On the Scales of Reality: Finding What I Truly Love

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Funny thing: quantitative trading was never my original plan.

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During high school, I had my heart set on academia — I planned to go all the way to a PhD. Back then, my dream was simple: research in a niche field, quietly writing papers in the ivory tower. But once I put the time cost and uncertainty of that path on the scales of reality, something shifted.

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A PhD is a marathon, and a lot can change along the way. I started asking myself: if I could resolve the biggest source of anxiety — employment — while still in undergrad, wouldn't that actually buy me more freedom? If I still had the time and interest by junior or senior year, academia could always be revisited.

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So, with that pragmatic mindset, I headed to New York for college. As a Chinese student who had moved to the U.S. for high school, I knew a city like New York was packed with opportunity — internships and jobs were right at my doorstep.

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Coincidentally, a middle-school friend of mine had the same idea. Before college even started, he had already secured a sophomore summer internship at a bulge-bracket investment bank. I was blown away — I had never heard of anyone landing an offer that early. So I took him out for dinner and picked his brain.

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It was at that dinner that I first heard about OSG — and discovered the thing that drew me most to finance: the accelerated timeline. You could land a junior-year summer internship during sophomore year, and if it converted, walk away with a full-time offer. Essentially, you settle your post-graduation plans a year and a half ahead of everyone else.

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Beyond that, a few years in finance would widen my perspective and teach skills that transfer to nearly any industry. For someone with both an "academic streak" and a need for security, that certainty was a perfect fit. So I pivoted to finance and joined OSG.

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Once I joined, I got a real sense of how broad OSG's reach is. Whether it was traditional IBD, cutting-edge quant, consulting, or tech, there were dedicated mentors across every direction. For someone still in the exploration phase with no fixed plan, that kind of industry access was invaluable.

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With my mentors' help, I explored both traditional investment banking and markets-and-trading desks, and eventually landed a sophomore summer internship at a bulge-bracket bank in New York.

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That internship was my first real exposure to markets and trading — and it hooked me instantly. The pace, the complexity, the immediate feedback: every judgment could be quantified, every hypothesis tested by the market, every decision made under uncertainty.

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Exploring a New Path: Understanding Quant on a Deeper Level

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After exploring, I found quantitative trading to be a genuinely fascinating field. I had always been confident in my STEM abilities, but traditional institutional sales and trading could never get me close to the industry's latest technology.

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That was when quant trading came onto my radar. I deeply admired the discipline of traders racing against seconds, the way they keep pushing the frontier of the industry, and how eagerly they apply new technology to the markets.

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It was a field where I could fully use my math and computer science background, see the direct impact of my work, and stay at the cutting edge of technology at the same time.

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By chance, a school professor recommended me for a role at a tech company. It started as sales and trading, but the team noticed my background was a better fit and moved me into a quant seat. Combined with my earlier internship experience and the guidance of my OSG mentors, I had plenty of confidence for the pivot.

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OSG paired me with Albert as my lead mentor for this new chapter. He was patient and approachable, and he helped me fix a number of problems I hadn't even realized I had. He mapped out my overall application strategy, taught me how to approach interview questions, how to train day to day, and how to prepare properly before the real thing.

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With my mentors' help, I learned instincts and ways of thinking that no textbook can teach — the kind you only develop through practice. After a few months, I understood the essence of quant trading on a much deeper level.

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The resume my mentors helped me polish didn't just impress quant firms — it impressed my internship boss too. He made an exception to move me from sales and trading into the quant strategy team, making me the only undergraduate quant intern in the entire company.

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With that experience behind me, the applications that followed felt like flying. I started receiving interview invitations from companies I once thought were completely out of reach.

Stepping In with Confidence: Interviews Are Just a Game

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After the internship ended, I threw myself into interviews at quant firms. I started sending applications in July, picked up a few interview invitations by mid-month, and spent August in a relentless stretch of interviews — nearly one every day. Every firm had a different style and a different set of question types, and it was exhausting and nerve-wracking. My impatience and inexperience cost me some opportunities I really wanted, and I felt pretty down about it.

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Thankfully, Albert kept believing in me during my lowest moments. Honestly, I vented to him constantly back then — no matter how many discouraged messages I sent, he would always reassure me and tell me to keep going.

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He reminded me that this is just how interviews go. Instead of dwelling on one mistake, take the lesson and show up at your best for the next opportunity. I slowly learned to look forward: there are plenty of opportunities, and many haven't even appeared yet. Judging your entire candidacy on one slip simply doesn't hold up.

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Funny enough, Optiver was the opportunity I felt least confident about. Their interviews revolve around all kinds of ever-changing games, so there was no way to be fully prepared. All I could rely on was the probability knowledge and trading intuition I had built up over years.

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Before the interview, I told myself: everyone is competing on ability alone, so I might as well relax, treat it like a game, and trust myself — and the months of preparation behind me.

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That mindset carried me through several rounds, and it made other quant interviews — like Squarepoint Quant Research — go more smoothly too. Every time I relaxed and treated an interview like a conversation, a chance to show what I could do, or an academic discussion, the nerves faded and my answers flowed better.

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Surprisingly, that confidence carried me all the way to the final round. On the flight to Chicago, I could have drilled more problems or reviewed notes — instead, I put on my headphones, played some soothing music I had downloaded, and slept peacefully. After landing, I took a rare city stroll, sat by Lake Michigan for a while, and had a slice of authentic Chicago deep-dish pizza.

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Cramming at the last minute only adds stress, so I chose to enjoy the trip. I went to bed early, showered in the morning, had a steak-and-eggs breakfast, walked into the office with a calm mind, and performed naturally. Looking back, a few details could have been sharper, but since I gave it everything, I had nothing to regret.

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A week later — on the second day of the new semester — I got the offer call: a $700K USD quant trading offer. Of course I was thrilled, but there was no dramatic burst of emotion. I thanked them and went back to seasoning the fresh ribeye steak I had been preparing.

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To be honest, the anxiety and doubt never fully disappeared. Even during that week of waiting, I wasn't completely at peace. But I've learned one thing: worrying doesn't make the outcome better — it only makes the process harder.

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Once you've done the preparation, hit the pitfalls, and shed the tears, the rest is up to luck. It's not giving up — it's the quiet confidence of knowing you've done your part and that you deserve a good outcome.

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So instead of worrying and second-guessing, I'd rather eat well, rest well, and walk in with confidence, showing what I've got.

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Most things don't have a standard answer. All you can do is walk in relaxed, carrying everything you've accumulated, treat it like a game, and play it to the fullest. If you win, it's a pleasant surprise. If you lose, it's just the start of the next round.

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*Disclaimer: OSG has no cooperation/affiliation with the companies mentioned in the article; OSG students enhance their abilities through OSG services and secure offers through regular campus recruitment/social recruitment channels.