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

[hebegebe]

Hi @TheRealMango,

I saw that you intend to pursue quant finance at Stevens. I had not heard about the Stevens program, so I looked at its description. And on the Stevens page, I found the following:

Additionally, the Stevens QF program has been accepted into the CFA Institute University Affiliation Program. Universities with this recognition incorporate at least 70 percent of the CFA Candidate Body of Knowledge (CBOK), making them well positioned to sit for the CFA exams.

The reason I am highlighting this is because there are two types of quant firms: those that don’t care about applicants having finance knowledge, and those that do. Stevens QF program is directed towards companies where candidates are expected to know a great deal about finance.

I mentioned this briefly in my detailed thread.

@hebegebe

A lot of the most selective companies don’t care about finance knowledge at all. Their view is that they can teach finance knowledge more easily than they can teach math/CS talent. Examples that don’t care at all include: Arrowstreet, Citadel, DE Shaw, DRW, HRT, IMC, Jane Street, Jump Trading, Optiver, SIG, Two Sigma, Virtu.

On the other hand, companies like Fidelity, Numeric and Wellington do expect finance knowledge.

In summary, Stevens is focusing on quant roles like those in Fidelity or Wellington. People certainly have fulfilling careers in companies like those, and I encourage you to dig into where Stevens graduates end up.