EME or Finance and Economics from Lse better for Phd in Fin Econ/Finance afterwards?

[Antari]

I was just wondering which program from LSE would be the better choice if my goal is to get into a top Phd program in the US for financial economics/ finance afterwards? I think EME would give me a clear edge for an application in a regular economics department, but as my area of interest is in financial economics I will most likely not only apply for econ departments but also business schools for a phd in finance afterwards. The thing is that finance phd programs are even more selective due to the low number of admits. while I see it as a problem that in EME I obviously wouldn't have exposure to financial economics the small class size compared to the big classes in the finance and economics department (20 vs 80 people) and the more rigorous course content would in the end maybe even raise my chances for a finance phd application, thus making it the superior choice in any case. Just how good is the placement of the finance and econ program for phds in the US afterwards?

[fp3690]

You can do EME and chose fin/econ as an optional course. But with EME you end up doing a bunch of super theoretical and kind of useless courses (that is, if you don't want to do econometric theory). But in any case, you can always switch from one to the other before term starts.

[Antari]

Thanks for the reply.

Can I really switch programs before the term starts just like that or were you refering to elective courses?

[fp3690]

Both, it's pretty easy to switch program during the September course.