Target schools for elite WS prop trading firm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, Tower Research is super random to pick out. Why not go with the big guns: RenTech, HRT, Jane Street, Citadel, Two Sig, etc.

The high paying trading firm that only hires the most exceptional people
https://www.efinancialcareers.com/news/2021/11/jane-street-jobs


"Mostly, though, Jane Street likes to hire students. But not just any students. It only hires the very, very, very best. In the past two years, Jane Street has hired over 10 computer science, maths or physics graduates into London, mostly from Cambridge University but occasionally from Oxford, Bristol or Imperial College. They all have first class degrees, but they also have something more...

The typical Jane Street graduate hire is someone with a first class degree who finished close to the top in their year at a top class university. They will have won prizes. They will have been scholars. One recent recruit graduated top in a mathematics paper out of 272 people at Cambridge University. Another was the second best in his Cambridge cohort."

SBF…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, Tower Research is super random to pick out. Why not go with the big guns: RenTech, HRT, Jane Street, Citadel, Two Sig, etc.

The high paying trading firm that only hires the most exceptional people
https://www.efinancialcareers.com/news/2021/11/jane-street-jobs


"Mostly, though, Jane Street likes to hire students. But not just any students. It only hires the very, very, very best. In the past two years, Jane Street has hired over 10 computer science, maths or physics graduates into London, mostly from Cambridge University but occasionally from Oxford, Bristol or Imperial College. They all have first class degrees, but they also have something more...

The typical Jane Street graduate hire is someone with a first class degree who finished close to the top in their year at a top class university. They will have won prizes. They will have been scholars. One recent recruit graduated top in a mathematics paper out of 272 people at Cambridge University. Another was the second best in his Cambridge cohort."

SBF…

Say what you want about SBF, he's undoubtedly smart and probably did well at Jane Street

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, Tower Research is super random to pick out. Why not go with the big guns: RenTech, HRT, Jane Street, Citadel, Two Sig, etc.

RenTech is unique in that they mostly hire PhDs, and almost never undergrads. Maybe some geniuses from MIT get a call out of undergrad but that’s it. The rest are pretty standard with hiring: Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Duke, Caltech, and top CS/Math programs like Berkeley, CMU, UIUC, UT, NYU, UMich, Georgia Tech, etc.

Just look at the leadership of these top firms for your answer. RenTech is run by an MIT grad. HRT is potentially the most profitable firm, and they're run by an MIT grad, a Duke grad, and a Harvard grad. Citadel is run by a Harvard grad. Two Sig is run by a Princeton grad and a Stanford grad. Jane Street doesn't have a hierarchal structure so no clear leadership. But it's HPSM and Duke at the top leadership for all these firms, so you can bet they hire a lot out of those schools. And then you'll get other smart kids along the way from similar top schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, Tower Research is super random to pick out. Why not go with the big guns: RenTech, HRT, Jane Street, Citadel, Two Sig, etc.

RenTech is unique in that they mostly hire PhDs, and almost never undergrads. Maybe some geniuses from MIT get a call out of undergrad but that’s it. The rest are pretty standard with hiring: Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Duke, Caltech, and top CS/Math programs like Berkeley, CMU, UIUC, UT, NYU, UMich, Georgia Tech, etc.

Just look at the leadership of these top firms for your answer. RenTech is run by an MIT grad. HRT is potentially the most profitable firm, and they're run by an MIT grad, a Duke grad, and a Harvard grad. Citadel is run by a Harvard grad. Two Sig is run by a Princeton grad and a Stanford grad. Jane Street doesn't have a hierarchal structure so no clear leadership. But it's HPSM and Duke at the top leadership for all these firms, so you can bet they hire a lot out of those schools. And then you'll get other smart kids along the way from similar top schools.

+1 people act like this stuff changes... it's the same top schools for most industries

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not representative of WS as a whole. Notably missing Dartmouth, Northwestern, Penn/Wharton.

It's fintech. All of the NESACS are missing too because it's a lot harder to teach a history major to be a quant than it is to teach a history major to be an investment banker

It’s actually better to go to AWS than lower Ivy if you want to work at Jane street and comparable firms becsuse AWS alums can get interviews by just emailing alums at those firms

My sister got a Jane street and SIG interview from AWS from cold emailing an alum at each shop

Lower ivies are too large to really leverage alums as effectively on a personal level.

