Thank you guys for responding to this important topic. I know in the past I've often scared myself out of a commitment toward a major because of something that created fear and anxiety causing me to back off.
I quit medicine because I didn't really enjoy the topic to much and I was afraid of all the various tests I would have to take and the numerous hurdles which I felt I would not be able to clear. I have a friend who never made it past his residency after burning out.
I quit law because of the glut and long hours that I read lawyers needed to work. I was afraid of making an investment and then having it blow up in my face. So after a semester I quit law.
Then I tried dentistry and the more I prepared for it the more I realized that my chances for getting admitted were getting slimmer and slimmer and the debt load was increasing steadily.
What I've learned about occupations in general is that the biggest mistake a person can make is not knowing what they want to do and then changing their mind later after having invested time and energy toward another track.
I do realize that Quants is becoming a saturated field to some degree but relative to law and MBA's it is still not as bad. I have a friend who is in law school right now and I'm sure she read the articles on the glut of lawyers etc.
I have a habit of not making a move in life until the statistical probability of my success is in a safe range, and anytime some option fell out of that range it was eliminated.
But what I realize is that there are just too many variables for a person to account for, that you can hedge against.
Computers and finance are here to stay and the two will meld together even more than they are now, and perhaps they will need fewer quants in the future, who knows.
But the most important lesson to me was that you need to pick something that you enjoy doing, and to stick with it even if the odds are slightly against you, because being able to find that "hot" field is a fools game. One minute the field is hot and the next its cooling off. Like right now Physician Assistants are all the rage and the supply of schools is increasing rapidly, who knows in ten years if the new medical schools being built will reduce the supply for the need of PA's.
If you base your decision on which profession you'll take by seeing if it will guarantee you a job after your degree, you'll end up searching and searching to find that degree. Thats what I've realized.
I need to take some risk. To me that means this:
I was admitted to Columbia's Universities Continuing Education School where I will be taking the certificate of quantitative finance that includes 10 classes like calc 2 and 3, linear algebra, differentials etc. It will be a 20k investment. This certificate is graded and hopefully with hard work and good grades will reflect that my 3.2 gpa in undergrad is not reflective of who I am by earning high marks in the certificate program.
This is while I am going to work at a Prop Shop in NY as an equity trader. I am hoping that my experience here as a trader will give me the edge over other students who dont have a background in finance. I've been in finance for three years now at the age of 26.
Then I'll need to do well in the GRE's to prove that I am smart and capable, that means investment of more time and energy.
This is my plan, there are multiple points of risk in my plan:
1)I dont do well in the Quant Certificate program courses there by wasting 20k
2)I do well on my Quant Certificate program courses and my GRE's but still fail to gain admission into an MFE
3) After I get into an MFE, I fail to secure employment because of the market.
Now from the outside this may look risky but, there isn't any other career choice at this point for me that offers me any less risk. I was unable to secure employment after my last job ended. What about an MBA you say.
To make an MBA worth while I would need to get admitted to a top 20 school and that means bringing up my gpa, and a whole host of other things.
Everywhere I look there is risk and at some point you just have to bite the bullet.
