better prep for finance phd?

[fedge]

what would be better prep/make one more competitive for a finance phd: MS in Applied Stats from a second tier sate school or a MS-Finance from the flagship uni of a small state (read: not so prestigious school)?

[phdhope]

That depends on a lot of things. Do you have a finance undegrad degree? What topics does the applied stats. msc cover? What is your overall profile look like? I am afraid the board will need more information.

[fedge]

MBA-Finance concentration from small lac, 3.9 GPA. Looking for a research based degree before applying for phd's. It has to be done part time and at night (good job and family to attend to). The only 2 options that are close (and they are both 1 1/2 hours away) are the stats and finance. There are a few ms econ programs near by, but they don't offer night or weekend classes.

[zshfryoh1]

Most good (meaning worthwhile to attend as prep for a PhD) stats masters programs will not accept you without at least 2-3 semesters of calc, a semester of lin alg and a semester of calc based prob and stats, none of which it appears you have. Some programs will admit a student conditional on them completing that coursework before the end of the first semester, but will still require at least one semester of calc regardless. You will need all of those courses to get an admit at any finance PhD program anyway. PhD level finance is nothing at all like MBA finance.

Most MS Finance programs in the US are intended for industry people and are not quantitative enough for adcoms to care much. Since you already have an MBA with a finance concentration, an MS in finance will probably not do you much good. There are a few MS Financial Engineering and Mathematical Finance programs that are good prep for a PhD, but the minimum math requirements to get into those programs are usually even more than what good stats masters programs require.

Could you post a full profile similar to the ones here. (Roll Call Fall 2010)

[oldprogrammer]

You could always enroll as a non-degree seeking student and just take the classes you need to improve your profile.

[fedge]

Thank you for the replies. After further consideration and research into the programs, the Stats one is definitely the better way to go.

zshfryoh1, you are correct that I lack the required math background to even consider phd programs at this point. I'm just trying to lay out the road map to eventually get there. I have a good job and two young children so I am in no rush. My plan is to take cal 1-3, diff eq, linear alg, and a calc based probability class prior to another master's degree. With all that in mind it looks like I'll be posting my profile in the Roll Call 2017 thread