My current plan of action is either to minor/major in Math and Econ (undergrad). Just not sure in which order. Afterwards, I'm thinking a masters in finance with a math focus. I'll have to fit a few programming courses in all of this somewhere from what I understand. Seems simple enough only I just don't understand how much math I particularly need or whether schools and employers prefer to see a math or an econ major.
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I just discovered my school offered a BBA in Stat and Quant Modelling. The program description reads:
double math with that major. there is no way econ prepares you for a top-flight quant role in finance
Undergrad econ by itself isn't even quant. Do math/computer science and take some finance classes. Getting a strong quant foundation is wayyy more important than learning the modeling/business applications.
yea do that, and do research for your professor where you have to crunch through large data sets.
Do Physics -
1) More Applied Maths than you can ever hope for, can include "Pure" Maths as well 2) Teaches you how to model complicated phenomena in a variety of computer environments 3) Allows you to spend 4 years learning some extremely fascinating stuff (compare pricing an option and time travel)
If I was not in school myself I would have probably told you something along the lines of : "Don't pay money for the education you do not enjoy, go with your heart. But of course, make sure you learn enough to do what you want later on.". But I guess I'm too young to talk that way, haha...
Hell, people go into quant jobs with a huge variety of degrees. It's not just Maths/Econ/Physics, that I know for sure. You can do Electrical Engineering or whatever...
Anyways, my point is - go with your heart man
Math or computer science would be great. If you can program, that is very valuable.
Do a major in Applied Mathematics/ Statistics coupled with a double minor in Computer Science and Economics/ Finance.
In terms of preparing yourself for a MFE/MFin, etc. you should probably look at the prerequisites/admission requirements for the programs you might be interested in. Here are a few that should give you a decent idea. After a cursory look at a few of these, it seems like applied math and/or physics (plus some CS coursework) would be sufficient.
Columbia MFE: http://www.ieor.columbia.edu/pages/graduate/ms_financial_eng/index.html
MIT MFin: http://mitsloan.mit.edu/academic/mfin/admissions.php
NYU MSMF: http://math.nyu.edu/financial_mathematics/content/05_prospectiveStudent…
[quote=eskimo941]In terms of preparing yourself for a MFE/MFin, etc. you should probably look at the prerequisites/admission requirements for the programs you might be interested in. Here are a few that should give you a decent idea. After a cursory look at a few of these, it seems like applied math and/or physics (plus some CS coursework) would be sufficient.
Columbia MFE: http://www.ieor.columbia.edu/pages/graduate/ms_financial_eng/index.html
MIT MFin: http://mitsloan.mit.edu/academic/mfin/admissions.php
NYU MSMF: http://math.nyu.edu/financial_mathematics/content/05_prospectiveStudent…]
Nice links.
Columbia and NYU requirements are a joke to be honest. Some of my Econ friends here in the UK covered this in their first 2 years of uni. But yeah, wouldn't advise anyone to take risk and do straight Econ (Although for MIT a large percentage came from Econ/Business ugrad)
And also these programs seem to be on a much lower quant level than what we have over here:
http://www2.lse.ac.uk/maths/degrees/msc_financial_mathematics.aspx https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/courses/mathematical-finance/msc-mcf/course-…
I would recommend doing a double in CS and Math with a minor in Finance or Econ. You defiantly do not want to major in Econ if you want to become a quant; that will not help you at all. Learn as many programming languages as possible (esp. VBA and C++) and join some Finance/Capital Markets groups at your school to show you’re interested in the industry.
"We don't need to know how much finance you know, we'll teach you finance here. We are interested in knowing your Math and programming skills."
Those were the words of a Goldman Sachs interviewer when I was telling him that I know structuring, hedging and pricing theory very well, and I will pick up on math part on the job. I had the interview for Quant role last year.
I guess, it's much easier to teach finance than to tech Math and programming. So I would suggest you to take Math and Computer Science, that's the best combo to get a Quant job (as well as many other jobs related to trading). You can learn finance easily from variety of sources, and unlike math and programming you don't have to practice it again and again and again and again and again to get the concept in your system.
Also, I don't think that the Quant work has much to borrow from Economics or Finance curriculum, if you think that Quant work is hardcore finance stuff, than you don't know what Quant is, Quant work (variety of jobs in "Quant Job" umbrella) is essentially math and programming, learning the finance part required to do the job is really insignificant in front of Math and Programming knowledge required on the job.
On last note, Math + Comp Sci is such a strong combination that you'll have tons of career options in your life, Quant job will be just one of all those options.
Honestly econ is easy as hell to pick up if you understand math. I'm biased, but I feel like math is way better major than econ. I'm not saying all econ is easy. But most econ majors suck at econ because they suck at math. I feel like if I were looking at resumes, a math major would say more about a person than an econ major. Econ is kind of like psychology in that some people choose it because they don't know what else to major in. Math is not like that at all. If I were looking at a resume and the person had a decent GPA in math, I'd say "Okay, I can most likely teach this person anything that is quantitative". You just can't say that about most people who major in econ. And let's face it, math is better preparation for graduate studies in econ than econ is. The reason why I love being an applied math major is because my main focus is math but I've also done a lot of coursework in econ, stats, CS, chem, and physics. A math major is a very solid foundation for a lot of things. Econ can be a challenging major (especially in a top department) but it can also be a lot of bullshit classes.
At the same time guys, econ class is easy, but econ as a subject is equally as difficult in math. In order to connect the dots and actually apply your econ knowledge like top global macro HF managers, you need to know a lot about the world and it's history. By that i mean you need to actually study the great depression, japans lost years, zimbabwe hyperinflation, germany post WW2 etc in detail.
This obviously is not pure quant skill however you'll need to spend A LOT of time looking at the data and understanding the story behind all of this.
Global macro hedge fund managers rarely employ theoretical macro models. It would be extremely laughable if Bruce Kovner pulled out an IS-LM model to forecast rates. I totally agree on your view on broad data analysis and making inferences based on studying the calamities of the past which is why I believe an economics degree can be highly beneficial if supported with the right choice of courses, not the economics of family planning or law and the like.
Bout to pick my courses soon...can I PM you to ask what courses are good/ smart to take? Minoring in CS now as well.
Econometrics is essentially math
Quant majors (Originally Posted: 08/10/2007)
Which quant majors are most useful in IBanking?
out of
Math, Physics, Computer Science, Economics, and Statistics?
the best quant major right now is probably public relations.
econ's not really considered a quant major typically you hear about computer scientists/programmers and physics phds as quants but you really just need to know a good amount of math and be good with code and algorithms
None of them are useful in IB, but computer science is a good backup to have if you don't get into IB or if you are laid off.
Quant backgrounds are useful at hedge funds and complex derivatives.
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