so this is what i did. Did 4 years of poli sci, then decided I wanted a job in trading...but i didn't know what kind. So I did a lots of undergrad math in one semester at a pretty decent liberal arts college Harvey Mudd...i took calc, prob, diff eq, discrete, algebra, in 1 semester. The following semester i was signed up for more classes, real analysis, blah blah blah.Then i decided,"hey, what am I really doing all this math for?"So I just left school to work at a daytrading shop/prop firm HlV capital. Then I got an offer to work for a hedge fund's new prop division...think of it as the breeding grounds...determines who gets a hedge fund account to daytrade, swing trade, ect.Now that i'm here, I've been thinking about this whole masters in fin engineering. And then I came across this kent state program when I googled fin math and daytrading...apparently all the ms students had a little job trip to a few places..cbot, trading technologies, and some prop shops...kingstree and aspire.Lots of kids showed interest in working at one of the shops. This made me think, "hm...did you actually learn something in your program that you would use to daytrade or hold overnight at a shop like kingstree?"What gives? Why would anyone go into a master in fin math if they intended to daytrade...anything...either equities/futures/options/fx, whatever.(i guess i'm a little suspicious because i went to claremont mckenna college, and they've got this whole fin math program as well...and well....most of the profs are from Harvey mudd....and ....well they don't know a damn thing about trading...i don't think they could even tell you what a limit order is. Now thats not to say they wouldn't make great traders with all their mathematical abilities...its just...well I don't...which is why i'm asking here in the first place)

Most of the material taught at Fin Math programs are towards pricing, hedging and modeling. You have to be creative and work on your own to be able to learn more and use the math/statistics you have been taught at school to apply to pure quantitative trading.There is only one program that I know of that has a class devoted to trading: Statistical arbitrage class at Carnegie Mellon. Besides, I wouldn't expect most of the Profs to know much about quantitative trading since neither that's what they are interested in nor make a living out of it.

never heard of the companies you mentionednever heard of the programs you mentionednever heard of anyone in the programs I know go to the unknown companies you mentioned.conclusion=those programs suck, so that those graduates go to those unknown companies.

Wow...."HIV Capital". Do they trade only financial products?

Yeah, i bet you've never heard of harvey mudd, but i'd bet its just as good as any spot you've been to. But you know, you probably did a whole lot of trading yourself, and didn't just rush off to a fin math program with no relevant experience.my point being, some of the best traders are independents...they are daytraders....they are swing traders...they are whatever the hell they want to be called. i just seems like theres a large disconnect between daytrading, holdiing overnight, whatever...prop trading, .and fin math students. I would suspect that theres something a daytrader at a hedge fund could use from his/her fin math experience. But nobody here has yet to confirm this.(and you're right, hlv isn't a good place. Its an arcade, but has a prop deal also. But i've known 2 guys that started this way in futures...opening their own retail accounts. now they are filthy...just filthy rich and run their own prop shops. I can respect them both. Think how rich you have to be to do this. They both have enough money to pay 10 kids 35k a year....knowing that at least half will fail...forget the overhead fees....just realize its 350k out of their own pocket. Do you know how long it would take the average person to make 350k in cash, after taxes? Yeah...most people on this board will never at 1 point have 350k in the bank...ever. They both took a non standard path...both were engineers....now would they have made more money working as an analyst/execution trader for a big bank? Probably not. And what would they have learned at a large institution that would help them trade as independents? Probably nothing. But they are doing just fine. And i'm sure the guy over at GS is doing just fine as well, if not better.)point being, thats a really shitty attitude to have friend. QuoteOriginally posted by: yoshimura1never heard of the companies you mentionednever heard of the programs you mentionednever heard of anyone in the programs I know go to the unknown companies you mentioned.conclusion=those programs suck, so that those graduates go to those unknown companies.

maybe a few couples will be making a hell lots of cash but not everyone. on average top fin math grads would be making hell lots more than the graduates from those abcxyz colleges, whatsoever they do.oh yeah, i know someone took an unusual path, he quitted an ivy league college and went to open a stripclub and now he owns some redhot chicks and hell lots of cash, so we should all not study fin math and just go open a stripclub.

its too late for me...

you're right. Absolutely right.Now you go back to doing whatever it is you do, and I'll do the same.Have fun kiddo.(and work on the english will yah? Its a message board, so take your time)

So it's an undergarduate college with 700 students in Claremont California. Sounds nice. Probably need a PhD though to do real QF. Nothing wrong with day traders. They're easy for the big boys to scalp .Harvey Mudd.

