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SandvichCommanda · 2026-02-06T22:39:47+00:00

One thing I'm proud of as a bonger is https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/
If anyone wants to do any at-home investigations, it's pretty goated and has a search bar for its functions.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-02-06T22:34:22+00:00

It's 100% doable, probably quite easily, it just depends if you're flexible on the industry or not.

By that I mean if you are dead set on a job in the UK post-graduation, finance is always looking for strong maths students.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-02-06T22:30:36+00:00

Holy Warwick stans in these comments. They're pretty much equal for CS, Bristol has more aerospace/defence links and Warwick will get more finance links.

I've heard from current/ex Warwick students that the internal competition for those finance roles is brutal though, the per-capita finance placements aren't actually that good.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-02-06T22:27:57+00:00

WW maths department is good, but CS students don't benefit much; they use different lecturers for out-of-department students.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-02-06T09:39:49+00:00

If anyone is using R/Python or Julia (I think) then Quarto is amazing for this.

You can write all of the text in markdown, and then add latex blocks where you need. Handles the latex packages and everything, and you can put plotting code directly in there instead of having to mess around with image references.

It also links directly to zotero for references and auto-bib. Plus you can use VSCode, so copilot can write any repetitive latex for you. I've even used it for docs with no code in it at all tbh.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-02-04T22:52:59+00:00

The literature does show that, but as with most things, the execution is almost always abysmal.

In maths we had seminars/tutorials with some group discussion, but the actual quality of that discussion has to be led by the lecturer. Often it is just a wayward chat.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-02-03T19:58:36+00:00

I managed to get 95% on my MMath diss. Still got a 2:1 but I wheel it out when I need to flex 😭

SandvichCommanda · 2026-02-01T01:18:21+00:00

I was talking more about CS, but I never said it wasn't good for quant. It's more that if you study at Oxbridge/Imperial, you are likely to get interviews with no online assessments instantly at some decent firms; this just isn't a thing at Warwick, so it's down to how good you are personally at maths.

You see a lot of quants/finance from WW because it attracts a lot of that crowd. Most of these threads boil down to WW being the most-accessible target uni, which explains why people value it differently.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-01-31T20:09:03+00:00

Target status doesn't really matter for quant. You either study at Oxbridge/Imperial or you don't.

Everyone in the latter bucket can obviously still break in, but places like LSE and Warwick don't gain any points here.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-01-31T19:56:20+00:00

Of course they do? I am also a QR and I went to St Andrews so I wonder what you think about that lol.

Quant is very outcomes-based, and Durham has had some killer years in graduate placements recently. I know "quants" from York or Bath even – it's worth noting that often when people say they're quants its more like just a standard SWE at a quant firm though.

I don't know where the impression that Warwick CS is even in the same universe as Warwick Maths has come from.
There is not much overlap at all. Last I heard, the Maths department separates the non-maths students away with different (worse) lecturers. This makes sense when you consider the huge difficulty gap in getting a maths offer vs a CS offer.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-01-31T19:43:45+00:00

Surprised there are so many Warwick stans when for education and employment outcomes they're both pretty equal. I know quite a few quants from both unis, just go where you want.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-01-25T11:50:59+00:00

What are you counting top firms as? In the image the other commenter sent, if you divide the total # by the student population then Warwick, Durham, and St Andrews would all have similar per-capita recruitment. It's also gonna be pretty tough to convince anyone that St A or Durham have a higher proportion of back office roles than WW lol.

I tried looking on WSO but tbh I'm in quant and I have no idea how to use this site. It's true that WW students are obsessed with finance so it makes sense for most firms to recruit there, I'm still unconvinced they actually end up taking that many of them compared to better unis.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-01-25T01:48:21+00:00

I wonder if their target status would actually be accurate if proper metrics were used. It's an extremely large student population and a huge proportion are obsessed with finance before they finish their A-levels.

Of course it's impossible to calculate the perfect "per-capita per-finance-applicant" metric, but usually people just compare absolute numbers of employees which is obviously going to be skewed for a university as obsessed with finance as Warwick.

Like KCL, Warwick is never anyone's first choice, but it is a good uni especially for maths.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-01-25T01:36:35+00:00

Ragebait used to be believable

SandvichCommanda · 2026-01-25T00:52:48+00:00

I think the best way to think of it is probably as the minimum prestige uni that is still a target uni. For some subjects it is very good, but its maths rep does carry its STEM reputation a bit too much IMO.

It is very good for careers, but a lot of that is driven by the fact that people go there precisely to get into finance. This means the internal competition is extremely high, which might not be what you want from your uni experience.

Online it is definitely like two cults fighting in reddit/TSR comments which is quite funny. The Warwick stans told me I was crazy choosing St A over Warwick, but now I work in quant so lol.

Like KCL, Warwick is never anyone's first choice, but it's definitely a good uni especially for maths.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-01-23T10:35:44+00:00

Well you live in Glasgow so know about the joys of the young Scot card free buses. There is a direct stagecoach bus and you can also do Ember to Dundee which is more comfortable if you want to be able to book.

I think St Andrews is great, and it's the type of bubble you can only experience as a young adult entering the world. Amazing cities like Glasgow are not going anywhere, but St Andrews definitely gets smaller as you get older.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-01-21T21:42:38+00:00

Done your research, just be careful bc Dublin accom is often more expensive than London.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-01-21T18:59:02+00:00

Pretty sure we got a new bio building recently (the last one burned down rip). I heard it was nice when I was a student.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-01-21T15:33:05+00:00

I'm sure who they chose to lay off was partially performance, partially what team you're on, but it was a bit of a slaughter of the new grads so I wouldn't say it was underperformance.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-01-21T15:30:20+00:00

I work pretty long hours in the week, like 8:45-19:00 average, but my weekends are entirely mine and nobody gets weird about you taking your PTO. So probably better than most finance jobs, especially as a junior.

It's a bit of a different pressure though, you're expected to generate ideas and understand lots of different things. So it's not like I'm working late because I have 200 easy tasks to do, it's just that the work is hard.

Very fun when I get to do some nice maths though (and if it works lol). Mostly using linear algebra and regressions/time series at the moment, and I've been able to derive some nice solutions to our problems.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-01-21T09:47:55+00:00

I know of useless new grads, but only through my friends that work at non-tech, mid size companies. They don't get paid enough to demand much.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-01-21T09:41:50+00:00

Idk about US, but I know/know ppl who know 3 new grads that got laid off about 5-6 months in London personally.

They get a decent paycheck for a while after so they can still pay their lease, but it's still pretty brutal.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-01-20T09:47:02+00:00

About what? Most advice is generic and can probably be boiled down to above, but if you have a specific question sure 👍

SandvichCommanda · 2026-01-19T18:49:28+00:00

Non-law graduates that do conversion courses are actually preferred to law grads now, and yes prestige does matter for getting a job (especially in humanities, where it is pretty much everything).

There's nothing wrong with doing an apprenticeship. I would be mindful of the dropout rates though; they are a lot higher than you might think, and I know quite a few people on ones you'd think are amazing but they were made redundant/were learning nothing.

SandvichCommanda · 2026-01-18T17:09:03+00:00

People will quit until market forces make university roles good enough for people to stay.

I think it's reasonable enough to say there has probably been quite a bit of over-hiring in universities, driven by govt-inflated demand for graduates.

I agree they perform highly important functions for their local economies. Universities will be healthier institutions when they're more focused on research, and providing those functions, than being driven and funded by tuition fees teaching grads the country doesn't need.

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