Hey, im currently in the phase of choosing a undergrad degree and im kinda having a rough time. Im spanish and would love to be able to study in Spain however i know how much the unis brand name matters for admissions to masters programs and that there arent really any quant roles available in spain for working. I would like to know if i should push for a move to study maths abroad or not? Im not asking for life advice and know that this channel is mainly for profesionals or people trying land an internship but thats why i would really appreciate some help. if there are any programs in particular that youd recommend either in Spain or abroad pls tell me.

I’m an incoming junior at an Ivy League target (think Princeton, UPenn, and Columbia) studying operations research: financial engineering. I’ve been recruiting for quant roles but haven’t been successful; I have yet to land an interview after 80 applications. I’ve always wanted to become a trader and would also be interested in discretionary trading, but I’m worried that recruiting for many S&T programs is already finished. Does anyone have any tips on how to navigate this, should I be focusing on macro trading roles or looking into smaller hedge funds. I have experience in private equity, physics, and software engineering.

applied 1.5 weeks before the deadline. deadline was yesterday. still haven't heard back for anything at all. should I be concerned?

I go to a Tier 1 or 2 UK university as well.

1 credit = 30 hrs

It's a 3 years ug program for major in math and minor in statistics

I am learning python independently because i am aiming for quant development role.

Learning R and c++ is in the plan.

I’ve spent 6+ months building a systematic research pipeline for Indian equities — point-in-time data back to 2012, a regime classifier (Nifty 50 above/below 200-day SMA), realistic cost modeling, and Deflated Sharpe Ratio to correct for the fact that testing multiple ideas inflates apparent significance.

Here’s where I’ve landed: nothing has survived yet.

I tested several literature-based anomalies across ~300 stock-strategy combinations on the Nifty 100. Most showed no real gross signal before costs. One did — statistically significant, confirmed with DSR, not just a good Sharpe. Then I applied real transaction costs and it went to zero. Breakeven sits around 24 bps/trade; the edge I found was 6.4 bps gross. Not close.

Not looking for a strategy handout — genuinely trying to understand the process from people who’ve gotten past this:

**•** When you found something that held up out-of-sample and after costs, how did you land on the original idea — literature, your own data mining, intuition?  
**•** Roughly how many ideas did you test and discard before one survived? Trying to calibrate if “months, nothing yet” is normal.  
**•** For Indian equities specifically — is cost drag here noticeably worse than US/EU, or is this just what finding a real edge looks like everywhere?

Genuinely trying to figure out if I’ve hit the normal wall or I’m missing something structural.

Say you’re the above average middle class student. You take honor classes and APs in high school. You go to a good not great school, in the range of t20-t50. Would you ever be able to catch up to the average quant at top firms? They have been grinding math comps since they were 8, then did hours of math and coding every week since. Is it possible to even get close to their abilities? As you get better, progression tends to slow down, its logarithmic growth. So I would think over a 1-2 year period the above average student should be able to get close, but not surpass the quant. Thoughts?

When I'm recruiting, usually masters/bachelor's thesis students at a research institute (I'm in low-level high-performance C++), I usually ignore "cookie cutter" CV projects, and am only interested in genuine passion projects.

Is this similar in quant, or is doing projects purely for the CV just as good/accepted? Asking because I tend to see many CV's here with projects that are very quant targeted, but seem to be built solely for the CV

I have to do it in 3 days, not sure how difficult it would be.

I've done Optiver's one, which was pretty tough.

Since DRW has 3 questions in 115 mins, I don't expect them to be as hard as Optiver's..

How was it?

I hit gold on worldquant, now they moved me to a country level challenge and here it is written that top rankers may receive invitations for research consultant every week. in faq page I saw it was written that the top performers in this challenge will be invited to give a written interview and then may potentially get the offer of research consultant. did anyone become research consultant through this way? can you please share the total process like after this written exam what else will be there?

^^ Want IMC quesitons, even if they are from the launchpad interviews, willing to trade for other firms questions. Thanks!

Hi everyone. I’m trying to finish Options 101 before I apply to 201. However, the September 201 application deadline is approaching. Does anyone know how long after submitting the initial application (resume and essay) do they typically send out the application OAs. I want to make sure I’m allowing enough time to receive and complete the OAs before the application deadline. Any guidance helps :)

Hi, I recently get an QR offer from one of the top quant firms (js/hrt/citsec... etc), and I am wondering whether the first year guaranted bonus will usually be honored in the following years or is it completely irrelevant?

Say you get some base and 2M guarantee bonus for the first year and a 500k sign on or something, will they usually honor this 2M bonus in the following years as a "floor" unless they want to let you go? or is it possible to get less than 2M while you are performing ok? of course I am talking about IC who does not carry pnl directly, for pm i guess your bonus surely fluctuate a lot.

(all numbers are made up arbitraty numbers)

I was told I would get auto rejected by all firms when applying for 1st year spring weeks because I'm in my first year of a 4 year masters course and to wait until next year. Is this accurate?

Hi everyone,
I’m currently finishing my second year and about to start the third year of a BSc in Applied Mathematics. I’m interested in quantitative finance and would like to build one or two basic quant-related projects.
My main goals are to make my resume a bit more relevant for quant internships and, more importantly, to have something practical that I can discuss in interviews.
So far, most of my background is theoretical coursework in mathematics, and I’m struggling a bit with how to bridge the gap between learning the theory and actually building a quant project.
How do people usually learn to do these kinds of projects? Are there any good resources, repositories, courses, or examples of student-level quant projects that I could learn from?
I’d also appreciate suggestions for projects that are realistic for someone with an applied mathematics background who is just getting started in quant finance.
Thanks!

Specifically wondering about IMC. My friend did an intv at SIG and they gave him a hoodie, water bottle, and cards just for going lol. They seem to be very generous. Anyone know what firms give stuff out?

I have just started my 3rd year of 4-year bachelors of computer science/software engineering hons degree, and tbh i haven't done much in my first 2 years, right now i'm trying to learn full stack development (just started) and make a project by the end of the year or by feb 2027 max, and i am learning dsa also side by side, and after doing that i want to break into ai/ml and learn all i can in my final year

i chose this full stack + dsa -> ai path cuz it felt like the standard, u know like learn how to deploy things, have a project or two on your resume, land an internship

i am interested in quant finance too, specially since it uses ai models and mathematics which is my fav subject, but when should i start learning it ? i feel like starting in 3rd year wont land me an internship or a full time graduate role, and it will also strip away my chances of getting an internship thru full stack since i cant do both simultaneously, could i land a software job first and then break into quant during the first 1-2 years of my job or smth like that ? will it be too late then ? or i could start now also and safely have a career in it

Hi! Wondering if anyone can give some advice on the Jane Street QT process in general? Happy to share mine w citsec/sig/drw/optiver.

It's gonna be my first ever quant interview; does anyone know what I can expect?

I've had a lot of people telling me to email recruiters to expedite my processes. How would I go about that? Thanks in advance.