Love people talking about "lower ivies" ... stupid. Tim Reynolds, one of the founders of Jane Street, has an MBA from Cornell. Yaron Minsky, head of technology group at Jane Street, has a PhD from Cornell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, Tower Research is super random to pick out. Why not go with the big guns: RenTech, HRT, Jane Street, Citadel, Two Sig, etc.

RenTech is unique in that they mostly hire PhDs, and almost never undergrads. Maybe some geniuses from MIT get a call out of undergrad but that’s it. The rest are pretty standard with hiring: Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Duke, Caltech, and top CS/Math programs like Berkeley, CMU, UIUC, UT, NYU, UMich, Georgia Tech, etc.

Just look at the leadership of these top firms for your answer. RenTech is run by an MIT grad. HRT is potentially the most profitable firm, and they're run by an MIT grad, a Duke grad, and a Harvard grad. Citadel is run by a Harvard grad. Two Sig is run by a Princeton grad and a Stanford grad. Jane Street doesn't have a hierarchal structure so no clear leadership. But it's HPSM and Duke at the top leadership for all these firms, so you can bet they hire a lot out of those schools. And then you'll get other smart kids along the way from similar top schools.

I thought RenTech was Berkeley? Also the market-making securities division of Citadel is a Berkeley alum

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one don’t get this thread?

Is this about target school for IB??

Not IB, trading.

Not trading, the systems which enable trading. Quants. Coding+finance+stats+math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, Tower Research is super random to pick out. Why not go with the big guns: RenTech, HRT, Jane Street, Citadel, Two Sig, etc.

RenTech is unique in that they mostly hire PhDs, and almost never undergrads. Maybe some geniuses from MIT get a call out of undergrad but that’s it. The rest are pretty standard with hiring: Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Duke, Caltech, and top CS/Math programs like Berkeley, CMU, UIUC, UT, NYU, UMich, Georgia Tech, etc.

Just look at the leadership of these top firms for your answer. RenTech is run by an MIT grad. HRT is potentially the most profitable firm, and they're run by an MIT grad, a Duke grad, and a Harvard grad. Citadel is run by a Harvard grad. Two Sig is run by a Princeton grad and a Stanford grad. Jane Street doesn't have a hierarchal structure so no clear leadership. But it's HPSM and Duke at the top leadership for all these firms, so you can bet they hire a lot out of those schools. And then you'll get other smart kids along the way from similar top schools.

I thought RenTech was Berkeley? Also the market-making securities division of Citadel is a Berkeley alum

MIT undergrad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, Tower Research is super random to pick out. Why not go with the big guns: RenTech, HRT, Jane Street, Citadel, Two Sig, etc.

The high paying trading firm that only hires the most exceptional people
https://www.efinancialcareers.com/news/2021/11/jane-street-jobs


"Mostly, though, Jane Street likes to hire students. But not just any students. It only hires the very, very, very best. In the past two years, Jane Street has hired over 10 computer science, maths or physics graduates into London, mostly from Cambridge University but occasionally from Oxford, Bristol or Imperial College. They all have first class degrees, but they also have something more...

The typical Jane Street graduate hire is someone with a first class degree who finished close to the top in their year at a top class university. They will have won prizes. They will have been scholars. One recent recruit graduated top in a mathematics paper out of 272 people at Cambridge University. Another was the second best in his Cambridge cohort."

Exactly. There is no fluff here. Someone upthread mentioned meritocracy and is spot on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not representative of WS as a whole. Notably missing Dartmouth, Northwestern, Penn/Wharton.

It's fintech. All of the NESACS are missing too because it's a lot harder to teach a history major to be a quant than it is to teach a history major to be an investment banker

It’s actually better to go to AWS than lower Ivy if you want to work at Jane street and comparable firms becsuse AWS alums can get interviews by just emailing alums at those firms

My sister got a Jane street and SIG interview from AWS from cold emailing an alum at each shop

Lower ivies are too large to really leverage alums as effectively on a personal level.

