Deciding on quantitive majors/career path?
I'm currently a senior in high school, headed to Baruch (Dean Scholars) next fall. I've changed my mind on what I want to study quite a few times and I was looking for some advice regarding picking something. Initially I wanted to major in Computer Science, though the career paths of those in software development turned me off.
Then my parents introduced me to quant finance. I planned to go study Math and then try to get into a good MFE program, but now I'm not even sure I'm cutout for any of the quantitive majors. I've been told that economics doesn't offer enough hard quantitive skills and that non-quantitive skills can be learned on the job anyway. Then again, I've also seen people say that quantitive positions haven't been that popular since '08.
I'm planning to transfer after freshman year. I think I want to end up on the west coast so I'm looking to transfer to USC. I'm considering either their Business Administration, ACM, or CS programs. I'm also looking at NYU, Cornell, and GT as other transfer options.
Overall, I'm facing analysis-paralysis as I try to pick a major. Any advice, either regarding the job market or in general, would be greatly appreciated.
bro, enjoy your summer, dont stress about what major youre going to pick right now. youll have plenty of time to figure out what you like and dont like your freshman year of college. as for your pick, comp sci, math are a good start for getting into a quant finance program for sure, and the schools youve listed all are great. but really, go enjoy your summer before college starts up
When people are taking about the quantitative positions that have gone away, they’re usually talking about the stochastic calculus heavy exotics/option pricing stuff (which is exactly the type of experience you’d get with an mfe). Most of the quant weight has shifted into pure systematic trading for which the expected background is more on the comp sci/math/physics side then the econ stuff (as far as I know mfe’s are also general looked down on in this realm, and definitely relative to someone with a strong background in one of the three subjects mentioned above). If you don’t have the aptitude for the quant stuff getting a quant job is gonna be hard regardless of what school you go to and what gpa you achieve (the brain teasers are usually a pretty good filter for that), so focusing on that as your plan when you’re not even sure you’re good at math seems a little wrong-headed to me; if you want to keep the option open though, maybe worth taking the hardest math class you can first semester and seeing how you like it, though your school and gpa will matter for other things so also worth thinking about it some in terms of the gpa. More generally though, the dood above is right to say you’re overthinking this, as most of what I said will just fall out naturally once you actually start school and get a better idea of where your interests actually lie.
Yea, I can see why I sound like I'm overthinking but that clears things up. I think part of why I feel I don't have the aptitude might have to do with feeling burnt out from high school. I go to Stuyvesant and I've always taken the hardest math classes available with decent grades, though I'm not sure how that will translate in college. I guess the only option is to wait and see. Probably do need this summer to chill out after all.
If that’s your background then I would suggest even more strongly that you take the hardest math course you can, as I had a similar background and didn’t think I’d like math all that much until I got to college and found that it was more about proving things than regurgitating formulas like it had been in high school (an experience you may not get if you don’t take the course designed for future math majors). Maybe also worth taking a similar tack in physics, and in comp sci (though the lower level comp sci courses are usually relatively easy if you have any aptitude at all so that at least shouldn’t effect your gpa calculations too much). Also, unless you get really lucky with your internships, it’s generally a crap shoot whether you can get a job right out of undergrad, and the “tried and true” path (if there is one) is to go through the PhD (which is a pretty heavy lift if your goal is just to get a job especially given how quickly job markets can change). Also worth checking out your school’s Putnam test team, and whatever other math competitions they might have, as this is the closest you’ll get to the sorts of brain teasers they’ll ask you in quant interviews (and on the Putnam test at least, getting any points at all can sometimes be valuable even if you decide to go the more qualitative/soft skills route as it can act as a bit of a signifier of quantitative ability even if you don’t have a particularly quantitative major).
Going to chime in - if you're looking to do CS at a CUNY, consider Hunter College - Mike Zamansky (formerly led CS at Stuyvesant HS) went there
Yes! I do know that Zamansky is now at Hunter, though I chose to go to Baruch over Hunter because it was a full-ride and I was considering transferring anyway.
You are still able to take classes at other CUNY schools despite pursuing a degree at Baruch. You just have to get permission from the department.
OP -
I believe it would highly benefit you to enjoy summer for now, and in your first semester, take an introductory course in Computer Science to get your "feet" wet, along with other general education classes (such as Physics, Mathematics, etc) so you can see where your interests are.
That way, the first semester should be able to guide you along university so you are enjoy the rest of the 4 years.
Cheers!
Baruch has a Financial Mathematics major. Either way you wont be taking any major classes your first two years, it will mostly be general prerequisites.
(1) if you're a guy, major in Women's Studies, if you're a girl, major in Math or CS (that's the closest it gets to Men's Studies from what I hear).
(2) anything more or less anything quantitative will get to where you think you want to be (a quant).
(3) you probably want to talk to a few people working in different quantitative roles (from a quant PM to a firm-wide risk quant guy) to see if you like what you hear
(4) do not do a PhD, it has zero value - neither employers nor girls in bars are impressed by it (firsthand experience with the latter).
(5) if you are gay, transpose statement first (1)
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