prionzprot Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 Hi, I was surprised to see a report on high attrition rate in Maths related PhD programs. I am interested in pursuing a PhD in Finance or Mathematical finance but I am worried about its difficulty level. In case I have to quit my PhD, will the university grant me a Masters in Finace/Mathematical Finance? Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prawler Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 Change the way you are thinking. If you start doing a PhD with the idea of quitting it sometime, don't bother even starting it. That's my two cents! PhD is also difficult for me, but you learn to manage it somehow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prionzprot Posted November 2, 2008 Author Share Posted November 2, 2008 I don't think I need to change the way I am thinking. You should always have a back-up plan before setting foot in an unknown territory. Some universities even take care to mention it explicitly on their website that the student can leave after two years with just a MS degree in case she does not want to continue with a PhD. Besides, a lot of people (upto 70%) leave their Maths PhD in between. It is a real problem which we need to think about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prawler Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 Having back-up plan is good. But just focus on what you are doing... I wonder which universities say on their website that students can leave PhD with just an MS degree. I am surprized to hear that. I was assuming schools don't like, in some of the terms, "free riders". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhuelu Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 i think that many schools award a masters degree after you pass the qualifying exams Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prawler Posted November 3, 2008 Share Posted November 3, 2008 Yes, you are right. But mine does not for example. If you fail at the end of the second year in comprehensive exam, you got kicked out. Just go for a PhD, if you still do not feel comfortable, go for the one,which is awarding Masters after one or two years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hocking Posted November 3, 2008 Share Posted November 3, 2008 It depends on the school. Many do, but many others do not. A PhD program is completely different than a Masters degree program. You are learning to become a researcher, not dealing with applied with Finance topics like you would do in a Master Degree program. Furthermore, it is nothing like an MBA, so I don't think any school would let you leave with an MBA if you dropped out of the PhD program. My PhD Program has lost 1 student out of 3 over the last 3 years, and 2 out of the three students in the group 4 years ago. That is 5 people out of 12, so that is around a 40% attrition rate. It is definitely tough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
possible_phd Posted November 3, 2008 Share Posted November 3, 2008 That depends. Chicago has the option of getting your MBA while you're getting your PhD, but you need to do some extra work, I think, and you have to pay for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unitroot Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 First of all, you should decide what exactly you want to study, Finance or Mathematical Finance? They are not the same things! Mathematical FInance is like a branch of applied mathematics and is primarily concerned with questions of mathematical nature in areas like derivatives pricing or portfolio optimization. While Mathematical Finance is a branch of Finance, it is such a big, technical, and specialized branch that usually most people who work in it are in Statistics or Math departments. People in the Finance departments generally teach and use some basic methods of mathematical finance, but usually if you want to work in mathematical finance itself, look at math/stats departments. (For example some stats departments that have people working in it are (probably) Berkeley, Chicago, Columbia, NYU, Rutgers, NCSU, Purdue, Rice, etc). Their admissions requirements or attrition rates are no different from those for other math/stats students who intend to work in subjects other than mathematical finance. This discussion board cannot help you much with questions about those departments. Suffice to say that getting into a good Math or Stats department and succeeding essentially means that you should have the profile of an undergraduate with an "honors"-like performance in math major or other comparative quantitative field. On the other hand, if you are more interested in getting in to a Finance PhD program then I think the general view is that getting into those PhD programs is also hard, but attrition rate due to prelims and other requirements is generally low. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamoqilo Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Some universities even take care to mention it explicitly on their website that the student can leave after two years with just a MS degree in case she does not want to continue with a PhD. In an intro to teaching/research course, a guest speaker who was a former CoB phd director broke the delicate news by announcing that by the end of the year and half, half of us will be out! So, you are actually right about the issue at hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MathMathMath Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Change the way you are thinking. If you start doing a PhD with the idea of quitting it sometime, don't bother even starting it. That's my two cents! PhD is also difficult for me, but you learn to manage it somehow. I don't think there is anything wrong with considering this. I don't support people going into the programs with the full intention of not completing this, but I don't think that is what the poster is referring to. There is always a possibility that things will not work out as you planned, so there is nothing wrong with wanting to know what would happen in that situation. Even if you are smart and hardworking with a high GPA & high GRE/GMAT, you cannot really be sure how you would rank up relative to other people in the PhD program. If you are in a competitive PhD program, most/all people are probably very intelligent and qualified, but some do not make it through the program. Personally I would intend to complete any PhD program that I enter, but I would be more comfortable knowing that if somehow I didn't, I'd at least be able to have something to show for the time I spent in the program. I think that is understandable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prawler Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 yeah you are right mathmath, there is a possibilty that I might get kicked out and get nothing for two years, that might be really frustrating... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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