fifty

Interesting info so far, thanks :) I have taken an intro to programming course a long time ago using Java, but I'm hardly even capable in it (the most "advanced" things we did were creating tic tac toe programs and such). I suppose I will try to get into a summer course in C++ then. As far as Matlab goes, I have no experience with it right now, but will be taking a mathematical computing course and a course in "visualization in multivariate calc", both of which use matlab. A couple other courses might use matlab as well (or possibly mathematica or maple). I should also gain some experience with a stats program via a mathematical statistics course, and I also know that a nonlinear optimization course I'll be taking uses computers heavily (though I'm not sure what sort of program). How important is statistics software in finance, both at the PhD level and the financial engineering masters degree level? Thank you guys very much for the info so far :)

Right now I'm just a sophomore undergraduate, but I am trying to plan ahead. My tentative career plans are to either do a PhD in economics or finance, or a masters in financial math/engineering. For finance especially, I have read that it is pretty much necessary to be able to program in C++. Unfortunately, due to spending two years as a philosophy major I'm somewhat behind in terms of math, and so will be loading up my schedule to catch up and have no room to take a proper C++ course. So my plan is to try to self-teach it, but that makes me wonder how I would be able to prove to adcoms that I know C++. Could I just say it in my SOP and they'd believe me? Is there some independant certification available that is well respected and not wildly expensive? Is it nuts to even think I could self-teach myself to program? Any thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated. Fifty :)

I agree with everything stated by the other two replies. And in comparison to some other academic fields, economics has it good! In philosophy, for instance, newly minted PhD's from top 3 grad schools are heading to extremely regional state schools with almost no philosophy department. PhD's from top 20 schools are fairly often ending up as adjuncts or working at community colleges.