Is it too late to get into trading

From your post it seems as if you are doing an undergrad degree or am I missing something? Age will probably be an issue regretfully. If you really want to get into trading I would say go on and do an MBA. Your age will be less of an issue with an grad degree and you will be able to network, etc.

I actually have a strong interest in the quantitative part of the trading and in the trading itself. So the math classes which I took are needed since I want to apply in MSFM program. But first I would like to get a trading job which is important for the application.

Ok, that makes more sense. CMU or Princeton have great programs (as well as other schools). I would play up your personal account success and see if you can find a local firm to intern with. If you tell them you are doing a Masters in FM or Comp Finance they should be understanding. Where are you looking at going?

I have choosen good schools and not so good ones. Part of my list cosist of UChicago, CMU, University of Illinois, Baruch, UMinnesota, etc. But I was wondering how they would look at my background in Philosophy - as an advantage or disadvantage. And also the lack of professional trading experience. On the other hand the math classes were pretty easy for me.

you don't need work experience to get into one of the masters in financial engineering programs

My girlfriend's a philosophy major and she just broke into a very good prop. firm, albeit not a quant shop. But she also has a finance ugrad degree from the top business school. So, no, a philo major definitely does not hurt your chances. But you have to be prepared to answer questions like "So, how does philosophy play into any of this" or "Why philosophy" or "How is philosophy going to help you trade" - she got all 3 questions from the firms she interviewed with (top tier quant and non-quant firms). I actually know another friend on a quant desk at my shop (top tier BB) that was a philosophy & math major. So definitely possible, but you just have to convince people why you'd be a good trader. Everything else is secondary.

G'luck.

At 30 I have a hard time understanding why you would want a trading job to get you into school only in hopes of landing a, uh, trading job...

My genuine interest is in the quantitative trading(research and trading) and I have already developed original approaches to different mathematical models. But to get that kind of job one has to know stochastic calculus, PDE, etc and how they relate to the market. So I first would like to get into the field of trading which will help a bit for the school and after the school I hope I would be able to get a job as quantitative trader.

In that case I say go for it. In the meantime see if you can test your trading aptitude against the live market and try to build a track record. Every little bit helps!

I am wondering if it is a good idea to hide your age initially by not putting your year of graduation down on the resume. I know they can find that out later, but at least your resume is not tossed out right away and you might get a chance to explain the situation to the interviewer. On the flip side, it can also hurt if they are looking for that information and it is not there. Does anyone have any suggestions ?

Thanks.

I'm not sure you need to be defensive about your age, given that you're "only" 30. At the same time there's no harm in omitting your graduation date.

Note that quantitative traders in particular tend to be a bit older, partially due to the high average level of education. (Many have PhDs or other advanced degrees.) Many quant traders are in their 30s or even 40s.

Perhaps noteworthy, asking an applicant anything age-related beyond "are you old enough to work?" can be construed as age discrimination in some jurisdictions, so many employers are wary of that.