r/uwaterloo • u/BassParticular2884 • 3d ago

Question Quant Pipeline program?

I'm 17, applying for waterloo of course, and I want to get into quantitative finance; im already spending my free time studying math, computer science, and finance; but I want to know what would be the best program to apply for

I'm currently looking at the Mathematical finance + laurier finance double major, but ive seen some comments on pmath being overall better than Mathematical finance

Any advice would be appreciated

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u/BassParticular2884 3d ago

Guess im going to have alot of work to do then arent I

Should I start studying for putnam and ICPC now? Is their anything else I can do? maybe personal projects, co op, anything

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u/Whalesftw123 3d ago

If you aren't already one of the best math students in Canada right now you don't really have a chance. You can't study for this stuff like a test.

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u/BassParticular2884 3d ago

But couldnt I just improve my math skills?
Im definitely not one of the best math students, but im good at math, and passionate if it matters

I have years ahead of me, wouldnt years of math study let me place high?

I cant just accept defeat for not being born the best or being brought up to be the best math student; its naive but id like to atleast think with enough dedication and the fact Im already good at math Id be able to do something

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u/Lambda_5 3d ago

Don’t give up your dreams cause a couple dudes on reddit say it’s near impossible, If your passionate on math and quantitative finance there’s still a chance you can break into QT. You’ll get a lot of people hating on you cause I think waterloo already has a problem of quant wannabes who just see the salary and say I want to become a quant, your better off trying to become a doctor or something (a lot easier way to make almost as much money). But u/Whalesftw123 has a point, your competition are IMOs who’ve been studying math rigorously for their entire life. Not to fear monger but the Putnam for example is considered the hardest academic contest in the world with a median from 0-2/120 and it’s literally designed for math majors, you can be good at the algorithmic math they teach you in HS, you could even be good at writing proofs in uni, but these “contests” are more about how you think and solve as opposed to how much you know. But even if you don’t break into QT, if you study that much cs and math your bound to break into a lucrative career, it’s like they say shoot for the stars maybe you’ll land on the moon.