Match Me Please! [3.3 UW, 1360 SAT super score, math/econ]

The short answer is no.

For the longer, answer, I want to expand on the two major types of quant companies that I mentioned above. For simplification, I will call them “New York-style” quant and “Boston-style” quant. Note there are some exceptions to this, such as Arrowstreet in Boston which is very much New York-style, but overall the pattern holds true.

New York-style quant shops don’t care about finance knowledge and seek the strongest math or CS candidates in existence, and are willing to bid for that talent. When high school students mention “quant”, this is usually what they mean.

Boston-style quant shops care a great deal about finance knowledge going in, and often want significant experience as well. People can have great careers in these companies, but the pay scales don’t compare to the New-York style companies. For the record, I worked in a Boston-style, whereas my child is in a New York-style.

There is still significant competition among the Boston-style companies for what are considered “quant roles”, which would be in portfolio management, research, or risk control. If Stevens undergrads can get junior positions in these roles, they are doing very well, and I suspect they would hold an advantage over the other colleges on the list.

Then there are a number of what I call “quant adjacent” roles in these Boston-style quant companies, where math skills are not critical. These include the computer science people who build the software infrastructure, marketing, performance reporting and portfolio administration roles such as reconciling trades. For most Boston-area quant firms, this also includes trading. This is because most Boston-style shops are investment firms, not trading firms, and therefore the trader role doesn’t require strong math. Graduates from all types of colleges can get these roles if they demonstrate proficiency.

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