Advice on choice of university between UIUC and UMich for quant
For context, I am a community college transfer student deciding between these two universities as my final options. I have a strong background in math competitions from high school, but a combination of mental health and family life struggles burnt me out from continuing into university. I am back on my feet after having completed community college with a 4.0 but admittedly lackluster resume. I have also rediscovered my love for pure math and have interest in actually practicing for competitions unlike in high school.
I am aware that quant is unnecessarily competitive, and my recruitment window is already basically passed, but I am planning to continue into postgrad to try for a second shot.
I have two paths mostly set out, and my question is which between them seems more promising for a career in quant, which is more reliable overall ignoring quant, or if one of them satisfies both.
I am admitted to UIUC as a physics major, planning to specialize in financial, statistical, and computational physics. If I were to attend, my plan is to continue with their MFE program and hopefully recruit with some Chicago based prop shop or otherwise. This route would have me focusing heavily on the technical side.
Alternatively, I can attend UMich LSA, with a major in physics and potentially a minor in one or two of economics, CS, or mathematics. If I were to attend, I plan to continue toward a PhD in math or physics. Even in this case, I would prefer to stay in Chicago, though I know UMich has stronger ties to Wall Street. This would have me focusing more heavily on the pure math and theoretical side, leaning towards research, quant or not.
The way I see it, UIUC locks me into a "quant or die trying" situation, and UMich keeps my options more open for if I find a new passion, while keeping the doors open for quant. My personal bias is towards UMich since I'm not even 100% sure the quant life is for me. I would also love to hear suggestions for alternative paths for people of my background or position. I'm not super well researched on other math heavy finance roles, quant is just what I hear pitched as "the thing." Cost difference is negligible since financial aid just about pays the difference between the two options. I would greatly appreciate insight from anyone already in the field, or in contact with people on the recruiting side. I'm not sure that the two schools are even viewed especially differently on the recruiting side to begin with given that neither is a frequently touted target school.