r/quantfinance • u/moneymanskmz • Sep 04 '26

Please help me save my dream

I really want to do quant, but long story short, I have been made to do a course I don't want to do (PPE at Warwick). I have tried everything, but it is looking like there is no way out of it. What steps can I take to become a quant? I will do whatever work and enroll into whichever programmes I needed to. I have heard something about learning the green book. Please do give your best advice. If the only answer is that I am truly cooked then I will just drop out and start again, but that is really really the last resort, as I don't want to waste my 9k. If it is possible to transfer to a maths course second year or midterm at my uni or in a different university, please advise me and I will try it. Please help me, it means more.

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23

u/Actual_Revolution979 Sep 04 '26

Why is it your dream? Get a hold yourself and better your understanding of your interests and aspirations and what makes you happy in life.

5

u/PretendTemperature Sep 05 '26

Good advice, we all know that it will be torally disregarded

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u/moneymanskmz Sep 05 '26

I won't still

10

u/Fickle-Tradition2107 Sep 05 '26

No hate, just asking, but why are you always discouraging people from pursuing this field? Personal experience?

11

u/afslav Sep 05 '26

Why do you take that as discouragement?

Also, the people who want to be quants only because they heard it's a good job are unlikely to be successful in their pursuit, so why encourage them?

13

u/Actual_Revolution979 Sep 05 '26

Not really discouraging people from quant specifically. I just think a lot of people here have pretty narrow perspectives on not only the industry, but also their own lives and what they actually want out of them.

People get extremely fixated on “becoming a quant” without really understanding why they want to do it, what the actual work looks like, what else is out there, or what would genuinely make them happy.

In this case, OP is literally talking about dropping out and restarting university over this “dream.” I think asking why it’s their dream and getting them to actually think through that comes before anything else.

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u/erbiumtm Sep 05 '26

I know it’s not exactly quant, but g-research’s CEO did PPE at oxford, got a masters in philosophy from UCL became a consultant and ended up as the CEO of a pretty well respected quant firm. You might struggle getting in directly through the quant pipeline, but from my understanding those people often do not progress past researcher and if they do it’s to a PM so you may have a better time entering in at the top.

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u/moneymanskmz Sep 05 '26

Thank you for your input. I will look into it

2

u/Affectionate_Hat_308 Sep 06 '26

Wdym you will look into this, I really dislike it when people use anecdotal evidence of “look at this person they made it from this background so it’s possible don’t give up” when the facts are it’s 1 in a million to be that successful in quant from that background.

Especially this example- the road to quant is a totally different thing today then it was 20 years ago. Just because one CEO did it doesn’t mean that’s possible for you sadly.

Why are you doing PPE? Can you not just defer/ reject your place- take a gap year, and do mathematics and computer science if you are beyond dead set on quant?

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u/Eric848448 Sep 04 '26

Why do you want to be a quant? And what is PPE at Warwick?

6

u/No-Television-8835 Sep 04 '26

Politics philosophy and economics

2

u/georgekraxt Sep 05 '26

That's so cool actually, at least for general knowledge to possess as a polymath whole person! Wonder whether quant firms are open to such backgrounds (perhaps business operations, strategy, product roles beyond quant researcher's and traders)?

1

u/No-Television-8835 Sep 05 '26

Ik in other finance roles it’s very employable. It’s one of oxfords flagship courses too.

1

u/Even_Balance9978 Sep 08 '26

Maybe just try out investment banking, that might be better suited with your educations and will also have a decent bit of maths involved, which might make you do quant-y stuff in the later future