What does S&T look for?
I'm a sophomore studying math at a T10 university (white male). I have what I believe to be a pretty decent resume for trading (confirmed with multiple traders + campus orgs), and I have networked like crazy across the BBs. There is a fairly large group of us at my school in a similar boat struggling to get interviews for S&T. Of all the BBs, I have only received a superday at JPM for trading (unfortunately didn't get it). I know with IB, school prestige matters quite a bit, but I see multiple people from extreme non-target schools like michigan state, penn state, fordham, and arizona with offers at GS, JPM, and MS for 2026 S&T and a ton from schools like villanova and indiana at these firms. It might be easy to blame diversity, but I noticed the white male candidates are generally the people with offers from these non-target schools. I understand there are tons of candidates at these schools who are probably a lot better than I am, but I am just genuinely curious what S&T looks for during the resume screen/networking process, so I can start maximizing my chances at interviews. Thanks!
Different resume reviewers look for different things. I prefer candidates with a background more similar to yours, but there are some proud Penn State, Villanova, etc. alums on the floor who will push extremely hard to get their candidates into the next round of interviews. And yes, given the fratty culture of these schools, a lot of them tend to be white guys. I, quite frankly, just don't care that much, so I won't go out of my way that much for a kid who networked with me, but the people who will tend to go to similar schools as the ones you mentioned can push extra hard for their candidates. I completely feel your pain, but can confidently say you will have a much easier time landing a seat on a top trading desk coming from your background once you land an internship
Most of the S&T desks aren't as glamorous as you are thinking and firms know this, so they have no desire to fill their intern class with STEM majors from top 10 schools that won't be happy on 70% of S&T desks. There are maybe 5-10 spots on "quanty" trading desks per summer (i.e. desks that would be academically stimulating for STEM majors at top schools). A cracked out math major at Yale probably isn't going to stay at the firm long if they end up on platform sales or cash equities, but a finance major at Arizona will just feel lucky to have gotten their "dream job" out of college. Firms know this, and select a diverse array of backgrounds to fill the diverse array of desks that exist within S&T. You aren't competing with the finance guys at Penn State. You are competing with the Princeton financial engineering and Yale applied math kids you see on linkedin as you will be competing for the same desks as them once you start the internship.
What are the more “quanty” desks?
Quanty desks with HF exits would include rates options, fx options, commods, macro credit, some of equity derivatives, xVA, and algo desks. Would also imagine some SPG and linear rates trading desks could also be stimulating for someone of that background
Never thought of it this way, but that is very true. Banks want people who are smart, but not too smart where they can do something else and firms have realized this. The business does not pay well enough anymore to keep the really smart people around just for the money. Another thing to consider is that S&T is a people/customer business so not sure how you come across in networking/interviews but you are going to be labeled a "nerd" just based on your resume. This really should not be something that matters, considering a good chunk of the buyside is also nerds but its something you are going to have to overcome as you are networking/interviewing for S&T.
In terms of where you should be looking, I would look at prop firms and quant stuff. They place a lot higher value on intellectual horsepower than S&T.
I was in the same boat and go to an extreme non-target. Feel free to message for any advice, but at this point if you are aiming for 2026 it's probably over for you to be honest.
Would go all in networking for MS IED Trading & Structuring as they will hold superdays through the fall. MS loves target school kids and will recruit mostly STEM backgrounds for this. JPM Markets should also host superdays/reopen applications in the fall, but not sure if they'd let you reinterview.
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