How much does undergrad matter after you get a masters/PHD

[AcademicVictim]

Just as title states, would like to know if going to a non prestigious uni matters much if you have a masters from decent uni/ phd. My lowest uni offer currently is KCL (Kings college London) for Math with Stats with year in industry, and am worried if I end up with no other offers/going here if it would deter me massively from quant trading. I assume (as the industry typically expect) a masters is basically necessary especially for non Oxbridge Imperial grads? Thanks

 

[Andy Nguyen]

The higher your education, the less your undergraduate matters. Everything else being equal, candidates who came from prestigious/well-known universities fare better.
This just means you must have strong signals on your profile. How about having a very strong C++ or Python skill? Have done some serious independent project?

 

[CrossGamma]

Yes, serious independent projects as @Andy Nguyen writes help but they are a much weaker signal than getting into top degrees, competitive internships or scoring high in competitions. The problem with projects is that most of them are completely uninspired / done a million times before. But even the better ones are much more costly (in terms of time) to evaluate vs. other more standardized signals achieved in a competitive setting. As a result, they often get down-weighted a lot.