What is AWS?

Amazon Web Services. These jobs require coding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, Tower Research is super random to pick out. Why not go with the big guns: RenTech, HRT, Jane Street, Citadel, Two Sig, etc.

RenTech is unique in that they mostly hire PhDs, and almost never undergrads. Maybe some geniuses from MIT get a call out of undergrad but that’s it. The rest are pretty standard with hiring: Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Duke, Caltech, and top CS/Math programs like Berkeley, CMU, UIUC, UT, NYU, UMich, Georgia Tech, etc.

Just look at the leadership of these top firms for your answer. RenTech is run by an MIT grad. HRT is potentially the most profitable firm, and they're run by an MIT grad, a Duke grad, and a Harvard grad. Citadel is run by a Harvard grad. Two Sig is run by a Princeton grad and a Stanford grad. Jane Street doesn't have a hierarchal structure so no clear leadership. But it's HPSM and Duke at the top leadership for all these firms, so you can bet they hire a lot out of those schools. And then you'll get other smart kids along the way from similar top schools.

+1. Apparently HRT is offering new grads $600k all in… ridiculous

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, Tower Research is super random to pick out. Why not go with the big guns: RenTech, HRT, Jane Street, Citadel, Two Sig, etc.

RenTech is unique in that they mostly hire PhDs, and almost never undergrads. Maybe some geniuses from MIT get a call out of undergrad but that’s it. The rest are pretty standard with hiring: Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Duke, Caltech, and top CS/Math programs like Berkeley, CMU, UIUC, UT, NYU, UMich, Georgia Tech, etc.

Just look at the leadership of these top firms for your answer. RenTech is run by an MIT grad. HRT is potentially the most profitable firm, and they're run by an MIT grad, a Duke grad, and a Harvard grad. Citadel is run by a Harvard grad. Two Sig is run by a Princeton grad and a Stanford grad. Jane Street doesn't have a hierarchal structure so no clear leadership. But it's HPSM and Duke at the top leadership for all these firms, so you can bet they hire a lot out of those schools. And then you'll get other smart kids along the way from similar top schools.

+1. Apparently HRT is offering new grads $600k all in… ridiculous

That's what they're paying software engineers. I don't even want to think about how much the quants make

[Anonymous]

HRT used to have a similar drop-down list of schools, but they don't anymore (https://www.reddit.com/r/columbia/comments/gieygi/comment/fql1des/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). The schools were "Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Columbia, Berkeley, Texas-Austin, UIUC, Imperial College London" with notable omissions of Yale, Penn, Brown, and Dartmouth (the former two tend to be included in most other lists though). What I've noticed is that it's becoming increasingly important to not only go to a top school for the credibility it affords you, but in particular a top school with strong quantitative departments: the big four CS schools (MIT, CM, Stanford, Berkeley) are almost always included on these lists, plus Harvard (because it's Harvard), Ivy Plus schools with strong quantitative departments (Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, often Chicago), and flagships of massive states with strong CS/math programs where they know they can get top talent (UIUC, UT, sometimes Georgia Tech and Michigan) that got unlucky for whatever reason in admissions and barely missed the Ivy League/Stanford/MIT. Wisconsin also gets a decent amount of recruiting traffic given its proximity to top firms in the Chicago area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A little surprised that UT isn't on this list. A lot of Tower's competitors (Citadel Securities, Hudson River) target UT CS and math majors, with the logic being that there is bound to be a ton of quantitative talent at the top of the second most populous state's flagship (with a solid T10 CS program).

+1. Can personally confirm that Jane Street and Two Sigma do as well, knowing people in the industry.

A bit dated but sat through a more recent version of this presentation recently. Go to 15:02 to see talk about Jane Street with UT. 75% of UT CS Honors freshman have internships between freshman and sophomore year

https://youtu.be/--upJd-y_gQ

[Anonymous]

Back in 2001 I was working on a Merril Lynch trading floor and there was a very short list of eligible schools they recruited for.

Joke was CEO went to St. John’s in Queens NY which was not in list to be a trader or quant so graduating St. John’s ment you were only qualified to be CEO.

Does suck they have secret lists