Okay, its taken me guts to get this far - but please feel free to shoot me down. I want to go back to uni to do a quant degree - with the hope of getting a job as a quant or structurer ( I appreciate the difference) and trying to move from there on. The ulitmate aim, like everyone else`s, is to be a trader.Heres the kicker. I am a physician. Graduated 6 years ago. Obviously dont have a maths background - but doing the Maths Primer course with 7city. reading all the books they recommend and many of you guys recommend as well. Quite frankly, really enjoying it - but maybe thats cos I just like reading...I might have to a part time course at Birkbeck before I can do a Masters/MFE.I know a couple of guys doing quant, and one guy who is a trader. They assure me that I can pick up the requisite skills - but personally, I think it will be much harder. However, from an intellectual point of view, I think I can do it. I want to go to Cass or Imperial - as though their brand is weaker their courses are more practical than LSE. Leaving London long term is not an option for me - have a wife and family.I know that 2009 will most prob be tough for jobs as well. But this is something I have thought about for far too long. Time is running out. I am 32. I know, all those medications I dish out have gone to my head...Wanted to know from you guys :1) What you think of Cass ( of their MTF degree)2) To be a structurer, is knowledge of VBA enough, or do you have to learn C++ ( it obviously helps, but is it essential) ?Thank you for any replies.20p.

Firstly, sorry you've not yet had any responses to your questions.I don't have any direct answers for you, only a few general thoughts. All of this is my opinion only, based on nearly 10 years of trying to decide whether I would want/could handle/could stand being a trader.I did used to work with a guy who had previously been a Doctor, and had switched into banking. That was on the IT side, although very closely related to the quant stuff. You said your "ultimate aim, like everyone else, is to become a trader". If you want to become a trader, then get yourself £25k together, open a US brokerage account and start trading futures. Or on a smaller scale, charge up a Betfair account and start placing some bets. If (probably like most people who aren't traders) you're caught up in the "myth" perpetuated that they're all earning 7 figures and that it's incredibly glamourous, think again. There are of course people earning those amounts, but the vast amount of traders are underpaid relative to the number of hours they do. Most recently a good friend of mine who was a "desk quant" with a PhD in statistics whose total comp had finally reached £100k.None of the above is meant to put you down. Feel free to PM me if I can be of any help.

20paisa -- this is probably not what you want to hear, but you need to think hard about what you really want from the market....----most traders lose money.most mutual funds lose money.most PE firms lose money.most VC firms lose money.(lose money = under perform the sector index.most = between 50 to 90%)---you need to ask yourself, what is your edge? superior maths, programming is out.. frankly if you don't have a recent background in a numerate area of science, it will take you at least 3 to 5 YEARS to rewire your brain... and there is no guarantee this brain "surgery" will succeed.---if you are a physician with 6 years' experience and don't want to practice medicine, you could go to a management consulting form like mckinsey, bcg ... and work with hospitals, etc ..