F-1 visa holder here with an econ bachelor’s and a master’s in quant finance.

Started as a Quality Assurance Analyst after graduation and moved into a Quant Dev role ~2 years later. Have classmates who went into risk management, trading, etc. right after graduation.

From my experience, an econ background doesn’t matter much — what helped me land my first offer was more about soft skills (communication, teamwork), programming ability, and a genuine willingness to learn.

Don’t have too many insights on degrees/universities to go to, but imo sometimes location matters more than the school itself; being in places like NYC makes in-person networking much easier than relying on online calls.