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Would being a quant a good choice for me? How do I prepare? (Math/Stat Major)

PeterNgam

Joined
8/6/13
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I'm third year math/stat student (3.9 GPA, FAMILIAR with vb.net,r,SAS) I have been thinking about what I want to do. Three option in my head is whether I do stat,mfe,actuary.

I want to know how much math, statistic, programming, finance and econ in mfe compare to actuary.

How is the work/life ratio for quant?

Should I take any specific course outside my major?

Should I do master in stat , or taking SOA's exam (Actuary's exam) as a backup plan? (My parent will support me.)

Can I learn python instead of C++ so that I can use it for statistic?

Thanks a lot
 
Last edited:
Phume said:
I'm third year math/stat student (3.9 GPA, FAMILIAR with vb.net,r,SAS) I have been thinking about what I want to do. Three option in my head is whether I do stat,mfe,actuary.

I want to know how much math, statistic, programming, finance and econ in mfe compare to actuary.

How is the work/life ratio for quant?

Should I take any specific course outside my major?

Should I do master in stat , or taking SOA's exam (Actuary's exam) as a backup plan? (My parent's kinda force me to do master.)

Can I learn python instead of C++ so that I can use it for statistic?

Thanks a lot
Click to expand...

Are you not a grown man? How can your parents "force" you to do a masters, let alone even go to college?
 
Quants often have relatively nice lives but there are some caveats that vary by firm.

The caveat is that we are often surrounded by people who make more than us. On the sell side we often have to operate as geeks in a very non-geeky culture.


On the sell side- at least on the trading floor- you are expected to execute extremely well as both a programmer and mathematician. You need to get code out quickly (EG overnight) and it needs to work the first time. If it doesn't people are very unhappy. (Sometimes people are even unhappy when it works perfectly)

Exit opps include all of what you mentioned, plus buy side, plus Big Data consulting.

A target grad school will help you break in. EG if you are going to Tsinghua or SUNY and get into CMU or Columbia, grad school is worth it for a quant career. If you are already at Harvard undergrad, grad school will not help you, at least for sellside recruiting.
 
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