Any advice for a 19 year old undergrad?

mathemagician said:
Take an Finance/Investments course that, at least, covers CAPM and its underlying topics. You should be top 10% in this class as a math major. You'll be introduced to the "jargon" of financing.

Wake up for your 8AMs. Aim for a 4.0 in ALL classes, and abuse your professors' office hours. This will come in handy when you're looking for letters of recommendation.

Start looking at the GRE prep material around your junior year, aim to take it your first semester of senior year (or second semester junior year if you want to take it twice) and to study for the quant portion, make sure you're solving harder problems than what you'll see at a faster rate than the usual 75 seconds per question allowed for the GRE. 170Q sounds improbable but is highly obtainable as a math major.

Take a mathematical modeling course, or at the very least some math-intensive physics courses involving ODEs.

MS Excel is great for monotonous calculations. Learn it.

Indulge in programming - take a few object-oriented language courses. C/C++ preferred, but Java isn't SO bad. Computer Architecture is also good. So is Computability Theory and Automata (Turing Machines, normal languages, etc)

ODE is a great course. PDE even better. Take as much calculus-based statistics as you like, but at least 1, preferably 2.

Mathematica is great. Learn how to use it if your school offers it. If you can analyze basics of continuous random walks, you're above the curve.

intro-level Economics classes are fun and easy, and also help develop your reasoning skills.

Tutor if you can. If you can teach an 8-year old how to perform calculus, you've mastered the basics of the subject.

Most importantly: you're a math major. Physics and Mathematics are the God-tiers of academics. Once you hit proofs, you'll see what separates the boys from the men.

Courses you SHOULD take:
ODE
PDE
Linear Algebra and Advanced Linear Algebra
Multivariable Calculus
Calculus-based Statistics
Abstract Algebra OR Real Analysis
Mathematical Modeling
Mathematica labs for modeling
Discrete mathematics (graph theory, combinatorics, etc)

and ATTEND EVERY STUDENT COLLOQUIUM. Join KME Math Club as well (Math Honors Society, if your school has a chapter)

Lastly, your school should have access to the WSJ Online. Start reading a few articles a day, most of them are 300-600 words and take less than 10 minutes to read. For example, I recently read an article about the Chinese decline in demand for precious metals, both ores and finished goods - the next day I saw a commercial trying to shill silver, stating that "the Chinese demand for silver products has never been higher!" and I felt a deep sadness regarding the First Amendment.

Don't watch videos on technical analysis, its mostly baseless phooey. DO read the following (they're kind of leisure reading):

A Random Walk Down Wall Street - Burton G. Malkiel
-synopsis: blinded monkeys throwing darts at the financial section of the WSJ can pick better stocks than the "experts" 40% of the time
The Intelligent Investor - Benjamin Graham
-I think this is what Warren Buffet suggested, if it deals with fundamental analysis
How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie
-you're a math major. chances are, your social skills could use some polishing
The Art of War - Sun Tzu
-chinese philosophy? Yes. Strategy and planning is VERY important and most effective when learned at a young age.
One Up on Wall Street - Peter Lynch
-if you aren't familiar with Peter Lynch or the Fidelity Magellan Fund, look it up
The Four Pillars of Investing - William J. Bernstein

Want a good book of puzzles? One quant suggested:
An Undergraduate Introduction to Financial Mathematics - J Robert Buchanan
about $50-70 new on Amazon. Covers some nice stuff and was written by a Professor of Mathematics at Millersville University of Pennsylvania, so expect a lot of the material aimed at mathematicians and less dumbing-down for engineers. You'll need some statistics, calculus, and ODE to get past the first few chapters, then it heads into PDE/stochastic stuff.

I've also written a post about why I didn't apply to a program this year - you're still young enough to not make the mistakes I did. And I've read most of these books, currently working through Buchanan in my spare time.
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Interesting read list. The Art of War.... Is that really necessary for entry level quant job though
 
Python. Learn it. I'm convinced that the first circle of Hell is a million LOC MATLAB codebase. The second circle is Java, the third is C++.

Of course, sometimes you have to go through Hell to get where you want to go.
 
Yike Lu said:
Python. Learn it. I'm convinced that the first circle of Hell is a million LOC MATLAB codebase. The second circle is Java, the third is C++.

Of course, sometimes you have to go through Hell to get where you want to go.
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Clearly you have read Dante's Divine Comedy.
 
Daniel Duffy said:
It's trendy, so many quote it.
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There are quite a few translations around. I like the one edited by James Clavell (I don't think he translated it). In Noble House (his novel of three decades ago, set in Hong Kong), some of his key characters had read it and were applying it.
 
NewK said:
Interesting read list. The Art of War.... Is that really necessary for entry level quant job though
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I think it should be required reading in any school. Its a book about strategy, and you are competing against others for that position, just as you would be competing against co-workers for a promotion. It will have its uses, though I don't think its directly applicable to quantitative finance.
 
Yike Lu said:
Art of War has been a finance cliche ever since Gordon Gekko recommended it to Bud Fox.
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Bud Fox would have been too stupid to understand it. But also Sun Tzu is overrated. Why not Lidell Hart? Why not Clausewitz?
 
Probably because it's all ancient and Chinese like, so it sounds cooler to the kids.
 
Daniel Duffy said:
I am surprised that no one has mentioned Il Principe.
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Machiavelli is not in vogue. Discourses is better. And Florentine Histories.

I would also recommend reading Game of Thrones, particularly for the approach of The Iron Bank of Braavos.
 
bigbadwolf said:
Machiavelli is not in vogue. Discourses is better. And Florentine Histories.

I would also recommend reading Game of Thrones, particularly for the approach of The Iron Bank of Braavos.
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Machiavelli is not in vogue but sadly enough, it works. Game of Thrones is fiction. I tend not to read fiction.
 
As a 19 year old, of the above books, I knew of The Art of War and Game of Thrones only. I'm not the most cultured or well-read individual but I could only relate to GoT hehehe
 
Gavin L said:
As a 19 year old, of the above books, I knew of The Art of War and Game of Thrones only. I'm not the most cultured or well-read individual but I could only relate to GoT hehehe
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You've read the GoT books? Watching the series doesn't count.
 
C S said:
Don't be a snob! The books have gone downhill. After Dances with Dragons, I don't think I can stomach another.
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You have to be kidding. Each book is more complex than the previous one. The story has expanded tremendously in scope and detail. Global geopolitics, trade, and banking.
 
bigbadwolf said:
You have to be kidding. Each book is more complex than the previous one. The story has expanded tremendously in scope and detail. Global geopolitics, trade, and banking.
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I don't think anyone disputes the rise in complexity.
 

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