Every institution is going to have its own “this is what we look for”. But for every company I’ve ever recruited for, “Best athlete’s” have a few things in common.
1- They take hard courses, even if they aren’t always in their comfort zone.
2- They are expert time managers-- paid job PLUS tough academics PLUS volunteer work or other meaningful EC’s-- and they deliver.
3-They know how to learn. Not just “I do my homework”-- but if a kid who is gifted in math is taking a music history class (which is a very common MIT combo) they figure out what background they need, or the context or the vocabulary required- in order to do well, and they they master that.
4-They are highly inquisitive. They don’t walk out of a lecture after a professor makes an unexpected comment and think “hey if it’s not on the final, I don’t need to know it”. They follow up- an email, show up at office hours, stay after the class to ask “what possible connection could you be referring to when you mentioned chaos theory and the French Revolution?”
Being great at math is a fantastic foundation… but these other things separate the “great at math” from “this kid could be a superstar in our organization”.
Hope that helps. And yes- less time gaming might help… not just in the job search but in life!!!
@huango, the bottom line is, there are many different kinds of financial institutions, and many different roles within each - ranging from those that lean math/CS heavy to those that require very different, non-STEM skills.
Networking with alumni and other Wall Street contacts will help him understand what is what.
Taking a step back…
What about Wall Street attracts him?
Why an investment banking role? (Which btw isn’t the same as being a quant).
That’s the thing:
WHAT does a quant do? I thought they deal with financial and business decisions, using numbers.
He’s not necessarily looking be a stock broker on Wall Street (but if he can land such an opportunity, he wouldn’t pass it up).
He’s just a smart kid who is looking for exposure to stuff other than engineering /coding world (our family has all those experiences to share with him).
My inlaws live in Manhattan. We’ve been to Wall Street many times, and he’s asked what’s that about (like you see in the movies).
The lucrative money is also great (yes, it comes with insane work/hours).
“A quant uses complex models to predict the future price movements of securities, commodities, currencies, etc. and to make financial and business decisions. A quant skill is the ability to reason using numbers”
It’s a sports term people use in other areas which means you want to select the most talented person available, not necessarily the one with the most credentials/training.
For IB jobs when I was part of hiring, I was looking for “brain power” as evidenced by good grades in rigorous courses (some of which were quantitative in nature), indicias of good work ethic (summer jobs/EC’s), indicias of being a good team member (types of ECs and how the person presented him/herself in the interview).
I don’t think you mean “stock broker”. That term usually applies to retail brokers who handle securities transactions for individuals. I think the main types of high paying Wall Street jobs you and your son are thinking about are investment banking, sales and trading at a bank, and proprietary trading for a fund. As to working at a quant fund, you should take up @hebegebe offer to DM him. You can DM me with questions on IB and I can answer some basic question on sales and trading at banks. @Catcherinthetoast is another great source for anything financial.
One thing that I have been wondering throughout this thread, but have not seen discussed.
Why does your son want to work in the stock market / investment world? Does he have experience to know what this world is like?
My understanding is that some parts (not all) of the investment world pay very well. However, they are stressful and involve long hours. New York is an expensive place to live.
I had a friend who like me was a math major at MIT. He went on to Harvard law, and graduated with a law degree. He got a job at a high end big name New York law firm. He lasted one week. He realized that this was just not the right place for him. He ended up in a much lower stress position that paid much less, involved more regular hours and more normal stress levels, and that allowed him to live in a location where the more normal salary levels were nonetheless enough for him to live well.
All of this makes me think that an internship at Goldman Sachs or a similar firm would be a very good thing to try out. On the one hand Goldman Sachs might be finding out whether they want to hire the intern after graduation. On the other hand, the intern might be finding out whether they want to work in this type of environment long term.
However, I think that this is a very good course to take regardless of what math related career your son eventually chooses. A degree in mathematics can be used in any one of a very wide range of careers. Math really is used all over the place. For a large number of those many potential career paths, probability and/or statistics will end up being very useful.
To me this sounds like MIT course 18C. This was not available when I was at MIT, but is very close to what I actually took (I think that I missed one of what is the current required CS classes for this major). I think that this is a very good combination that is both very interesting and potentially useful in a wide range of careers.
“Potentially useful in a wide range of careers” does imply that sometimes it can take a graduate a while to figure out what career they are going to end up with. We try a bit of this, and a bit of that, and eventually figure it out. This is entirely normal and entirely okay. Life is not a race.
He is not sure if he wants a CAREER in Wall Street/IB, but is VERY interested in an internship to get exposure into that world.
College is all about different experiences, including a very coveted study abroad, to become fluent in Spanish and to experience wonderful different culture. He won’t have another chance for a cultural immersion like this.
I cherish my study abroad experience in Thailand.
–
So last question:
==>=> since he’s not available this summer, should he still apply to any IB/finance internships for this summer?
Just our luck, he would get 2 amazing offers/projects:
fantastic project in Chile/Mexico,
AND
great internship with ?JaneStreet
I would hate for him to have to turn down the JaneStreet internship.
Summary:
With a goal of an internship Summer 2025:
he will stay the course with his planned major: 18C Math/CS (adding some finance classes if there’s room in his schedule)
he will read up on current financial/economic events
he will network/learn from alums, classmates/older friends, professors, LinkedIn
he will pursue Handshake and finance networking events (get me more free SWAGs)
he will join more ECs (Finance Club, etc) (and game less)
he will keep up his GPA (4.8 out of 5.0).
I am entirely grateful for everyone’s input, taking the time to teach me about this foreign and exciting world.
I hope that I can reach out to a few of you in the future.
Unfortunately that won’t work. First, pretty much all “big name” firms have already completed the cycle for summer 2024. As in, offers have already been issued.
Second, these internships run from late May (or early June) and run 12 weeks, so it sounds like it’ll overlap with his study abroad.
One of my kids won a fellowship for an opportunity overseas… and due to coursework, thesis, etc. was not able to do it the summer before senior year. So-- with the permission of the sponsoring organization, did the fellowship after graduation- and asked the employer if instead of a June start date they could move it to early October. They were happy to comply (there was another new hire orientation in October) and kid got to do both- do the overseas program AND start the new job.
I wouldn’t decide upfront that this is the ONLY time in your son’s life when he can do an immersion program- he’s only a sophomore!!!
