<p>ive heard conflicting things about CMU producing some of the best traders in the world. ive read that the grads join hedge funds and do some sort of quant trading or they go on to trade on the front desk at ibanks.</p>
<p>i have also heard that while CMU is heavily recruited, all the grads end up working backoffice.</p>
<p>which is true? Im talking about grads from Tepper(undergrad and MBA) and the quant econ and computational finance grad programs.</p>
<p>and is the undergrad computational finance program at CMU as presitgous as the grad programs in quant econ and computational finance? for that matter, is CMU known for an amazing quant econ or an amazing computational finance program? or both?</p>
<p>Offhand, two CMU grads I can think of:
one became a healthcare consultant.</p>
<p>One was doing analytical support in a front-office trading operation.
He was in the front office but was support staff, not a trader. Still an important cog, in his own right.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind: usually people whose strong suit is analytics work for people who can't necessarily do analytics. but are good at making judgement decisions ,or selling, or managing. In my experience.</p>
<p>Most traders do not do their own analytics. They have quants to assist them with that.</p>
<p>There are undoubtedly exceptions to this like certain niche trading activities, "arb" and the like, such as these people you're referencing may be targeting. Or companies formed by these quant types for themselves.</p>
<p>CMU's computational finance program is very highly regarded.</p>