gtamatwork Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 (edited) Here's my case: My interest lies in Mathematical/Quantitative Finance. That's the area that I want to do my PhD. But I'm not aware of any Master Finance programs that are particularly tailored to send students to US Finance PhD programs. I can't get into good PhD programs directly and hence I am keen in European Master to US PhD route although I wouldn't mind doing top PhD programs in Europe as well. I am lured by placement statistics of few Master econ programs in Europe. So I'm thinking about taking Master econ route to PhD. But I don't know squat about Macro and Micro economics. I have a good work experience as quant analyst, cleared CFA Level 3 exam and meet all required math and stat courses from my engineering background. Will I have problems getting admitted to Bocconi, Bologna, BGSE, WU Wien, Hanken etc for MSc econ? Assuming I get into my target schools, does the above mentioned schools send students to top Finance PhD programs too from their econ department? I've browsed through this forum and it looks like Bocconi, Bologna etc are very good to get into US Econ PhD. But I'm not sure whether I will be able to apply for Finance PhD upon graduating from MSc Econ from these schools. Can someone pls shed lights on this? Thanks. Edited August 28, 2014 by gtamatwork Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fakeo Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 I think you should have a decent shot at Finance PhDs especially if you take as many electives in finance-related courses in your masters as possible. I'm talking financial economics, time series and other stuff like that. Furthermore, it'd be nice to write your thesis in finance and thus get letters from financial economists. I don't think getting into econ masters would be hard for you (this might depend on your overall profile though, but if you have a good GPA, you should be fine). Though some programs may have very specific and rigid requirements regarding your previous coursework (i.e. you may need some micro or macro course on your transcript), but I'm sure you can find multiple schools that are not like that. Btw, WU Vienna does have a masters in quant finance which allows you to take a research-oriented track. Maybe you could look into that. I don't know about their placement though. Also, there may be other research-oriented finance masters programs out there. Maybe someone here knows a few, or alternatively you can ask in the finance PhD forums? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtamatwork Posted August 30, 2014 Author Share Posted August 30, 2014 Thanks for the reply fakeo. WU Vienna is definitely in my list. Any good finance phd forums that you know? If anyone else have an idea about research oriented finance programs that has good phd placements, please do post here. Thanks again in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaSvoboden Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 There is a PhD in business forum on this site that has a few active finance folks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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