"A science grad student at the University of Tokyo dipping his toes into the financial industry from academia... a common story."
I am a first-year Master's student in the Department of Physics, attending a laboratory at the University of Tokyo's Kashiwa Campus. Like many science students after entering university, I was fascinated by quantum mechanics and found myself belonging to a condensed matter physics lab. Until my third year of undergraduate studies, I attended the Hongo campus like everyone else, but upon entering my fourth year, I moved to the area in front of Kashiwa-no-ha Campus Station.
There is nothing in Kashiwa-no-ha.
It is a famous story that an overseas researcher who traveled all the way to the University of Tokyo was sent to Kashiwa-no-ha instead of Hongo, and after despairing at the void, left behind the insult, "Kashiwa is a sad place, LaLaport and nothing," before departing.
As I commuted from my home to the university by bicycle, I thought about my future. Yesterday, I saw an account on X called "Association for Thinking About the Lives of UTokyo Graduates," which seemed like it might think about my life for me, saying that the Science I track has terrible cost-performance. According to this account, students in Science I with Asperger's traits should essentially "lock in their profits" by going to medical school.
In high school, my friends who had slightly lower academic abilities aimed for local medical schools. Since I had no interest in medicine, I couldn't understand at all what their goal was in becoming doctors. If anything, I might have even looked down on them a little.
However, while living a poor life in this void of a research city, I began to gradually understand the value of the stability and high income they were aiming for. My feelings for physics were slowly fading, and I hated myself for it. I felt gloomy, wondering if I should have "locked in my profits" too.
As soon as I arrived at the lab, I checked the results of the numerical calculations I had run before going home yesterday. Just as I was thinking, "Ah, there's a bug in this process, oops," I saw a senior student (second-year Master's) one year above me approaching the professor with a solemn look.
"Can we talk for a moment?"
"Go ahead."
"No, not here... if possible, in a private room..."
A tense atmosphere ran through the lab.
"I see. Then let's talk in my room over there," the professor said, and the two left the lab.
The two seemed to be arguing about something in the room. I could hear the professor raising his voice slightly even from a distance.
After about 30 minutes, the professor and the senior returned. I've been here for a year, so I know. The entire lab could sense the professor's bad mood.
That day, I went to the cafeteria to have lunch with the senior.
"Senior, what were you talking to the professor about today?"
The senior said with a smile, "Well, I'm thinking of not going to the doctoral program."
I was surprised.
In the physics department, nearly half of the students in each grade proceed to a PhD. In our lab, it's even more.
The senior was very talented and had been presenting at international conferences since his undergraduate years, so no one in the lab doubted that he would proceed to a doctoral course.
The senior continued, "I'm talking about marriage with my girlfriend, whom I've been dating since high school. She's a regular office worker, but she wants to live in Tokyo. When I think about raising children in the future, it seems impossible to cover it with a Gakushin salary..."
The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Commonly known as "Gakushin." The "DC1" for doctoral students that the M2 senior was about to apply for pays 220,000 yen per month, or just under 3 million yen per year. Even for this DC1, the acceptance rate is less than 20%, and students who can get DC1 are considered quite excellent even among doctoral students. Even such excellent students only get this much. It's a very useful indicator for talking about the darkness of doctoral programs.
"I've been job hunting since January this year, but it was hard to tell the professor. I was pretending to write the DC1 application materials."
There was a slight sense of tragedy in the senior's profile as he spoke with a smile.
"If you're not going to a doctoral program, what are you going to be, senior?"
I didn't know if it was okay to ask, but curiosity won out.
"I'll be a quant at a Japanese securities firm. We can use the numerical calculations we're doing now."
Quants. I knew from articles about the University of Tokyo's major selection that it's a major career path for students going to the Department of Mathematics or the Department of Mathematical Engineering.
"I was late starting my job hunt, so foreign firms were already finished. If you're going to start job hunting, Haruto, you should do it early."
My heart ached a little. I'm sure the senior wouldn't recommend job hunting to a talented junior. It felt as if he saw through the fact that I felt deep down that I couldn't make it in academia.
Even the senior can quit physics. I thought so deeply after returning home.
If the senior is quitting physics, it's clearly strange for me to continue. That feeling was also sprouting.
From then on, I spent my days wandering through Google and X. I read articles about quants, interviews with former foreign finance employees with annual incomes I couldn't tell were real, and young employee introductions published by companies that included Science Olympiad gold medalists famous in the all-boys school community.
