Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
I knew plenty of Americans at my high schools (both the math/science magnet and the public school) who went on to complete quantitative degrees, though not all at prestigious institutions.Also, I'm not sure that so many American people actually want these kinds of quant jobs. Hell...I remember one of my high school classmates...blew me out of the water in math and physics (was one of the smartest people I've ever met at the time), beautiful as all hell, got into Columbia for a BS in Financial Engineering, and even managed to intern for an investment bank. Twice.
One person (of Chinese descent) was pursuing a PhD in theoretical physics at MIT. I was the only one with a completed quantitative graduate degree. A couple of people got investment banking/other non-math financial industry positions, one person who pursued the same program as the aforementioned young woman and then went onto get an MFE at Columbia is now an assistant trader at SIG. Oh, there's one more who's working as an IE for the Navy, and I'm really happy for him.
You must have no sense of who your competition is.And the grad schools are making it hard to even pursue a graduate education in anything quantitative. Duke (PhD stats), UPenn (PhD biostats), and UMich (PhD Stats and PhD OR, two separate programs) all rejected me, and my credentials aren't horrid. 770 Q GREs, 3.81 MS Stats GPA...and nope...I got shafted. (Though two of my recommendations arrived late at UMich)...heck, even my own alma mater, Lehigh, rejected me after I applied to my old department for a PhD when I got my first 4.0 at Rutgers, and SUNY Stony Brook took me for a PhD in quant finance--but with no funding.
Frankly, I think a lot of this could be solved if US citizens were prioritized in PhD programs over foreign nationals. Given how few Americans actually like math or engineering, this may actually be a sensible course of policy to get our country back on track.
History,
They are a lot of presumptions and misconceptions in this post which makes it hard to respond to. For instance, as the per-capita income levels rises, usually the demand for goods increases as well. So the tendency of buying abroad goes up, inevitably leading to a "trade deficit". There's nothing wrong with that. However, you start with the presumption that there is. Why?
If Americans became poorer, the "trade deficit" would decline.
You've obviously miscomprehended the post. Perhaps you should re-read. I never said that you said America was getting poorer.Please tell me that where in my post did I ever mention that US has become poor???
If by reading that "US cannot compete with Germany's industrial might" you infer than US became poor, you have some serious RC issues.
Now on trade deficit. Do any of these developed countries run trade deficits -Germany, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Canada, Norway, UAE, or Australia. So how can you conclude that being developed leads to trade deficits?
Each of these countries either has a lot of resources (UAE, Norway, Canada etc) or has powerful industrial base (Japan, germany etc).
And , since you mentioned that as countries become richer, they buy abroad. But my question is : why not make at home? I'm pretty sure that in such a vast country as US there are plenty of extremely poor neighborhoods. Infact, just check out the GINI index of US and compare that to the above countries. You will find that US's is the highest (mid 40's). So income disparities are much higher in US! So, don't even give the excuse that labor costs are extremely high everywhere in US.
Now consider India (one of the fastest growing and one of the poorest countries in the world (on the basis of per capita income) runs trade deficits almost as high as UK! , and India's economy is much smaller than that of UK.
The simple reason why India runs high trade deficits is that it simply does not have any manufacturing base. This is one reason why salaries in (civil and mechanical engg (excluding oil sector) are pathetic in India) and the number of IT engineers ( CS and IT grads) outnumber other engg grads 10:1!
P.S I have studies in India.
Banking and real estate are perhaps the most dangerous industries invented by man.
Now if you think otherwise, please enlighten me!
So the tendency of buying abroad goes up, inevitably leading to a "trade deficit". There's nothing wrong with that. However, you start with the presumption that there is. Why?
The "trade deficit" is one of those terms politicians throw around to make everything seem bad and people suck this stuff up. All it means is that country X is buying more goods from country Y than Y is buying from X. There's nothing wrong with that. If you buy hamburgers from a guy working at McDonalds daily, while he has bought nothing from you, you're in a "trade deficit" with him. You simply might not have the time to make your own hamburgers.