A Future in Quant Finance?

[wannabequant]

Hi--I'm a rising second-year student at UVA, and I was hoping that you all could give me some guidance.

At this moment, my academic/career plan is

1) earn admission to the undergrad business school (McIntire)
2) try to land a job in IB at a BB (I've also considered restructuring at an EB)

But I've become very interested in quantitative finance roles after reading articles online and browsing this forum. I would be interested in a buy-side role where I come up with investment ideas and implement them using quantitative strategies/mathematical models.

However, I feel stuck because I certainly don't have the pedigree of winning IMO medals and placing well in Putnam. If I managed to earn a math PhD from a top program, would I still be an attractive hire for places like Citadel, Two Sigma, D.E. Shaw, etc.?

Am I too late/do I lack the abilities to work in the quant space at a high level? I would sincerely appreciate any advice you could offer. Should I just stick to my original plan?

 

[mhy]

What is your major?

 

[wannabequant]

So far, I've been completing prerequisites for McIntire, but I could declare a math major before the deadline.

If I were to pursue quant, I was thinking about a math major with a probability/stats concentration and relevant CS classes tacked on.

 

[IntoDarkness]

just stop thinking about quant and keep doing what you are doing
generally speaking ib at a bb has much wider exit opportunity than quant stuff and the impact you produce tend to be much greater as well

 

[wannabequant]

just stop thinking about quant and keep doing what you are doing
generally speaking ib at a bb has much wider exit opportunity than quant stuff and the impact you produce tend to be much greater as well

I'm still new to the quant space, so could you expand on this? Most of my interest in quant comes from my idea that quant work is more than monkeying around in Excel and PowerPoint. I realize that there's still grunt work in quant, but I was under the impression that the work is more interesting on the whole.

Maybe it just boils down to what kind of work I would like, and I'm still unsure about that.