No, I'm not kidding. One data point an argument does not make. I know a lot of guys that went through there that are trading for tier 1 firms in Chicago.
PTP is NTP on steroids, it keeps the clocks in multiple computers synchronized. It has nothing to do with timestamps on tick data. That's the responsibility of the source when/where the trade occurs. Once the tick is timestamped it's not modified, it becomes part of the tick.
2. yes, again if you want to make money and be in demand in finance go the HFT route and hang up the engineering idea right now. the money is double and the upside is huge. Fin Math is never going to go away. You can land a job, in Chicago, NYC, CT, Houston (energy firms) etc in no time. 3. A nice SFR home in Hinsdale, Il value of about 1.0-1.2 mil $25k annual taxes
again there is an exception for anything. 1 bad teacher is a blanket statement. Northwestern offers programs, U of Chicago (Hyde Park area) seems to the be leader in Chicago for Fin Math, IIT as well. I think of U of I may even as too (located in Central IL but so many grads move to the city once done with school) I know NYU does too. My background for studies is supply chain management and finance, but if fin math was an option then I would have gone that route