Civil Engineering Student at Ivy

[holyimscrewed]

Hey guys,

I'm currently at Columbia looking at careers as a quant. Through some poor decisions I'm a junior year Civ E instead of a Financial Engineer. My gpa is quite poor and I'm having trouble getting a finance internship for the summer. What steps do I need to take to become a competitive applicant for full time recruiting next year? I'm going to try to do research next semester concerning probability and damage impact of hurricanes on downtown manhattan and along the rest of the coast. In addition, I'm also gonna start teaching myself python (already know Matlab) and hopefully will do a few projects to showcase my skills once I become proficient. My gpa is a barrier but my major gpa should be decent by senior year. Is there anything else I should do? Thanks for any help.

 

[IntoDarkness]

keep looking for those internships running through regular semesters as well. u need some real experience.

 

[holyimscrewed]

keep looking for those internships running through regular semesters as well. u need some real experience.

How much broader should I be expanding my search? Should my scope only be research and trading?

 

[IntoDarkness]

i just checked out lionshare and narrowed down 132 internships either paid or unpaid. unpaid internships will generally be easier to obtain but not bad as a starter, as i myself did one unpaid pwm internship first before doing any paid. but paid is always better. i believe u still have time to nail something down

my search criteria:
Commercial Banking & Credit X
Insurance X
Investment Banking X
Investment / Portfolio Managemen... X
Management Consulting

 

[IntoDarkness]

don't just set for quant type of roles. broad your search for any consulting related as well. definitely tailor your resume to different jobs you are applying. i personally regretted big time of doing this quant stuff. all my friends who ventured to banking/consulting have been killing it (making big bucks and bonking models) while im just earning a miserable paycheck and climbing a tasteless corporate ladder

 

[holyimscrewed]

What kind of quant role did you get that you didnt like? I thought Citadel/ DE Shaw were pretty cushy gigs.

 

[holyimscrewed]

And ya Im looking for further internship opportunities but I might have to take another summer of Engineering.

 

[IntoDarkness]

What kind of quant role did you get that you didnt like? I thought Citadel/ DE Shaw were pretty cushy gigs.

apparently im one of the many who do not work at citadel/de shaw/renaissance tech... my resentment mostly comes from the fact that i work at the liability/debt/hedge side in a bank despite my team trades (a lot in terms of volume) and also conducts some serious quantitative research. i would likely have felt a little better if i work at the asset side...

 

[mhy]

You are still a junior. You have time to find an internship. Can you start a minor in quant finance / math / computer science / operations research or even stats ?

Getting an internship is the easiest way to get a full time job. Start looking asap. You are at Columbia SEAS which is one of the top engineering schools / target schools in the nation - there must be someone recruiting there!

 

[holyimscrewed]

You are still a junior. You have time to find an internship. Can you start a minor in quant finance / math / computer science / operations research or even stats ?

Getting an internship is the easiest way to get a full time job. Start looking asap. You are at Columbia SEAS which is one of the top engineering schools / target schools in the nation - there must be someone recruiting there!

I'm minoring in Comp Sci but dont know if I'll have enough time to finish all the credits for the minor. I've been applying (although I've stopped for a bit after the last string of rejections) but I can't even get an interview. I have previous engineering internships but again i'm trying to stray away from that. Thank you for the reply and I'm trying my best.

 

[Ken Abbott]

Change your quantnet username. If people link it to you, it could affect a hiring decision.

 

[mhy]

Change your quantnet username. If people link it to you, it could affect a hiring decision.