QuoteOriginally posted by: TraderJoeSo it's an undergarduate college with 700 students in Claremont California. Sounds nice. Probably need a PhD though to do real QF. Nothing wrong with day traders. They're easy for the big boys to scalp .Harvey Mudd.no shit? really. I always thought it was the other way around. After all, you'd think that a "big boy" would have some pretty serious buying/selling to do. Kinda leaves pretty big footprints, don't you think?But i guess thats why most of the smart daytraders have stuck with listed issues.But then again, not all daytraders are that bright...Who knows, maybe I'll see you guys in a fin math program a few years from now. Cheers.By the way, you left out the part of the website that people on this thread would be interested in. Kind of shows that "no-name" schools aren't actually so bad sometimes...but I seriously doubt any admissions person in any field has never heard of the school...if any institution for that matter.http://www.hmc.edu/highlights/Student Achievements at HMC * One HMC team earned the top honor of "Outstanding" and one team earned a "Meritorious" award in the 2004 international Mathematical Modeling Contest. Their entries were among the 599 entries submitted from around the world. Two HMC teams competing in the 2004 Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling, in which there were 143 entries from around the world, received "Outstanding" honors. HMC has won more Outstanding awards in the history of the competition than any other college or university in the world. * A three-person team of Harvey Mudd College students finished in 5th place in the 2003 William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. HMC is the only undergraduate college to have placed in the top five in the past 30 years. * Each year more than 40 companies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations sponsor Clinic projects. In these projects, students solve real problems for these companies. Clinic projects sponsors last year included Boeing, the FAA, Northrop Gumman, Fair Isaac and Company, NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories. * In 1997, HMC became the first undergraduate institution to win the International Association of Computing Machinery Programming Contest. HMC beat graduate schools like Caltech and UCLA in the oldest, largest, and one of the most prestigious computing contests in the world! More than 1,000 colleges from around the world participated in the event. Also, HMC was the last U.S. school to win the world championship. * HMC students and alums are very popular with the National Science Foundation. Seven Mudders earned prestigious NSF Graduate Fellowships in 2003, seven in 2002, three in 2001, four in 2000, ten in 1999, and ten in 1998. The fellowships provide more than $20,000 a year to pay for a student's graduate studies. * Academic awards and honors by HMC students and graduates include two Rhodes Scholarships, including 1999 recipient Elisha Peterson and 1980 recipient A.J. Shaka.HMC Students (AKA Mudders!) * Our students are often known as "Mudders." * Approximately one-quarter of HMC's freshmen are National Merit Scholars. * Approximately 90 percent were ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school class. * About one-quarter are high school valedictorians. * For 2003 incoming students, the average SAT Verbal score is 700; average Math score is 750. * Typically, more than half of each class is from out of the state of California. * Mudders make up approximately one-third of the Joint Music Program of Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer and Scripps colleges. * With an enrollment just over 700 of America's brightest students, you get to know just about everyone, including your professors. * Student/faculty ratio is 9:1, and 100 percent of the HMC faculty hold terminal degrees in their field. * Thanks to the HMC Honor Code, Mudders have access to computers, studios, workshops, classrooms and laboratory buildings 24 hours a day. * To find out how you can be a student at HMC, visit our Admission Web page.

I am truly happy for you.

let's all go to Havey Mud then

Good! I love beaches

Yeah, are there any Brazilian chicks there?

QuoteOriginally posted by: mitGood! I love beachesErrr...HMC is quite far off the beach. I recommend you go to UCs instead. Many of them are right by the beach.