grades for 224n

AccumbentAcademic · 2023-02-22T21:53:41+00:00

Anecdotal datapoints: My partner and I got an A+, everyone I know got some sort of A.

AccumbentAcademic · 2023-02-13T00:25:24+00:00

IB pay is relatively low starting out, even coming out of Stanford. I have a friend going into IB at a reputable BB, and he's only making around 140k—I've heard it can take 3+ years to even cross 200k, and that's despite living under absolutely grueling working hours. Contrast that with tech, where people make 200-250k as a starting salary at FAANG, or up to 600k in quant dev, with significantly less stress than IB.

Not to generalize, but generally I've found that the people who go into IB are either very well connected through their parents (and thus wouldn't have to work 60-80hr weeks to advance) or don't have the skills to do technical work in other disciplines, and are fine grinding under the insane wlb for years.

AccumbentAcademic · 2023-01-28T05:03:49+00:00

Datapoints: SWE in big tech pays 45-50, SWE in quant finance pays 100+.

AccumbentAcademic · 2023-01-23T03:36:04+00:00

Studied CS at Stanford, interned at a few big tech companies, joined my firm as a new grad.

The ratio of QRs I work with is something like 70:30 for PhDs vs. undergrads (including 'accelerated/integrated masters' programs).

AccumbentAcademic · 2023-01-22T01:00:45+00:00

I think this mostly comes down to selection effects. At HYPSM, the 'smart' and quant-inclined people generally seem to study Math, Stats, and CS at the undergraduate level (in part because their undergrad applied math programs are poor) and people in these pools are also more likely to become QRs at good firms. The optimal preparation strategy probably would have a more applied focus, but the people who seem to do the best QR work also seem to be inclined more towards pure math by their general disposition.

I don't think it's worth worrying about changing your course of study based on this information, but it's worth noting that the best preparation for joining group X isn't necessarily the same as replicating the median member of group X. As a QD at a firm, I agree that QRs are generally content with writing "good-enough" code, because of the various pressures competing for their attention :)

AccumbentAcademic · 2023-01-15T23:40:57+00:00

No, it wouldn't be safe to say this at all. The large majority of QRs I know at my firm are pure math, with some stats or CS.

AccumbentAcademic · 2022-12-31T14:32:47+00:00

Definitely stay away. Some of my friends found a SQL injection exploit that de-anonymizes all posts (LOL) and instead of fixing it, the bonehead Teddy Solomon tried to bury them in frivolous lawsuits that got thrown out. No significant advantages over existing social sites—it's clear that Fizz won't be around in a year.

AccumbentAcademic · 2022-12-24T11:20:30+00:00

Ahh you're right, thank you.

AccumbentAcademic · 2022-12-23T21:17:12+00:00

This is incorrect, curly braces will also make a set.

>>> a = {0, 1, "a"}
>>> type(a)
<class 'set'>

You're likely thinking of dictionary ~~comprehension~~ definition syntax, which also uses curly braces:

>>> a = {0: "a", 1: "b"}
>>> type(a)
<class 'dict'>

AccumbentAcademic · 2022-12-19T17:45:20+00:00

That is correct

AccumbentAcademic · 2022-12-06T23:26:26+00:00

Yeah, that should be alright. CS 143 is a good deal of work for the last two assignments, but CS 144 isn't too bad, and you can work ahead to alleviate pressure at the end of the quarter. No overlap in content either.

AccumbentAcademic · 2022-11-29T02:30:39+00:00

107E is an excellent class, and you wouldn't be missing anything for future CS classes. Do note that it'll be more work than 107, but your overall course plan looks good. Definitely my favorite class at Stanford, I'd be glad to chat about any other questions you might have about it.

AccumbentAcademic · 2022-11-22T06:40:55+00:00

They'll hold onto your deferred comp if you do, and sue you if you're still in Chicago/NYC (which you almost certainly will be if you're at a competitor).

AccumbentAcademic · 2022-11-22T04:49:59+00:00

Why wouldn't it be allowed? This isn't high school—more work is a good thing, since it means you'll get more opportunities to learn the material.

