Hi everyone,
Could any past or present HMC students comment on finance industry opportunities with a degree from Mudd? If I apply ED, I plan to study engineering. If I was interested in a quant type position on Wall Street, could I get there from Mudd, or would I be limited to mainly West coast jobs? Is there any on campus recruiting by finance firms?
Thanks!
Some Mudders end up in quant jobs with financial firms. I know one of my kid’s friends (math major) is working for a wealth management firm in Chicago in that type of job, and I’ve noticed some of those types of jobs on info from the career center in the past when they say where students have gone to work. If I remember right, it seems like those students are most likely to be math or physics majors.
You should contact the career center at Mudd. They keep pretty detailed info on their grads. I wouldn’t say there is a pipeline to Wall Street – it just isn’t where the interest of most Mudders would lie. But I expect it happens occasionally. Honesty, CMC is probably a better route to Wall Street.
And BTW, Harvey Mudd and CMC swim in the same team … so if you want Finance, why not applying to CMC?
Current Mudd senior wrapping up job search – I would have to disagree with the previous two posters. While there is a strong pipeline from CMC to Wall Street, it is mainly focused on Analyst-type jobs. If you want to Quantitive Research, I think a Mudd math degree is the best ticket from all 5Cs. Engineering is probably fine as well if you take some more theoretical math classes and some CS classes. In any case, a strong (3.7+) GPA and good internships are a must. Firms such as Citadel, Jane Street, Two Sigma, etc do recruit on HMC campus – more so than CMC I think. They recognize the rigor of the Mudd curriculum.
But I think you do need to have a back-up plan. Getting a strong enough GPA to get into Quantitive Research is very difficult, even if you have been doing very well in high school.
@thecaboose Thanks for the reply. Do you think a Math/CS joint degree would be even better, or only Math would be necessary?
Those types of firms would be the goal, but obviously I know how tough getting internships and job offers from them are. In your opinion, how hard is getting a 3.7+ GPA at Mudd, for either Math/CS or Engineering? Do you think a 3.3-3.5 would cut it for those types of firms?
I think the specific degree does not matter that much. You really do need a very strong GPA and remarkable math background for those roles though.
For reference, I am a Math/CS major with a 3.5 GPA. I did get some interviews at trading firms (Citadel, Jane Street) but did get very far in the process. (Arguably though, my GPA was good enough to get an “in” and it was my interview performance which prevented me for getting an offer)
Really though, it’s a lot of work to get to a spot where you are competitive for Quant jobs and being a Quant is a lot of work when you are there. You have to really like math – many people who get Quant offers did USAMO/USAPhO in high school. Sure, you are getting paid a lot of money, but there are easier ways to still make a very nice paycheck.
@thecaboose From reading WSO, I totally get what you’re saying. I liked math and did a couple competitions when I was in high school, but in no way am I nationally ranked or anything.
Obviously most people at Mudd aren’t interested in investment banking/Wall street jobs & Mudd’s mostly a nontarget, but do you think that I could be competitive from Mudd with a Math/CS degree? If I were interested in those types of jobs, I’d have to go to CMC or Pomona’s OCR, right? Do you know how they place into New York, out of curiosity? Thanks.
You can definitely be competitive with a Math/CS degree. And as I mentioned earlier, for Quant jobs, there is recruiting on Mudd campus. Sure, there is plenty of recruiting for Analysts at CMC, but for doing Quantitative Research, firms know that Mudd has a much more intense math background. As for location, it should not be an issue. I myself spent two summers in New York and have only gone to recruiting events on Mudd campus.
@thecaboose Great to know, thank you!