I also looked through finance math books. I studied derivatives using "John Hull," which a practitioner influencer on X had introduced. When I read it, too much content was devoted to fine practical details like Day Count and types of interest rates, so I couldn't read it through. The "Shreve: Stochastic Calculus for Finance II" that I read afterward made me wonder about its mathematical rigor, but I found it relatively enjoyable to read. If the job of a quant involves doing numerical analysis based on such probability theories, I felt I wanted to do it and would be good at it.
By the time I felt I had done a round of preliminary research, it was already May.
To get a professional finance job, I knew I had to apply for internships soon. However, I didn't know how to actually write an ES (Entry Sheet), and I was unable to take a step forward due to a strong will not to participate in the "GD" (Group Discussion) competition, which I saw online as being absolutely advantageous for extroverts.
To gather information for now, I booked an interview at the University of Tokyo branch of "Encourage," where successful candidates talk to you for free. There were almost no people who looked like science finance professionals... Having no choice, I took a slot with a fourth-year undergraduate in IBD (Investment Banking Division).
Appearing in the Zoom interview was an economics student with no light in his eyes, speaking in a strangely calm tone.
"What is your business for booking today?"
Informal speech... I expected it, but since he's one year younger, my pride was slightly hurt.
"I'm interested in science-oriented finance professional roles, whether foreign or Japanese. I booked this because I want help with ES and interview preparation."
Then the IBD guy made a slightly troubled face and said, "I'm in IBD and I don't know the selection flow for Markets, so I'll provide general ES and interview preparation. Is that okay?"
"That would still be very helpful. I want to think together about what to write in the ES and what to talk about in the interview."
The IBD guy seemed a bit exasperated that I came in at this level, but perhaps there are many such consulters; in a calm tone, he said, "Then let's start with self-analysis," and my first self-analysis time began.
There, the IBD guy delved deeply into my life since childhood. Middle school entrance exams, middle and high school club activities, university entrance exams, university studies and research, circle activities, short-term study abroad, engineering part-time jobs—he spent time on parts he thought were usable and was adding notes to something. It was somewhat embarrassing to be laid bare, but the process of finding meaning in each part of my life and reinterpreting myself was fun.
After I finished talking, he asked why I wanted to pursue a professional finance role.
I talked about my complex regarding my high school classmates who became doctors, the sense of tragedy in academia based on the senior's episode, and how I wanted to overcome those and make a comeback in society. Then the IBD guy nodded and said,
"That's good. I feel like I can see Haruto-kun's true feelings."
"Wait, is this okay?"
"I think it's good. In the end, I think it's negative emotions that drive humans strongly. Especially since finance markets is a job with low social contribution, they'd be troubled if you said you wanted to work for someone else. Especially considering your character, Haruto-kun."
I see...
"Of course, you need the charm to make them want to work with you. But in addition to that, I think you need to show the strength of someone who wants to rise up no matter what."
As the time drew to a close, the IBD guy gave me a feedback note. Marks were placed on the good parts of what we talked about. He said that once the story of my motivation and strengths was solidified based on this, I should book another Encourage interview.
Finally, the conversation turned to what kind of preparation I've been doing lately. I said I was reading Shreve's Stochastic Calculus.
"Wait, that yellow book that starts from measure theory and introduces Ito integration?"
Apparently, the IBD guy was taking a financial engineering class, but from the second class onward, he couldn't understand measure theory and couldn't keep up with the class. I explained the parts he was wondering about in an easy-to-understand way. The interview end time had passed, but we talked about financial engineering for about 30 minutes, and his doubts seemed somewhat resolved.
When the atmosphere suggested it was time to end the Zoom, the IBD guy said,
"Thank you for teaching me so kindly. I'm in IBD, so I don't know that much about Markets, but I have a female friend who has an informal offer for foreign bank sales. Shall I introduce you?"
Before I knew it, he was using polite speech. I felt like I had won something, though I didn't know what.
"Yes, please do," I replied.
Surprisingly, by reading Shreve, I managed to get the contact information of a girl with an informal offer from a foreign bank.
That day, the IBD guy immediately created a Line group for the three of us and introduced me politely. The girl sent a message with a bit of that typical "girly" energy that made my eyes flicker for the first time in a while, but we successfully made an appointment for a Zoom interview.
I'll be able to talk to a girl for the first time in years... Since there had been many dark stories lately, I felt light-headed for the first time in a long time.
Lambs of Otemachi Street 2: Physics Student Heading to Otemachi (End)
