How old would you consider as old for entry quant?

Mark_Zhang · 9/19/16

Background about myself: I came to U.S. as an immigrant when I was 22 and went to a community college studied 2 years (I was a high school drop out back in my own country), then I transfered to a state university (nationally ranked around 150) studying finance and math. I will expect to graduate in 2018 spring(which I will be 29 yrs old), then go for a MFE program(my aimming is at least one of the top 15 ranked programs).

GPA in undergrad by far: 3.49/4 overall, upper classes 3.71/4, and have A for all of my math classes so far(now in PDE and probability).
School activities: have been participating a student-run stock portfolio(worth about $500k) management program for 1 year
Intern experience in U.S: none(this is the part that I concern the most since I had to take classes in the past of every summer)
Other career experiences: 4 years in China (mostly sales job in my family business) + 1 year in Laos (also family business), all irrelevant to finance, not even mention quant.

By the time I graduate from the MFE (say one of the top tens), I'll be somewhere around 31 years old. Do I have any chance to get into any IB/HF for a quant job?

I appreciate your answers!

Mark

Philip_Mitterrand · 9/20/16

You are running against the clock. If you graduate from top 5 school you will be considered on par with top 15 school candiates who in most likely cases will have relevant work exp to outshine you. From top 15 schools you will be put into the bracket of top 25.

Part time MFE could be one instance where you can gain some relevant exp at the same time fish for oppourtunties if indeed you are a US citizen.

You dont have a chance for HF and neither does that entitlement attitude helps. Beggars cant be choosers, as the old English proverb goes.

BeepImaJeep · 9/20/16

I know someone that got a entry level front office role at 35.

If you are not above it, you can play up your background. At larger firms, there's a few spots for diversity hires. Get in and then prove yourself from there.

pingu · 9/20/16

BeepImaJeep said:
I know someone that got a entry level front office role at 35.

If you are not above it, you can play up your background. At larger firms, there's a few spots for diversity hires. Get in and then prove yourself from there.

... and I know 100 who didn't.

BeepImaJeep · 9/20/16

.. me too, but I also know 100 25yr old that didn't.

Blue Berry · 9/20/16

Philip_Mitterrand said:
You are running against the clock. If you graduate from top 5 school you will be considered on par with top 15 school candiates who in most likely cases will have relevant work exp to outshine you. From top 15 schools you will be put into the bracket of top 25.

Part time MFE could be one instance where you can gain some relevant exp at the same time fish for oppourtunties if indeed you are a US citizen.

You dont have a chance for HF and neither does that entitlement attitude helps. Beggars cant be choosers, as the old English proverb goes.

Shouldn't the bracket he will be put into depend on his performance in the course? If he isn't able to do well at courses, he may be compared to an average student in a top 25 but if he is in the top 10% of his class, why should this be the case?

Philip_Mitterrand · 9/20/16

That'a a hypothetical scenario. If the person graduates on top of his class he will be able to offset his non existent work record but still will be on par if not better than someone who did poorly but has a better work record.

There are infinite scenarios...a 3.2 GPA from CMU would realistically land better interviews than 3.9 GPA from Rutgers but now assume the Rutgers fellow has few years of direct IB experience the dynamics changes quickly.
In short the delta between the schools prestige decides how much you can afford to screw up gpa & still survive in the job market.

GPA is much less of a selling factor than the school prestige and your previous work record. Hiring is quite structured and doesn't delve into nunances so much.

Blue Berry said:
Shouldn't the bracket he will be put into depend on his performance in the course? If he isn't able to do well at courses, he may be compared to an average student in a top 25 but if he is in the top 10% of his class, why should this be the case?

pingu · 9/20/16

Blue Berry said:
Shouldn't the bracket he will be put into depend on his performance in the course? If he isn't able to do well at courses, he may be compared to an average student in a top 25 but if he is in the top 10% of his class, why should this be the case?

No. Even if you are the #1 in your class, the employer won't care. So far you have only proved you are good at taking classes and doing tests.

rnavarro · 9/20/16

usually <= 40 especially those who have their post-docs (very common for physicists who transitioned to finance) ... average age in a quant team ... lates 30s to early 40s. early career phds turned to quants usually in the late 20s to early 30s. i'm a late bloomer though, i became a quant at 38 :D