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Advice for becoming a Quant

RThomas

Joined
8/23/10
Messages
3
Points
11
Hi everyone! So I'm new to the forum and was wondering if I could get some advice on becoming a Quant. I've already figured out two options that might be possible for me, and was wondering what everyone here thought.

I'm a recent graduate from Northern Illinois University, with my B.S. in Finance and my Minor in Economics. I made the mistake of thinking that I would be able to work my way into a trader, or risk management position, with a basic Finance degree. Had I known better, I would have gone for an engineering or mathematics degree. Anyway, after being out of college and out of work for a few months, I began to read up on different trading strategies. I went through books that covered fundamental strategies, technical strategies, and finally came across a few quant strategies. After feeling like most of the books I read were nothing short of glorified Ad Hoc strategies, I came across a series of books by Jeff Augen, and felt that his strategies for options trading made the most sense to me.

Now that I know I want to go down the Quant route, I feel I have two decent options for obtaining my goal. The first is to take advantage of IIT's M.S. in Finance. I like the broad range of concentrations that this program offers and the close proximity to Chicago's financial district. The only problem is the price. I already have $30k in student loans out and adding another $45k to $55k, seems a little excessive. I'll be paying close to a mortgage payment for the next 10 years after I get out.

The other option is to go back to NIU and earn my M.A. in Economics. While not prestigious or well known, it is a decent program and will only cost me about $14k to $16k, which is much more manageable. After that, I figure I could work for a firm or for the Fed, and obtain my Certificate in Quantitative Finance, Certificate in Quantitative Finance - CQF | Financial Mathematics and Financial Engineering course, and enter into the field through that route. While this will be much more difficult as far as entering the industry,and may be looked down upon, it is something that I can afford since it will be spread out over a much longer date.

I'm currently trying to keep myself busy by obtaining my PRM Designation, but I really want to start by this January. In a perfect world, I would try to get into U of C's Financial Engineering program, but I have loans out and need to work in order to pay them off. So a program that I can achieve over a few years part-time, and locally to Chicago, seems to be my best bet. Any advice on what to do would be much appreciated.
 
RThomas,

not sure if you are going to stay living around NIU, but a great option would be to audit courses that lead to a quant-ish route.

quants usually don't have degrees in coding, but can do it very well. with this, if you can audit (free/cheap) some Comp Sci classes you will get a leg up on your fellow finance grads.

additionally, you could possibly make it into intro level probability, stats, calculus classes and then pursue the path on the audit level as a prep for a later MS degree [again at the audit level].

doing this course work, and really applying yourself will pay off, additionally they will also help shape your perspective of what goes into it.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I am currently in the process of paying off my student loans. It's just that I'm currently working at a job I don't like and want to get moving toward my goal fairly quickly. I've definitely considered taking some programming classes. I'm already fairly strong with my math skills, and I'm hopping the PRM will be able to show that. I think what I'm going to do now is take a few programming classes, and try to find an employer that will pay for my grad school.
 
I'm already fairly strong with my math skills, and I'm hopping the PRM will be able to show that
Click to expand...

With all due respect, using the PRM to show math skills is like using microwavable pizza pockets to show Haute Cuisine abilities.
 
Ha! I like the reference AlexandreB. And yeah, I understand what you mean. To tell you the truth though, I've already discussed my mathematical background before with the Director for ITT's program, and from what he told me, I should be safe with that. I've actually got a pretty firm grasp of most of the math I'm going to run into; like linear algebra, statistics, stochastic calculus. The only thing fear that I might be unfamiliar with math-wise, is differential equations, and I've planned on brushing up on that particular subject for a while.

What I'm really trying to accomplish with the PRM is just showing that I understand the basics of risk management and options, and using it to pad my resume. I know the CFA is more easily recognized, but it doesn't dig too deeply into derivatives. Also, one of my professors from NIU is the President of the PRMIA Chicago Charter, so hopefully I can use they're meetings as a good networking tool.
 
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