- Joined
- 3/9/25
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I need help deciding whether to stay as a trader or finish my master’s degree.
I come from a non-target French school but have strong training in computer and data science. I started my master’s but took a gap year for a hedge fund internship in data analysis. After the internship, I was offered a full-time trader role at the fund ($1bn AUM), where I’m the only one coding in the front office and contributing to quantitative research. I’ve gained significant responsibility and learned a lot, but I’m unsure about my next step.
I’m supposed to resume my master’s in a month, but my fund wants me to stay. My long-term goal is to become a quant at a leading fund, and I believe attending a top U.S. master’s program would help. I applied last year (received invitation to interview but didn’t receive an offer) and again this year (after having that trading experience in my resume) but received no offers/interviews. To strengthen my application, I’m unsure whether staying in trading (which is already on my CV) or completing my master’s in computer science would be more valuable.
Additional considerations:
• My current fund is fundamentally driven. I’ve learned a lot but won’t gain much more in a year, as my role is primarily trade execution and filtering information for my PM. I really wanted to have an experience in both funda and quant in my career.
• I’m self-teaching quant skills in my free time, but working 60-hour weeks makes this difficult.
• While I could potentially pitch a strategy, it’s unlikely I’d get PnL impact, given my junior status and the structure of my team, my boss will struggle to run a quant strategy if he relies only on me.
• Compensation is good ($100K–$150K) as a junior, but my team’s pay ceiling seems lower than other funds of our size.
• The fund is small in terms of human size, with no offices outside our location.
Would it be wiser to stay in trading or finish my master’s to improve my chances at a top U.S. quant program? Any advice would be appreciated.
Please let me know if something is not clear, I tried to make it as readable as possible. Many thanks!
I come from a non-target French school but have strong training in computer and data science. I started my master’s but took a gap year for a hedge fund internship in data analysis. After the internship, I was offered a full-time trader role at the fund ($1bn AUM), where I’m the only one coding in the front office and contributing to quantitative research. I’ve gained significant responsibility and learned a lot, but I’m unsure about my next step.
I’m supposed to resume my master’s in a month, but my fund wants me to stay. My long-term goal is to become a quant at a leading fund, and I believe attending a top U.S. master’s program would help. I applied last year (received invitation to interview but didn’t receive an offer) and again this year (after having that trading experience in my resume) but received no offers/interviews. To strengthen my application, I’m unsure whether staying in trading (which is already on my CV) or completing my master’s in computer science would be more valuable.
Additional considerations:
• My current fund is fundamentally driven. I’ve learned a lot but won’t gain much more in a year, as my role is primarily trade execution and filtering information for my PM. I really wanted to have an experience in both funda and quant in my career.
• I’m self-teaching quant skills in my free time, but working 60-hour weeks makes this difficult.
• While I could potentially pitch a strategy, it’s unlikely I’d get PnL impact, given my junior status and the structure of my team, my boss will struggle to run a quant strategy if he relies only on me.
• Compensation is good ($100K–$150K) as a junior, but my team’s pay ceiling seems lower than other funds of our size.
• The fund is small in terms of human size, with no offices outside our location.
Would it be wiser to stay in trading or finish my master’s to improve my chances at a top U.S. quant program? Any advice would be appreciated.
Please let me know if something is not clear, I tried to make it as readable as possible. Many thanks!
