Sorry...don't know your Andrew Lo's research at MIT on TA. Is he a teacher or guest speaker ? Also, didn't know know they also teach astrology and paranormal. Not sure what you meant by as a "real discipline"...maybe you meant as the name of the class room.
It's risk vs reward, the only problem is over the coming years the markets will slowly move away from technicals towards fundamentals. But if you get paid well for income and you can trade on the side for capital it's all good. You may just get picked up by an institution, so if you can position yourself you can use it to launch in to higher profile positions. Exponential curve, you've got to start somewhere, just don't get cornered in to one role for too long, you'll end up stuck there.
I claim you do know nothing about what Carnegie Mellon had or has. It is apparently clear. Let this be told my an alumnus.
Mate, seriously, I strongly recommend not to further post about those schools, you already completely embarrassed yourself.
He knows nothing about any school. Doesn't even recognize the preeminent Market micro structure researcher on the planet Andrew Lo. The base level keeps dropping on this site.
I claim they have a trading room...it was called "Fast Lab"...created by two of their professors...only used by their finance students (I dated one of them) She now works in "fixed income" for the endowment. I think (not sure), the "Fast" means "Financial Analysis and Securities Trading". Don't know anything about it now...it could have burnt down as far as I know or converted to a big study room. You can call them to see if it still exists.
Well FS as you can see, you asked a loaded question. First, as mentioned, you just don't walk in to a firm and and say, I am a technical analyst hire me, or I am here to be "trained" or have an apprenticeship. You need the sheepskins, and the better your transcripts are, the more prestigious the school, the better your chances are of getting on. Unless you are very talented or connected, you will no doubt start at the bottom rung, doing whatever job they tell you to do, usually in the sell side. You will labor for many hours, anonymous, unheralded and disrespected for some time, if during this time period you have proven yourself, meaning being successful at whatever work you were assigned, then and only then might you have a chance to do what you really want to do. Also a strictly TA analyst really does not exist today, to be an analyst you need to have a full understanding of Macro and Micro factors, some political science and understanding, and the list goes on and on. Understand that these firms want only the best and brightest, to prove that, you need the degrees, and the educational backing. The alternate route, trade well, post your certified P&L for 3-5 yrs on some internet board, and you never know, but, as with many endeavors, trading is much easier to talk about, than it is to do. But really, if it was easy, everyone would do it. The Ever Running at the Mouth Viper
We don't know faatshit background except he was at a prop firm. I do remember some of the other posters on similar like topic were "college students" working at a prop firm during the summer or "college students" that left school to enter the world of prop firm trading... They then became interested in the "career path" of a technical analyst. Most likely due to the fact they've probably read background of "technical strategist" at some firm and are now wondering how they can travel the same path. As you stated, it strictly does not exist today. Therefore, he'll need to be very careful in contacting them about their "career path" because its most likely is "old news". Today, I see terms used like "technical strategist" but mostly out of Europe. I just can't remember the last time I saw the term "technical analyst" listed by someone at a firm...maybe 2010. If he's a college student...these schools are out there and still being talked about...some new and some old @ http://college.usatoday.com/2011/09/30/university-trading-floors-brings-wall-street-to-students/ Last article I saw with a list of schools was in 2014...that's only two years ago (soon to be three years ago) that mention a list of topics students will learn such as corporate strategy, sector research, financial engineering (not sure what that is), technical analysis, quantitative analysis, private equity and many other topics... These people are getting exposed to TA on the university level. Maybe its not being called TA ?