Jane Street employees reveal what degrees matter when applying for quant jobs

Fast-growing electronic trading firm Jane Street has a reputation as one of the most elite destinations for entry-level talent, interns and graduates alike. But is there anything you can study that will give you an edge when applying? 

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Jane Street’s own employees suggest not… for your broader university course at least. In a pair of recently released YouTube videos, two members of Jane Street’s research team in London and New York both suggested your choice of modules matters more.

Declan, the London based quant, said you should take “the classes that you find interesting and are good at.” He said the classes that helped him the most weren’t just the ones that taught him to code, but “how to present information and present to other people.” He said that, at Jane Street, working on a task is only “half the battle” and you also need to be able to explain what you’ve learned from it. 

Alok, the New York quant, actually warned against staying in university too long. “I think the majority of researchers at Jane Street don’t have PhDs”, he said. “We’d actually love for you to just come here and learn on the job.” Alok says that your studies should cover fundamentals like “probability and some discrete math,” but should also be for your own “edification.” In his particular case, he says Jane Street valued his work in machine learning.

Much like financial services at large, the most important part of your education is likely where it is you study. Jane Street is said to carry out “extensive campus recruiting,” and will only recruit interns and graduates from the schools it visits. Alok, who interned there in 2018 before joining full-time, studied math and computer science at MIT. 

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