OP should apply for two reasons:
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It’s an opportunity that looks at tests, not schools.
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A Jane street parent DM’d me that you are mistaken.
Having known many who applied to Jane Street and some who work there, what @thumper1 said was accurate through 2024.
Everyone I know who applied received the test. Note that even doing well on the test is no guarantee of moving to an interview stage.
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I did not say that. I said everyone gets the test.
What happens after I cannot say. Nor did I say. I will send you the pm.
You all are attacking an innocuous statement.
I similarly know several current and former Jane street employees and managers.
For the OP, if you are interested in starting the recruitment process, anyone can apply to take the Jane Street placement exam as they don’t have strict requirements regarding school background or prior finance experience; however, the exam is designed for highly skilled individuals with strong mathematical and computer science knowledge, making it extremely challenging for most people without a strong foundation in those areas to pass. In other words take your shot and let’s see what you got.
They want to get the best and brightest and are well known to recruit heavily at MIT among several target schools but will allow any and all into the process if they can prove themselves in advance.
It is however a very challenging prescreen that must be cleared before you are actually even considered by an HR professional for an interview process that typically has 4 rounds of escalating difficulty and typically includes 15-20 current employees.
In all candor being out of cycle at this point your time and effort is likely best spent elsewhere but you can find JS test examples on line if intrigued.
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I don’t think Jane Street online assessments are automatic anymore. At least per 2025 intern season practices. My son got one but only for 1 of the 3 roles he applied to (granted, the strategy role was not one of those 3) and of everyone in his frat may be 3 others got it out of 40+ who applied.
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Going back to the Bowdoin article - and are schools delivering what the final (employer) audience wants - not the initial which is patents - @Mwfan1921 just posted an article about Jacksonville on the closings website.
These words are being used by colleges trimming or pivoting - and that goes to who the final ‘audience’ is. It’s copy and paste for impacted schools.
“The cuts, an effort to save $10 million, are intended to align the university’s courses with the needs of today’s working world.”
It’s related to cutting music and theater programs.
Thanks to you and the others who posted about Jane Street and their application process and to Hebegebe for their other very informative posting answering general questions about applying for a quant position.
My son was just awarded both the Senior Class Mathematics prize and the Senior Class Computer Science prize at his LAC and is defending his Masters in Mathematics next Monday, so I would think he would be considered very skilled at math and computer science. But, he was not involved in a mentoring quantitative finance club like they have at MIT and as an athletic kid chose sports teams over math competition teams, so he won’t have those advantages.
He received an opportunity to take I believe the same online hour long test that Jane Street requires, but for a different firm, this week. Once he sees how he feels he did on this online test and if he is offered an interview, he will either spend time practicing more or else start applying to Jane Street and other firms at which we have contacts.
Thanks again to everyone for the many replies.
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The problem with the “you can live anywhere for a semester” is lots of places don’t pay well enough for housing. We had to make a hefty contribution to housing for our kid to live in a dorm in NYC as a consulting intern. He had to have a private room as his job was partially remote. This happens a lot. I have seen many posts on parent pages trying to find affordable safe housing in cities where there are internships.
But agree completely on the excuses. The kids that make excuses are not going to be getting jobs. You absolutely have to hustle and step outside your comfort zone. Take advantage of mock interviews. Career centers offer these and my nephew at UNC was told to NEVER go to a job interview without doing a mock interview with them first. You have to put in the effort and sending out a digital resume is not enough!
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Where does your kid go to school where 40 fraternity brothers apply for Jane Street?!
Many jobs are impacted by all of the cuts, and I know young adults who refuse to relocate- even for a short time until things (hopefully) improve. They could be waiting a long time.
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Berkeley EECS and that 40 is an approximation across a couple of frats inclusive of intern and new grad roles.
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I have a coworker whose daughter graduated about a year and a half ago with a bachelor’s degree in Applied Computing. Daughter is currently working part time at Best Buy and struggles to get enough hours to cover her basic expenses, even though she’s moved back home after graduation.
Daughter asked her mom for financial help in paying her monthly student loan payment. Mom told Daughter that the solution is to get a full time job. Daughter is…stagnant at the moment.
Another part of this problematic equation is Daughter’s resume, which is poorly written, has entire paragraphs of text. Sentences that say stuff like “I worked on this, I worked on that.” Daughter got advice from friends on her resume rather than going to career center at her college.
I gave advice to Daughter on how to reformat and fix it. And walked her through it from the point of view of somebody deciding whether or not to interview her.
What does she want to do for a job? Daughter said, “Oh I don’t know. Probably web development.”
Are there any web development projects listed on the resume? No. Resume doesn’t even mention any relevant coursework in that arena either.
Another part of the equation is that she extended her graduation by a year because she wanted to get an extra minor in art. But did no computing work or coursework in that timeframe. Part time job at the time was at a grocery store. Plus she did not take advantage of career center at the college she attended and did not network with people at all. Nor did she pursue any internships while in college.
So now she’s stuck.
I told Coworker/Mom about the online master’s degree in cyber operations that a big in state public U has available. AND you attend part time. AND the college has an excellent track record of getting industry relevant internships for all of their students. Like, if I was 25 and underemployed and in that situation and could get a master’s degree for not too much money, so 100% would jump on that train.
So this is my long winded way of saying that sometimes the reason for the lack of a job is because of the student.
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Stumbled my way in here and have learned a lot! I have a 2025 finance graduate who is doing an FLDP for a Fortune 500 company. It was the only job offer he got after months of applying and it happened to be where he wants to be - Charlotte. He is thrilled. Nice salary and signing bonus and he has a roommate lined up. Times are tough out there for sure!!!
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My D had both her internships and all co op rotations either provide furnished housing or had a stipend that covered 100% of her housing costs. That was the case for all her engineering friends. I can’t speak for other majors.
Totally agree that if that isn’t the case, it makes things much more limiting.
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Congratulations to your son! I work for a company that has very strong LDP programs (across various functions, including Finance) and the grads are some of the companies top talent. These are fantastic programs that provide great experiential learning opportunities.
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Wow, that’s impressive. I work for a Fortune 100 company and we don’t provide housing or a stipend. We have sites all around the U.S. and multiple international locations and interns, co-ops, LDPs, etc. are really on their own to find housing. It’s rough, especially for the interns since they are generally only 10 weeks - and sometimes in very HCOL areas.
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That has not been our experience at all! Lucky for her. I don’t think that is common. One of my kids friends had to turn down an internship in Atlanta because he could not afford housing as a civil engineer. Maybe it depends on what kind of engineering? My GT civil engineer’s first internship was like 18 bucks a hour? My GT IE is making more like 25 in his first internship this spring but commutes 40 mins to an hour each way. None of them provide housing.
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That has been our experience as well! Housing is often unaffordable with intern salaries.
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He targeted these programs because he loved the rotational aspect and wow they are competitive! I think it is a great fit for him and know he will learn a lot. I am excited for him and SO thankful he has a job. Times are tough!!! He is surely enjoying his spring at UGA!
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Sounds like Duke 