Where to start - quantitative finance?

What's up guys,

This is my first time posting, so please do not roast me too bad if I sound completely clueless.

I am looking for advice for good resources in learning about quantitative finance and for general trading strategies. I am graduating college in December but my job in IB doesn't start until July. In the time between, I think it would be cool to learn as much as I can about something interesting. I have always been intrigued by quantitative finance but understand that being a quant is probably out of the picture given I'm an econ/finance major. I have some background in statistics and computer science but my experience is still limited. Still, I would love to learn how to develop trading strategies via statistics/algorithms. I am pretty ignorant on whether or not regular retail traders use algorithms or stats in making their trades, so I would appreciate any insight on this topic. I also am curious as to what markets I could trade in. The $25k account minimum rule for day trading stocks might be a barrier at the moment but if there is any other market I could more easily participate in (e.g., forex) that would be cool, too.

I'm aware that the chances of making big money are pretty much zero. I still think it would be cool to invest my time this spring towards something interesting that isn't IB. If this would be a waste of time and anyone has any other good suggestions, I would appreciate it, too.