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Undergraduate Advice?

okmijn

Joined
5/18/12
Messages
27
Points
13
Hi everyone, I am entering undergrad this coming fall at a top 25 University and I am specializing in Pure Math. I was wondering if it would be recommended to also take an Applications in Economics and Finance or Computer Science? Looking at the Master Reading List, I was wondering should I take the former and then learn the necessary programming as an autodidact project? What would be the ideal next step after undergrad for me? Would it be MFE? or get a PHD in math?

Thanks.
 
The days of being a quant are over. Do something else with your life. In general, if you want to improve your job security, do the following:

1) Learn as much maths as you can. Particularly applied/engineering maths
2) Learn as much programming as you can - C/C++ and Python.
3) Learn as much about finance, economics as you can.
4) Learn how to be a normal, well-spoken person, which means being a fun and enjoyable person to be around - not easy for most quant types.
 
lol, the people in that article run MFE courses. If anyone has a vested interest in people still believing there are jobs, it's them.
 
From reading your other posts, I suppose what you are trying to say is to focus on the education and keep my options open?
 
okmijn said:
If the days of quant are over, then why is there this website completely devoted to it and helping others along this path?
And this article I just read:
http://www.advancedtrading.com/managingthedesk/240000420
Click to expand...

I think the point people are making when saying 'the days of quant are over' is that the need is shrinking for people to do complex math relating to derivatives. Such people are the only ones who were referred to as 'quant' in years past, now 'quant' has become a much more generic label. When I worked in a hedge fund six or seven years ago, someone in risk would not be referred to as a 'quant' nor was 'quant' considered a particularly attractive label to have. But maybe that shop was unusual, I don't know.

There will always be a need for people with varying degrees of quantitative aptitude in every industry of course. This website is a testament to the fact that there are still people interested in math and coding and want to work in finance, not to the fact that the jobs of yesteryear are returning.

If all that is meant by quant is that interest in math and strong computer skills and a tilt toward finance, then I suspect there will always be quant jobs. But you shouldn't take lightly that the financial world is changing and the subset of skills you need is a moving target (of course it would be quite a challenge to learn 'all of math' and 'all of computers' so you would always be competitive).

Per your original question, I would suggest take the CS course and learn Economics and Finance through autodidactics.

For Finance, a place to start would be Investments by Bodie and Kane.
For Economics, as a Math major, you should have no trouble starting with a text labelled 'Intermediate [Micro/Macro] Economics'. Personally I used Varian for Micro ; I don't recall what I used for Macro.
Additionally, Woodridge is a good Econometrics book.

Best of luck.
 
Jose Thomas:

One of my friends did Math/Finance for undergrad and now he is doing PhD for Operations Research at MIT (And self-taught himself most of the programming listed in the master reading list). Thanks for your advice regardless. My approach to university is to acquire as many knowledge and skills as possible and try to get into a target grad school and to make this 'moving target' a bigger one to hit.
 
That's fair. I would think it would be easier to learn the econ / finance on your own than the programming, but you could be successful doing either, I'm sure.
 
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