phD in Finance

Hi everyone…just curious to your opinions on entering a phD in Finance program…I’m finishing up the Master of Finance with a GPA equivalent to 3.8 on a 4 scale (so far)…I’m considering applying to phD programs in Canada…I’m looking at UBC, U of T and Queen’s… I have my undergrad in Economics and Finance, and now the MFin, yet I still feel overwhelmed by the quantitative requirements of the doctoral studies…I love studying finance, and I have taken alot of courses like mathematical economics, econometrics, and clearly statistics but am wondering if I would need linear algebra, advanced econometrics…or if I could learn it during the program in the courses… What’s your thoughts on these programs, and perhaps your thoughts on whether to go towards phD in general? (I am young, and have limited full-time work experience…but have a passion for learning, with no anchors in my decision i,e, I have no familiy commitments, house etc) I know many of you will be against the Canadian programs, but I want to remain in Canada so please only focus on the schools I mentioned and the topic… Much appreciation to those who respond!!

One thing worth looking at would be placement out of those programs. In the US I’ve noticed that most PhD in Finance programs place almost entirely as professors within academic institutions. Obviously that doesn’t mean you can’t get a PhD in Finance and go on to be an awesome ____________ within the financial private sector, but it’s worth looking into.

consider PhD in econ if you are overwhelmed by the quantitative side of finance. the quantitative emphasis can vary a great deal for economics graduate students depending on the focus of their studies. finance offers less flexibility in that regard

The only reason to get a PhD is if you are quite sure you want to go into academia.

There used to be a poster on here BusProf he’s a PhD in Finance, search some of his posts, he also had a blog found here although it hasn’t been updated in a while: http://financialrounds.blogspot.com/

MFIN, to reiterate the above guy’s opinion, it’s probably a good idea to enroll in a PhD program only if you are sure that you want to be a career academic. Otherwise, you will spend your youth being a slave, poor and with no geographical mobility only to find career opportunities that are not much better than those that you would have had without a PhD. (Really, this is something that I’ve explored at some length…)

agree that you should be sure you want to head the academia route and if so, definitely go with uoft as you can actually get jobs around the world with a degree from uoft. same goes for attractiveness in the private sector, only uoft’s program is noteworthy. personally, i wouldn’t consider any other program in canada.

MFIN— Wrote: > What’s your thoughts on these programs, and > perhaps your thoughts on whether to go towards phD > in general? (I am young, and have limited > full-time work experience…but have a passion for > learning, with no anchors in my decision i,e, I > have no familiy commitments, house etc) Go for it. It will only get more difficult overtime. Now your opportunity cost is very low. I wouldn’t worry about taking any additional classes as long as you can learn relatively quickly. Typically PhD programs have math bootcamps right before classes start. You will probably have to learn linear algebra, probabilities theory, random processes and stochastic analysis but you will definitely get help. Good luck!

depends on YOUR career goals but it seems like a good fit since you have a strong desire to learn. U of T would be ideal!

http://i.imgur.com/a40kI.png

Try taking a DBA, which is focused on the practical aspect in finance and may not be too academic. Have you considered doing online PhD or DBA programs? It solves your location issue and you are able to take more time out with your personal life.

online PhD? LOL

wtf? is there such thing as an online PhD?

Try to crank one out at UOP. At least you have the right to be called “Doctor” once you are done with it. That is all that matters, right?

I personally know some PhDs (Finance/Economics/Engineering/Maths/Physics/Statistics) working as top-tier bankers, asset managers or hedge funds managers. It has to be said that almost all have a quantitative bias. But claiming that most PhDs end up in academia is inaccurate. As a matter of fact, many financial institutions have exclusive PhD recruitment programmes. my $0.02

Our quants are all PhDs. So are lots of the risk guys. And my COO. HFs love quant PhDs. The pay on these jobs can be great if you are also into programming. I saw some advertised for 400-500k with a couple years experience.

CFASniper Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > No one is saying all or most PhDs end up in academia. We are just saying that blowing 5+ years of your life is not worth it, in both time and money, if you’re in it for compensation. Someone who is smart enough to get a PhD but who only cares about non-academic career progression will be better off overall if they just got a job.

There can also be a lot of crossover between academia and the real world. One of my finance professors in grad. school also did a lot of very high fee consulting work for risk management departments on Wall Street.

ohai Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > CFASniper Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > > > No one is saying all or most PhDs end up in > academia. We are just saying that blowing 5+ years > of your life is not worth it, in both time and > money, if you’re in it for compensation. Someone > who is smart enough to get a PhD but who only > cares about non-academic career progression will > be better off overall if they just got a job. this IS the major point. its well established that the rate of return on a phd is negative for men since the turn of the century, though is still positive for women due to pay inequality. if you are going to undertake an investment with a negative return, you better be getting some serious non-monetary benefits, like the pursuit of a career in academia, which is worth far more than money to those who pursue.

phd is a waste of time, the ROI of education tops off between BS/MS.