French quants may no longer be the best educated
It's long been considered that the French make the best quants, due to their comprehensive education system and high entry standards. Nowadays, though the 'Grandes Écoles' may not carry the same weight.
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Top mathematics courses at the French Grandes Écoles require that aspiring students first undergo "Classes Préparatoires," (CPGE) which are a two-year course integrated in the Grandes Écoles application process. Students are awarded a university place at one of ~200 schools after the CPGE's final exam; getting into one of the Grandes Écoles requires top marks.
However, if you're a French quant who doesn't make it, there's another option. Through Paris Sorbonne University, quants can also study the 'DEA El Karoui', a year-long masters named after the so-called mother of quants. DEA graduates have flooded the market. There are over 800 graduates on the market from the DEA El Karoui alone, and other Grandes Écoles like Paris Diderot University and Université Paris-Saclay offer similar courses.
The DEA doesn't require that students pass the CPGE. One senior French quant says the French university students who do DEA courses and don't study bachelors degrees in maths at Grandes Écoles are seen as "second class citizens." Not only were their scores too low to get int the top schools, but "they've not worked under that huge pressure."
If French DEA quants are diluting the talent pool, XTX Markets underscores that there's an alternative to the French education system elsewhere. Partners at the electronic trading firm, who earned £14m each last year, studied in Russian universities, which have 5/6 year intensive maths courses that are very well regarded.
Five of XTX's partners were also educated at the New Economic School (NES), a relatively new Russian institution founded in 1992 that provides a master's program focused on transitioning mathematicians into finance. This too is well regarded.
There's also another option. The Baruch MFE, widely regarded as the best mathematical finance course in the US, has risen in popularity. One French quant tells us that Grandes Écoles graduates now prefer this to the DEA. Baruch's MFE course is very exclusive, with just 30 admissions last year, but its quants tend to earn $300k immediately after graduating.
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