That's an easy one : Master of Computer Science Choose as many C++ classes as you can. Become an expert programmer. That's the only way to get a job these days in finance. http://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-being-a-trader-out-of-work-2014-6
A salary job is one thing. But if you're looking to learn how to cope with and trade the markets....Logic and Deductive Reasoning.... which of course are valuable in all aspects of endeavor.
You don't even need a degree to be a successful trader. There's so much free information available online that if you're going to school to become a trader, you're wasting your time.
I think going to school is not necessary to becoming a trader. But, trading is a difficult endeavor. If you are taking daily punts from your 2500 prop account, the extra pressure of trying to support yourself while u build a bankroll is not helping to learn how to trade better. Here is where the school part comes in, if you are setting yourself up with a fall back plan, perhaps you can stick it out through a few drawdowns/bad descisions and learn from them. Just personal opinion.
PhD in statistics/mathematics or physics w/programming capabilities. I had a pal who did his PhD in physics, decided academia was not for him and got snapped up by a a bulge bracket bank straight away on the Delta One trading desk. From what he told me, the majority of his colleagues have PhD in a hard science or maths subject. He also critically emphasized learning programming in C++, Python and VBA.
That's depends, if you a guy that wants to work for others, then any of those are good. If you want to work for yourself, learn to program and understand psychology, that people are going to do the most logic thing and 95% of the time it is the wrong thing to do. There I saved you four years and thousands of dollars. All you need to trade well is High School, the dumber you are the better when it comes to trading, but you have to be smart enough to program. You have to understand that less is better, you have to take other side of trades that those who trade by emotions, markets are traded heaviest by going against what your emotions are saying. I scalp the markets and I am good at catching a falling boulder, I have become a Monkey that hits buttons, and that's it. You devise a well back tested trading plan, then the hardest part is sticking to it. I wish instead of getting two degrees in what I did, would have spent two years at programming. But I prefer to work alone and for myself.
As a side question to the thread, why do they hire ultraqualified science people? I can think of the following: Risk management across complex strategies and multiple products. Creating new structured derivatives for profit and to unload bad debt on consumers. Because they can easily afford to and because their peers are doing it. For super fast HFT. In the hope they come up with some incredible competitive edge. Anybody knows of other reasons or what the science overachievers actually do in finance? ras72
Statistics...and if you fail as a trader you can still get a high paying job in the silicon valley to work on big data...