, other is option based)
GPA as of rn is a 2.9, but after the quarter ends it'll be a 3.3, probably looking about a 3.6 upon graduation
graduating ~Nov 2023 (one quarter late), which is why I'm doing another internship in the summer
How is my outlook for quant trading or S&T trading positions lookin? If "its not lookin good bruv", what's a good backup option for jobs upon graduation? I already had a big local socal RE fund reach out about "Quantitative Position" for when I graduate, but not sure if the pay will be over 6 figures, which is my bare minimum goal. I know salary is a stupid goalpost to have but I really want to help out my family and friends with financial struggles even coming out of college. If I'm fucked, you can feel free to tell me that and ill start calling back the chick fil a I used to work at lol
Also looking for a mentor!
May be tough to get interviews for front office jobs with that background if not many firms do on campus recruiting at your university (which I'm assuming is the smallest and one of the few if not only nontarget for finance t10 university). I wouldn't recommend a graduate degree if you want to finance but my impression is most quant roles go to either very strong undergrads or a somewhat wider pool of graduate degree holders. If you are willing to look for risk related roles that may be easier as those are less competitive and seem more relevant to your internship. Smaller algorithmic trading shops could be another option although I'm not sure whether you would get interviews there.
Oops sorry meant t20 so even worse xd,
What do you mean by "strong"? Just in terms of 3.8+ GPA?
Currently doing a hackathon and IMC/Optivers trading competition, do you think
placing top10 in any of these would help my reputation considerably?
GPA helps but is not the only thing. Quality of undergrad university also matters as does research experience and math (or maybe coding) competitions etc.
I had a 2.7 and got my offer here through Akuna's 201 course + a good cover letter and story. Granted GPA never came up in the interview, and the only person who saw it was whoever read my cover letter (whether that was HR only or the rest of the team I don't know).
I also had two other offers and a final round with CitSec. But I was also a collegiate powerlifting champion + starcraft grandmaster which is most likely why CitSec was interested. Swear there's something on their website that is like "We don't care about your background we're just looking for the best of the best" or something idk. So if you're like top 0.01% of literally anything or any hobby that's interesting (IMC and SIG literally sponsor gaming tournaments and chess/poker) to trading firms then maybe a shot still.
Im top500 in OW and challenger in league if that counts XD
I mean you laugh haha but don't SIG and IMC literally sponsor those e-sports competitions. Doesn't hurt to have a mini line on your resume for "Competitive Experience".
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