<p>if you are thinking of being a quant, i think a math/physics major is pretty much a prerequisite. it's bloody competitive in the quant field, the kids from IIT, Russia and all over the world are in the game, too. and i would suggest that they had a pretty rigorous mathematical training.</p>
<p>of course, it is a different story if it's the traditional S&T.</p>
<p>anyway, one good point made by my professor: "being comfortable with math is crucial in finance (obviously, broadly speaking). knowing a lot of math, probably not so much." </p>
<p>i think what i am trying to say is, if you enjoy learning the intricate mathematics behind finance, then do take higher math. it's interesting to learn what all Markov, Ito, Wiener devised over the years (many exciting applications outside finance, too!). however, you might want to think again if you are pushing yourself just for the sake of doing math. some people got burned in higher math in college because it's just not for them. even after you got past college, like I said, hordes of competition awaits.</p>
<p>sorry, this might come off a little bit off topic, but I just had that in mind.</p>
<p>I understand what you're saying, and of course I like math and am not studying it for purely professional reasons (It's always been my favorite and strongest subject in school); I was just angry at the ignorance of Mattistotle's insistence that math is pointless to study. Also, today's products are only becoming more complex (Credit and Interest Rate Derivatives, Commodities, etc). In addition, almost all Exotic products have a structuring component. I don't know how familiar you are with structuring, but it requires pretty complex math. That's why structurers are normally math, physics, and engineering types. Granted, you will be trained on the job, and computers will be used to calculate most things for you, but if you understand all the dynamics behind the numbers, you will have a much easier time breaking in. My friend's cousin is working at Lehman right now on a FI desk, and she majored in Finance and Marketing. She told me she literally got raped the first six months because of how much she had to learn on the job and how she wished she had taken some advanced math/financial math classes. But my friend from MIT majored in Math and Econ, and he just pulled in $120k bonus working on JPM's energy desk as a first year. That just shows the difference in their foundation/preparation. </p>
<p>And of course what you said about quants is true, but quant positions aren't usually for undergrads but for pHDs and MS grads.</p>