Should I quit my dead end job and study?

[johnnyb]

Hi all,

I got accepted into Cornell MFE which is likely where I am going in Fall 2023 unless I get into Columbia with scholarship.

I am currently working at a wealth management firm not doing quant work and doing entry level investment analyst stuff… and the work is quite boring.

It pays well, but I just graduated from undergrad in December and I want to make the most of these ~6 months until the program starts. I have remedial jobs lined up which I would enjoy, and I would also have enough time to get a start on courses and study for interviews. The job I am now I am burned out… come home at 7pm and the last thing I want to pick up is a quant textbook. I have been at this place for an “internship” for 2 years now.

Any advice in what I should do… quit and study/have better mental health or not quit and try to cram everything in. Money is fortunately not an issue for these next 6 months. I am in NY by the way… thanks.

 

[QuantCoach]

Are you allowed to fit an internship the summer before Cornell starts? I know several of my friends fit one between the time they graduated from undergrad and started the MFE, but not sure how it would work for you as you're already working full-time. If you're not allowed to do this internship, would it be possible to work with an established professor to publish a paper (this is another popular route I saw from my undergrad cohort)? I would personally only quit if I could do one of these two instead - if an interviewer asks why you left your full time employment 6 months before your MFE start date, I think it will put you an awkward spot if the reason was "because I wanted more time to study".

 

[ciciyang]

If I were in your shoes and I had a lot of quant textbooks to catch up, I would quit 100% and prepared for school and internships.

 

[PepeQuant]

just quit bro. or troll them all day for fun

 

[johnnyb]

Are you allowed to fit an internship the summer before Cornell starts? I know several of my friends fit one between the time they graduated from undergrad and started the MFE, but not sure how it would work for you as you're already working full-time. If you're not allowed to do this internship, would it be possible to work with an established professor to publish a paper (this is another popular route I saw from my undergrad cohort)? I would personally only quit if I could do one of these two instead - if an interviewer asks why you left your full time employment 6 months before your MFE start date, I think it will put you an awkward spot if the reason was "because I wanted more time to study".

Thanks for this awesome reply. Will think about … although this summer is a wash in my eyes since I have a trip to Europe planned for a few weeks. Thought what time is better than now and before I start grad school to travel.

I should have added, I sometimes do quant related work at my job — GARCH and ARIMA modeling, regression, etc. but recently its been a pain given poor management and lower staffed teams.

If I were to quit, it would be in late April (3-4 months before MFE starts)

I should also add as I see it right now, it is going to be tough to get all my studying in if i continue working there