Please help me.

[Seung Hun Ham]

I am an international student studying statistics with concentration in math at UC Berkeley.
I have spent my first year at college from 2009-2010, then went to Korea for my military services for 2 years. Then, now I came back to US taking summer classes.

Because of the financial issue, I am planning to graduate early, completing my degree in 2 years (4 semesters and 1 summer session). My past/cuurent/future coursework includes:
- Past coursework: multivariable calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, probability and computer programming
- Current coursework: real analysis, advanced linear algebra and statistics
- Next semester: graduate-level stochastic calculus, PDE, numerical methods (with Matlab), linear programming (optimization), some programming courses (R, C++).
- Final semester: graduate-level intro to financial engineering, time-series analysis, machine learning, and possibly finite-difference methods

My current GPA is 4.0/4.0 but expect it to be lower obviously.
I have passed my CFA level 1 in June 2012 and FRM part 1 in May 2012 (registered for part 2 in November 2012).

Now, I do not have any work experience except for my two years mandatory military services (where I worked as a unit supply specialist and squad leader) and do not know people who are working in the financial industry.

MY GOAL : have some work experience at bulge brackets for 1-2 years and go for MFE in future.

Here are my questions:
1. Is it possible to get a summer internship in US at bulge brackets as an international student with above background? If it is not possible, what do you recommend for my future career path?
2. Which division should I apply? Can I apply to quantitative finance division with only BA? Or do you recommend me to apply to other divisions like Sales/Trading or Risk?
3. What should I do to improve my chance to achieve my goal?

Apart from these questions, please comment anything you think relevant to my future career.
Because I do not know any quants around me, you are my only mentors. Thank you.

 

[John]

To facilitate reaching your goals, you should exploit UCB career services to the maximum (be very aggressive in this regard), look for internship listing, watch for posting on bulletin boards for upcoming campus recruitment. Go to business school library and look up listings of alumni working in the industry, and start cold calling those you think you could have some good rapport with.

 

[Seung Hun Ham]

Thank you so much for your reply. However, I am worried about the fact that internship in Quantitative Finance requires more than bachelor. I think there are so many other MFE's and PhD's who are more qualified for those internships.

 

[John]

not true, there is also an undergrad from UCB who has had a successful career in algo trading (look up Max Dama)
https://www.quantnet.com/threads/ma...uants-mfe-financial-engineering-students.535/