The Ohio State University · Columbus, Ohio
Ohio State’s Home for Quantitative Finance
A student-run organization at The Ohio State University.
We host and compete in quantitative finance competitions, run original research projects, and teach members the math, markets, and code the field actually runs on.
60+ Members · Cohort reviewed each semester · Every major considered
- Active members
- 60+Active members
- Total members
- 80+Total members
- Research projects running each semester
- [4]Research projects running each semester
- Big tech and quant trading firms our members have interned at
- 30+Big tech and quant trading firms our members have interned at
Who we are
The quantitative finance community at Ohio State
BQS started with a small group of Ohio State students who wanted to understand markets the way quantitative firms actually do: with data, code, and a scoreboard.
We stay tight-knit on purpose. Everyone knows what everyone else is working on, which is what makes the feedback worth anything — and it is why we are careful about who we add. Majors do not decide it, and neither does a finance background. What decides it is how someone thinks through a problem they have not seen before, and whether they finish what they start.
Measured, not asserted
Every claim gets backtested. We would rather be corrected by data early than be confidently wrong in a competition.
Built in the open
Research notes, strategy code, and post-mortems are shared internally. Nobody hoards an edge, because the club learns faster when the work is visible.
Taught, then trusted
New members start in a structured curriculum and finish the year owning a real piece of a competition strategy.
Columbus, Ohio
Built in Columbus, recruited everywhere
We are a short flight from every trading floor that matters, and our members end up on those desks. But it starts here, on campus.
What we do
The work, four ways
Everything we run is built to put members in front of real problems as quickly as possible.
Our flagship event is the Buckeye Trading Competition, which we design, build, and run end to end. Members also form teams for external competitions, splitting into signal research, execution, and risk, with a full dry-run before any live round opens.
Each project is scoped like a small research desk: a hypothesis, a data pipeline, a backtest with honest transaction costs, and a written result. That includes the projects that did not work, which are usually the ones worth reading.
Weekly sessions covering probability and expected value, market microstructure, options and Greeks, statistical arbitrage, and the Python tooling used throughout. We teach the finance from the ground up — what we select for is the reasoning underneath it.
We run brainteaser and market-making mocks and host firm sessions on campus. Older members who have been through these processes sit in on the mocks and tell you what a desk is actually listening for.
Buckeye Trading Competition
Inaugural yearRelease date TBD
A one-day, in-person student trading competition designed and run by BQS on the Ohio State campus. Open to undergraduates from any school and any major.
- 01
Opening problem set
- 02
Manual trading
- 03
Algorithmic round
- 04
Live finals
Mentorship
Interview prep from people who have sat on both sides
Our members and alumni have interned, worked, and interviewed at the firms below, and they are the ones who run our mock interviews. You get the brainteasers, the market-making rounds, and an honest read on what each desk is looking for.
Get matched with a mentor
All logos are the property of their respective owners and appear here only to describe where members and alumni have worked or interviewed. No affiliation, sponsorship, or endorsement is implied.