Some background: current junior undergraduate at a top 50 school (not ivy league), econ major, high 3s GPA. Tl;dr at bottom if you don't want to read all this.
I've recently become interested in quant finance as a career but I'm not confident in my prospects for mastering the mathematics. I've learned from this forum that a lot of quants came from strong math backgrounds and then learned to apply it to finance, and that's simply not me. Don't get me wrong, I like learning and practicing math quite a bit. I have absolutely no problem doing hard mathematical problems as part of my career. But I haven't found any reason to consider myself especially talented at it, and currently I'm far from the education level required for quant work (I'm only in basic calculus and statistics courses right now), so I'm not sure if I'll be a good fit at that level. I'm not really asking about MFE applications right now, even though I know it will be difficult for me to get into a highly ranked program. What I'm asking about is whether I should be confident in my ability to learn and practice stochastic calculus and similar topics at the level required to be successful as a quant.
I will put in the necessary amount of work and self-study to make this happen. I can fit all the necessary prerequisites for an MFE into my last three semesters of education, the problem is that taking that route right now would detract from my academics and self-study towards alternative career aspirations. If I couldn't do quant, I'd probably go for a less quantitative sector of finance. I wouldn't be doing physics etc. And I don't simply want any job in quant finance for the sake of working in quant finance. It's not my passion in life, it's simply appealing and I think I would enjoy it better than other roles in Wall Street because I'm analytical and introverted. I only want to do it if I have a good shot at being successful and making competitive earnings compared to other roles in finance and business. So given my situation, is this a realistic path for me to pursue, or am I kidding myself? Thanks for any advice.
TL/DR: I don't consider myself a natural math whiz, I will work hard to get into quant, but only if I have a good shot at actually being successful against the rest of the pack. I would like to know if lacking top notch math talent will relegate me to the less exciting, less lucrative, back office side of quant.
I've recently become interested in quant finance as a career but I'm not confident in my prospects for mastering the mathematics. I've learned from this forum that a lot of quants came from strong math backgrounds and then learned to apply it to finance, and that's simply not me. Don't get me wrong, I like learning and practicing math quite a bit. I have absolutely no problem doing hard mathematical problems as part of my career. But I haven't found any reason to consider myself especially talented at it, and currently I'm far from the education level required for quant work (I'm only in basic calculus and statistics courses right now), so I'm not sure if I'll be a good fit at that level. I'm not really asking about MFE applications right now, even though I know it will be difficult for me to get into a highly ranked program. What I'm asking about is whether I should be confident in my ability to learn and practice stochastic calculus and similar topics at the level required to be successful as a quant.
I will put in the necessary amount of work and self-study to make this happen. I can fit all the necessary prerequisites for an MFE into my last three semesters of education, the problem is that taking that route right now would detract from my academics and self-study towards alternative career aspirations. If I couldn't do quant, I'd probably go for a less quantitative sector of finance. I wouldn't be doing physics etc. And I don't simply want any job in quant finance for the sake of working in quant finance. It's not my passion in life, it's simply appealing and I think I would enjoy it better than other roles in Wall Street because I'm analytical and introverted. I only want to do it if I have a good shot at being successful and making competitive earnings compared to other roles in finance and business. So given my situation, is this a realistic path for me to pursue, or am I kidding myself? Thanks for any advice.
TL/DR: I don't consider myself a natural math whiz, I will work hard to get into quant, but only if I have a good shot at actually being successful against the rest of the pack. I would like to know if lacking top notch math talent will relegate me to the less exciting, less lucrative, back office side of quant.
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