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PhD looking for quant job in Boston (trying to decide between interns)

mathquantidc

Joined
3/4/15
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Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forum. It's great to finally find a forum dedicated to quants!

I am finishing up my PhD in a reputable program in the US and have decided to become a quant. For personal reasons, I hope to find a quant job (or job with similar nature) in Boston. I know the supply up there is not nearly as good as in NYC, which makes me very cautious about my (only) internship this summer.

From the research I have done, it seems that there are many traditional asset management firms/mutual funds up in Boston. My impression is that these firms do not recruit too many quants or PhDs. I'm now trying to decide between three internship offers:
1.Ellington's mortgage modelling group
2.BAML Global Quants
3.KCG
My main concern is which one would give me a better chance (or make it harder) to land a full time job in Boston.

My thoughts is the KCG sounds the best, big name, high return rate, but Boston does not seem to have any HFT business, and the skillset for HFT is not particularly transferable to other area of finance, such as mutual funds.

I was wondering if anybody could share their knowledge/experience of the quant or similar jobs in Boston area.
Any comments/advice would be much appreciated. Thank you very much!

-idc
 
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Based on your case, I will suggest Ellington. Kcg/getco have poor performance last year although erg did earn money. The INTERN program will not be too much helpful compared with Citadel and 2sigma. If you can't get an return, based on my sample pool, the intern at kcg won't even benefit more than intern at banks. Kcg is a big name, but doing a intern in this company won't be helpful for you to get another job.

Boston has a group of hedge funds doing mortgage and Ellington has a great training program. If you want a full time at Boston. Ellington will not only help you finding a job in mortgage but also in other fields, while Kcg won't.
 
oldquany said:
Based on your case, I will suggest Ellington. Kcg/getco have poor performance last year although erg did earn money. The INTERN program will not be too much helpful compared with Citadel and 2sigma. If you can't get an return, based on my sample pool, the intern at kcg won't even benefit more than intern at banks. Kcg is a big name, but doing a intern in this company won't be helpful for you to get another job.

Boston has a group of hedge funds doing mortgage and Ellington has a great training program. If you want a full time at Boston. Ellington will not only help you finding a job in mortgage but also in other fields, while Kcg won't.
Click to expand...

Hi oldquany, thank you very much for your reply! I also heard that KCG doesn't give return offers to too many of its interns.

Thanks for your input on Boston's hedge funds. Would you mind giving me a few name of such mortgage hedge funds? Or where can I find such a list? Based on your experience, do these funds recruit PhDs or highly quantitative people heavily?

It sounds that you know a lot about Ellington and KCG's training program. Would you please elaborate a bit more on why Ellington's is superior?

Thank you very much in advance!

-idc
 
mathquantidc said:
Hi oldquany, thank you very much for your reply! I also heard that KCG doesn't give return offers to too many of its interns.

Thanks for your input on Boston's hedge funds. Would you mind giving me a few name of such mortgage hedge funds? Or where can I find such a list? Based on your experience, do these funds recruit PhDs or highly quantitative people heavily?

It sounds that you know a lot about Ellington and KCG's training program. Would you please elaborate a bit more on why Ellington's is superior?

Thank you very much in advance!

-idc
Click to expand...
Like many other quant funds, those funds in Boston are not specifically in mortgage. Their strategy is diversified and mortgage/fixed income is an important part. Acadian is one of the big names and there are also many small but elite funds. No worry in job vacancies. Mortgage requires lots of fancy maths, so being quantitative will only be more helpful, especially when you are a phd in math.
Kcg's "training" can't be called training, and they don't want to teach you while Ellington knows that you are fresh. If it is your first internship, then Ellington.
 
oldquany said:
Like many other quant funds, those funds in Boston are not specifically in mortgage. Their strategy is diversified and mortgage/fixed income is an important part. Acadian is one of the big names and there are also many small but elite funds. No worry in job vacancies. Mortgage requires lots of fancy maths, so being quantitative will only be more helpful, especially when you are a phd in math.
Kcg's "training" can't be called training, and they don't want to teach you while Ellington knows that you are fresh. If it is your first internship, then Ellington.
Click to expand...

Hi oldquany, thanks a lot for your advice!
 
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