Confusing advice from random professors

[WallStGolfer31]

I'm at a regional academic conference as an undergrad, presented a pedagogical paper I was co-author of, it went well.

When I told a a few professors here I want to be a finance professor , and planned on going into a phd program, they both said I should get work exp. first for I know how the theory is applied.

Personally, I would rather do pure theory and never look at empirical data for something other than testing of personally developed theories.

Has anyone else had this told to them? I thought it was weird advice, I had never heard it before.

[Teazer]

IMO it's not bad advice, just unhelpful in actually getting you into a phd program.

[shootermcgavin7]

A finance PhD is a tricky animal; simply because you have to have the skill set necessary to pass the Economics core and do mathematical research; but you also (normally) have to be able to teach MBA classes.


MBA programs are big-time cash cows for business schools; since it is much harder for business schools to get research grants this is often of their bigger revenue streams.

So while it won't help you with theoretical research (except for perhaps some perspective), it may help you when you're at the front of a classroom.

[WallStGolfer31]

Personally, I'd rather teach as few classes as possible, to maximize my time for research. It seems to me PhD programs themselves could care little if at all about work exp, but what about placement afterwards? Is that a factor they look at?

By the way, thanks for the fast replies guys.

[shootermcgavin7]

Originally Posted by WallStGolfer31

Personally, I'd rather teach as few classes as possible, to maximize my time for research. It seems to me PhD programs themselves could care little if at all about work exp, but what about placement afterwards? Is that a factor they look at?

My comment was regarding the placement afterwards. You'll likely have to both teach and do research no matter where you're placed.