Advice on the best path to a successful quant career?

[acol]

Hello all,

I'm a CS major senior undergraduate from India and have the following options ahead of me:

• A Columbia MFE admit: Pros: Great university, faculty, location, fastest way to Wall street. Cons: Large initial investment, placements -- sponsoring work visas may be a problem for me
• A Cornell CS/PhD (Machine Learning) admit: Pros: fully funded Ivy League education, quantitative area (ML) may be sought after in quant research divisions, a doctorate degree!. Cons: 5 years, work may be a little too academic.
• An analyst job (equity quant) in a leading investment bank (based in Mumbai): Pros: Plunge into hands on workex in finance, apply again after 2-3 years with renewed perspective. Cons: Would be very difficult to decline the above two offers in hand

Which of these career paths has the highest payoff value? My goal is to become a quant, possibly stepping into trading by doing an MBA later on.

Thanks!

 

[euroazn]

Don't do the PhD unless you actually want it - that is, don't do it for employment purposes.
Is the leading invesment bank a BB office in mumbai? If not, take the MFE.

 

[Tsotne]

Don't do the PhD unless you actually want it - that is, don't do it for employment purposes.

I would suggest this also. I don't think that asking whether to do or not PhD is correct because it is the same as asking: "Am I hungry now?". It is your own interest how you feel about it. If you have an interest of doing research in some field then you know the answer. If not then again, I agree with euroazn:

that is, don't do it for employment purposes.

For employment purpose MBA, MS or MFE is enough I think.
Best

 

[Tsotne]

...but since we see your cons regarding the MFE, I would think about whether I want to do PhD or not. If yes then you should do PhD. Don't be afraid of academic work. In 5 years you'll find many interesting things. It's up to you whether it gets boring or not.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

http://www.quantnet.com/quant-job-advice-from-wall-street-executives/

 

[acol]

Don't do the PhD unless you actually want it - that is, don't do it for employment purposes.
Is the leading invesment bank a BB office in mumbai? If not, take the MFE.

Yes, it is in Mumbai

http://www.quantnet.com/quant-job-advice-from-wall-street-executives/

Thanks, great link!

At the moment, a PhD seems to make the most sense. I have a good amount of interest in the subject, plus I feel it really refines the way you think, analyze and reason. Besides, I guess I would have similar options open even after a PhD

 

[euroazn]

Yes, it is in Mumbai

The emphasis is whether it's a BB (Bulge Bracket - think JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, etc.)

 

[acol]

The emphasis is whether it's a BB (Bulge Bracket - think JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, etc.)

It's not a BB, but one of Japan's topmost IBs . Aren't there some positives to working in a non-BB bank, as compared to the biggies? For instance, it might be easier to get greater responsibility and quality work experience in a shorter time frame. In a BB, you'll basically be a small fish in a big pond. Or am I completely wrong?

 

[euroazn]

You're not _completely_ wrong but you have to understand that an entry position is an entry position =)

 

[Joy Pathak]

It's not a BB, but one of Japan's topmost IBs . Aren't there some positives to working in a non-BB bank, as compared to the biggies? For instance, it might be easier to get greater responsibility and quality work experience in a shorter time frame. In a BB, you'll basically be a small fish in a big pond. Or am I completely wrong?

Japanese banks are pretty good. I almost went to work for a japanese bank recently. Japanese banks are very interesting. Their working culture is unique and can be very good at the entry level. If you work for one of the big jap banks like (mitsubishi, sumitomo, nomura, etc) then you should be fine. They are just as big if not bigger than the banks mentioned above. I think Mitsubishi owns a huge chunk of one of the banks mentioned above.

Nobody really says 'bulge bracket' anymore on the street. It was an old concept for the big american investment banks (BS,LB,GS,MS..etc). All the multi-national banks are basically BB now. If you were too big to fail and got bailed out, you're a BB.

 

[Joy Pathak]

One of my friends works middle office at a japanese bank in NYC and she curses the experience every day. She used to work at citibank prior, says the japanese bank she works at is some 40 years behind and does everything in "backwards" ways (making for a thoroughly frustrating work experience).

I don't know if this is indicative of the general work experience at all japanese banks, but it has me spooked enough that I would likely not consider positions in them...

Really? That's interesting. Is this one of the big jap banks? Can you mention the name?

 

[acol]

I don't remember off the top of my head, I would imagine it would be pretty big if it has a significant presence in NYC. I'll ask her more next time I see her (I didn't last time we talked about it because I learned a long time ago not to ask a severely frustrated woman follow-up questions about what she is seething about...)

Even I have frustrated analyst friends in IBs who strongly advise against taking up the job =) But I guess as an analyst, it is a necessary evil to bear the grunt work for a while, before being given more responsibility.

 

[coolintake]

go for the Phd regardless - in case quant lifestyle didn't suit/or world is no changes to non-Monterey system (lol) you would still have a plan-B (academia).

my 2 cents.

all the best.