which is a better degree for hedge fund management

I'm about to start maths, finance and accounting at Queen Mary uni, but im wondering whether maths and economics is better for the career I'm looking at (hedge fund management)?thanks

I'm sure others have more knowledge on this topic than me but afaik, the more mathematical the better but it's very very rare to go straight from an undergraduate degree to a graduate role in a hedge fund, those that do will likely do things like applied maths.

It's far more common to spend a couple years in investment banking and then move to a hedge fund so it's likely your best bet might be to target IB than to actually target a HF. May be a bit of a struggle from QMUL tho

You're inadvertantly giving advice from two different ends of the spectrum here. Your advice about taking a more mathematical degree would be great if OP was interested in hedge funds with a quantitative or trading/macro slant. But people who go to quant or macro HFs do not come from investment banking. Not quite sure on the entry into quant HFs but macro HF analysts tend to come from FICC trading desks in S&T (which STEM helps for). Investment bankers go to the fundamental driven funds (L/S, event-driven, distressed).

@OP If you're interested in the types of HFs that IB serves then it really doesn't matter which degree you choose. If you're interested in the quant or macro HFs then yes I'd suggest switching. Regardless, you might want to think about your runway a little bit. As Ben has said, straight out of UG to any HF from any uni (not to mention QMU) would be v. difficult and tbh quant HFs like postgrad qualifications anyway.

I think you put it more succinctly than I did but yes I was meaning the S&T roles at an IB then to a HF rather than from the actual IBD of an IB. Felt like it was fair to assume the OP might be more interested in the quant/macro HF area due to him talking about degrees joint with maths but I may be wrong.

Personally I'd aim for S&T or some fairly quantitative area of research like FI or something at an investment bank or an asset manager before trying for a hedge fund, especially from QMUL, then move to a HF with a macro/quant focus. Personally I wouldn't massively recommend the IBD -> fundamental HF route if you've got a passion for maths.

Yeah I don't assume anything on this forum, especially from people still in sixth form. Most don't have a very good idea of what a hedge fund is, let alone know that it's really not one thing but a catch all term from a bunch of different alt funds with varying mandates.

Not that I blame them, I didn't have a clue either but I think it's better not to assume and maybe open up a discussion about what they think they know.

Maybe I expect too much haha.

What I don't quite understand from generally the 6th formers or 1st year uni types is that if I'm not sure what an IB/HF/AM/PE/etc firm actually does, I'd read tonne about it before even considering to ask a question on a public forum. Secondly, when people say they're passionate and ambitiously targeting a certain type of firm but have never googled what that actual firm does, I just don't understand the thought process that goes into that 😅. How can someone want to truly go into an industry when they don't know what they do?

Don't get me wrong, it's good to ask questions, that's what forums are for, but when it's so easily accessible on Google it seems a bit odd. I'm sure I was naive too at 18 but I feel like at least I did a fair amount of my own research, and I know I'm being a bit harsh on people.