Target schools for Prop firms
Hi monkeys, I have been on WSO for a while now. I have always been interested in statistics and mathematics and I believe a prop firms or a S&T role would fit me best. I have been trying to find target schools for these finance roles and I cannot find a good list on WSO. I know MIT and Princeton or going to be top targets with there mathematics programs. Besides these schools what are some target schools? I have seen Cal Poly, UIUC, U Chicago but besides that I cant really find much. Can anyone help me gain insight on what schools I should be hoping to attend to give me the best shot at these finance roles?
Thank you!
cal poly is no target, though also get the notion of target schools out of your head for prop trading. There is no networking involved and if you have the requisite skills, you can get in from pretty much anywhere. For S&T, your usual schools that recruit well to the street are good bets.
Thanks for the response. When you say relative skills would you say learning statistics, mathematics, and some economics? I am trying to figure out my major and debating weather I should go with major in economic minor in stats or just a finance degree.
I'm speaking based on my experience applying for prop shops within Europe (London and Amsterdam primarily).Having a major in economics or finance will likely weaken your application towards the sector unless you are applying from some elite schools e.g. MIT, Harvard, Princeton.From looking at the trader profiles within European prop shop offices, I think I have come across just 1 trader who majored in Finance that works at an elite prop shop (JS/CitSec/Optiver/DRW) however this trader had studied at an elite school within Europe (Oxbridge/LSE/Imperial).Outside of these schools, you are likely better off applying for a STEM major or at the very least studying a course with a heavy emphasis on econometrics as a major. The more established firms do not care too much about your lack of finance knowledge as this is a skill they can teach you with relative ease. These firms are typically looking for skillsets within more technical disciplines that are not so easily taught which, although can be self taught with a lot of time and dedication, it would be easier on yourself somewhat to be studying this theory as part of your education which can then be easily applied towards the trading environment.
Cal Poly was a meme because some dude kept bringing it up in every thread
STEM is definitely the way to go. Chemical, Electrical or Mech E, Comp Sci, Math, Statistics, Physics are your best bet. Take a finance course if you can fit it in your schedule but its not necessary. Learn some programming, don't need to be an expert but understanding the logic and the basics of a language or two would be a positive step. Also, if you end up deciding the trading isn't where you want to be, these majors give you a lot more options than a finance degree.
The school list will also expand for these majors v the normal target schools. Lehigh, Carnegie Mellon, Harvey Mudd, etc all have great engineering programs and will get you job interviews, from there its on you.
Is coding a must in prop trading nowadays for shops mentioned above?
I am pretty sure they are for the firms above. Are they still required for forms that might be smaller?
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