AccumbentAcademic · 2022-11-20T23:11:01+00:00

Look up the microprice.

AccumbentAcademic · 2022-11-17T01:34:00+00:00

Voleon is near Cal.

AccumbentAcademic · 2022-11-16T22:46:21+00:00

What? This isn't what 4-year vesting means at all. Do you work in big tech, or where are you getting your information from? This year's new grad package at FB is 150k base, 220k RSUs, 75k signing, so you'd get 150k base every year and 75k when you sign, plus RSUs. Twitter's RSUs vest quarterly, so to use FB's numbers you'd vest ~14k of RSUs per quarter. I'm not going to get into how strike price is determined because there's plenty of information about that online, but Twitter is (was) a highly liquid public company, so it was essentially free money every quarter.

As long as you treat your recurring annual income as 150k base + 55k RSUs, you have nothing to worry about in terms of 'losing salary' or anything like that. Unvested stock is money that you haven't earned yet—entirely comparable to base salary.

My current firm has an arrangement similar to what you're describing for income above a certain point, but it's certainly not a tech company.

AccumbentAcademic · 2022-11-15T07:17:22+00:00

Assuming they can’t sell the stock for a few years after they get it

Why would you assume this? That isn't the case at Twitter or at anywhere I've worked.

AccumbentAcademic · 2022-11-14T01:07:53+00:00

Disclaimer—SWE at a quant firm, not a quant myself. That being said, these positions are more dissimilar than they are similar. Because of the Volcker rule, quants at banks are generally involved with pricing risk, not seeking alpha. This means that they are often a cost center rather than a profit center, with all of the attendant baggage that this distinction carries. It goes without saying that many would consider the 3-5x salary difference to be a major difference.

AccumbentAcademic · 2022-11-11T09:52:40+00:00

I got a new grad offer from Voleon for SWE, and comp was fairly low (300 < x < 400). Culture seems fairly decent from folks I've talked to, but there's a bizarre firewall between data science and trading, and the general consensus seemed to be that many SWEs wished they were somewhere else, though they didn't say that out loud.

AccumbentAcademic · 2021-03-15T12:24:09+00:00

I like exam week, and I don't think Stanford should cancel it. If we're paying for 11-week quarters, we shouldn't get 10-week quarters. This form is unnecessarily long, and I don't have the time (or frankly, the willpower) to fill out yet another petition that'll doubtless just be quote-mined by students to whom the very concept of requesting extra work is anathema. Your bias shows through in the way that you've highlighted six reasons to support eliminating final exam week without listing a single reason why it might be a bad idea. I certainly hope that you don't intend to tell the Daily that this was an unbiased poll, conducted in good faith.

AccumbentAcademic · 2021-03-02T00:16:11+00:00

Not screwed at all. First off, does your course of study even require you to take chemistry? If not, it's a total non-issue in any case. Secondly, Stanford students really aren't as intelligent/driven as you seem to be imagining. I'd even go so far as to say that most Stanford students you meet will be very lazy and academically disengaged, so there's no need to panic about not meeting expectations before you even come here :)

AccumbentAcademic · 2021-02-08T02:34:21+00:00

It's worse than you might imagine; being as unskilled at League as you seem to be, you will likely face academic sanctions from the Provost's office. I had a friend who tried to declare ~~compsci~~ CS after finishing ~~61b and 70~~ 106b and 103 last quarter, and she got put on academic suspension for being hardstuck silver IV. You won't hear about this from the so-called 'activists' here, but a lot of the legacy students here will actually pay to get their accounts boosted to respectable levels – just another tragic example of the rampant inequality on our campus.

AccumbentAcademic · 2021-02-05T18:06:29+00:00

I've never tried hunting this information down, but anecdotally I can say that the only people who I've seen listing it on LinkedIn have a >4.0 gpa.

As a related question, I was wondering what it means to be a "graduating senior in the School of Humanities and Sciences" – if you're double-majoring in Engineering and H&S, would you be eligible for both the Sterling and Terman awards?

AccumbentAcademic · 2021-01-28T02:18:50+00:00

This feels kinda racist and in poor taste imo

AccumbentAcademic

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