<p>i read a book about it (ugly americans by ben mezrich)</p>
<p>Okay, can anyone explain in ENGLISH what a hedge fund is. Or the general idea.</p>
<p>How is that not English? A mutual fund is something that's managed, that you invest in, and that takes your money and invests it in multiple things. It could be focused on one thing, it could try and mimic some things, it could invest in a lot of things. It could invest aggressively or conservatively, it could target specific goals or be especially sensitive to 'avoiding' excess taxation on trades. The people who manage it send you what's called a prospectus before you invest, and it explains what the specific fund does and what the goals are.</p>
<p>A hedge fund is like a mutual fund, but instead of a mutual fund which is offered by a bank or a brokerage, a hedge fund is its own entity. A hedge fund is also more 'private' than a mutual fund, and it's largely unregulated (although that will be changing in the future). The basic ideas- people have money, professionals invest that money and take a cut for payment- are the same ideas behind pretty much all asset management. The difference between this and just having a stock broker is that a mutual fund or a hedge fund has multiple "people," and all those people pool their money together for the professionals to invest hundreds of millions or billions of dollars instead of individual thousands.</p>
<p>thank you tetrishead. now i understand it. haha.</p>
<p>lol, great. thanks for the info everyone.</p>
<p>
[quote]
so sayyy i get into MIT, should I do pure math or finance (Sloan)?
but if i do pure math...i'm not like an IMO-type math-person. is that what they're looking for?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>What is your mathematics background? To be frank, very few people have what it takes and/or the interest to get a math degree, especially at somewhere like MIT. Mathematics -true mathematics - is so far removed what is taught in HS that unless you've had significant exposure, it is hard to tell if you've got any real ability. The kind of math that does the serious lifting in finance is quite terse, and for many, completely incomprehensible.</p>
<p>..ooh.
this year i'm (hopefully) gonna take the usamo...i've been practicing for it...but after that, i'm not good at proofs or anything.
is that not good enough?
i kno a girl who's doing pure math at harvard and she wasn't amazing in high school--she had usamo tho, but she got a 5/42
but mit is probably different..</p>
<p>
[quote]
this year i'm (hopefully) gonna take the usamo...i've been practicing for it...but after that, i'm not good at proofs or anything.
is that not good enough?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>What is usamo?</p>
<p>I don't know if it's just me, but that doesn't really mean much to me as far your mathematics background.</p>
<p>
[quote]
..ooh.
this year i'm (hopefully) gonna take the usamo...i've been practicing for it...but after that, i'm not good at proofs or anything.
is that not good enough?
i kno a girl who's doing pure math at harvard and she wasn't amazing in high school--she had usamo tho, but she got a 5/42
but mit is probably different..
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well, proofs are a large part of mathematics. I did very few calculations over my last 2 or so years of my math degree. There's a big difference between starting a degree in math, and finishing. Just because you know somebody that does something means pretty much nothing. OK, great, but what can you do? Can you say, prove that the product of two even integers is even?</p>
<p>
[quote]
What is usamo?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>[url=<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_America_Mathematical_Olympiad%5DUSAMO%5B/url">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_America_Mathematical_Olympiad]USAMO[/url</a>] is a math contest for high school students. It's round 3 of the qualification tests for selecting the US International Math Olympiad (IMO) team. Basically, about 250ish (that's the number when I was in high school; I dunno if it's different now; I think they might have doubled it now) students take it. </p>
<p>The test comprises of 6 questions, and 9 hours to answer them (all by proof), and the top scorers from it go on to the Math Olympiad Summer program, where they get selected for the IMO team. It's a kinda big thing for HS math, but obviously not as big as qualifying for IMO.</p>
<p>now it's like double that...500+
but then a lot more ppl know about it, so i guess it's equally competitive as before</p>
<p>
[quote]
It's a kinda big thing for HS math, but obviously not as big as qualifying for IMO.
[/quote]
well no, obviously, considering the USAMO selects the IMO team</p>
<p>
[quote]
Just because you know somebody that does something means pretty much nothing.
[/quote]
some guy said that it's really hard to be a math major at MIT unless you have an insane background, and i said that i know someone who is doing math and doesn't have an insane background. that's all</p>
<p>
[quote]
What is your mathematics background?
[/quote]
[quote]
this year i'm (hopefully) gonna take the usamo...i've been practicing for it
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That doesn't sound like a background to me. That sounds like something you are planning on doing in the future.</p>
<p>I'm a high school senior and I was offered an internship at a hedge fund. I have working experience in Private Equity, founded an organizations, and won some nice awards. There are always going to be exceptions to what people say. My advice to the OP, being a fellow high schooler, is to not worry too much about whether you'll be working in a Hedge Fund or Ibanking 10 years from now. Just focus on stuff you like and pursue it with a passion. It has worked for me --> got me into Stanford. </p>
<p>Go to the library and take out some books. It will be more resourceful than Wikipedia. You have to take the initiative to do things and do your own homework, come up with your own conclusions about what is best for you.</p>
<p>
[quote]
That doesn't sound like a background to me. That sounds like something you are planning on doing in the future.
[/quote]
no, but that's what my level of math ability is at</p>
<p>Narcissa, you sound like an idiot.</p>
<p>how ?</p>
<p>thanks everyone here for being so SUPPORTIVE woot</p>