Fineconoz

Yeah, I thought as much. Every reasonably aware adult understands how bits of their own society fits in with the rest of the world, and especially which bits they rock in. Now, I KNOW we are the universe's best swimmers and lamington makers, but after all my years spent in business and universities, I had never heard of "Australia: God's Gift to Accounting"! :) Their whole schmooze was really weird as my interest in Financial Econometrics and thus being admitted to an Economics or Finance PhD. I have never taken a formally accounting course in my life!

Come on, I was just - well mostly - paying back canadian for his prediction I shall be living under a cardboard box if I accept my Australian offer! Of course San Diego is an amazing city, but mate, have weren't born on bred in Sydney, which in the beautiful natural harbour and beaches department is unbeatable ? That was all my point was. And if I were to be accepted by UCSD, I would certainly be truly psyched, and have little hesitation in accepting, so long as a few other pieces of the puzzle fell into place. In a way UCSD is a reall good fit for me, because my thing is Financial Econometrics.

canadian phd Do you plan to be an academic in Australia? Hopefully you aren't planning to get a position in North America. Nope. Not for one minute. Having spent quite a time of my career working in strategy consulting for one of MBB, including a number of years in the US, I grew out of that "wow, America" thing a while ago. I still love going back here and there - NYC, Boston, San Fran, and other places - but I've well and truly scratched that itch that all ambitious young people have of dying to work in New York. Even though I was recruited in Oz, I was sent to New York when I was 24, so at age 42, I am way past all that. My main motivation for going down this path was I wanted to have the freedom to try and answer hard questions, understand seemingly complex and perplexing things happening in the world of finance, and communicate what I find to a large audience. And to do these largely on my terms, my time, and other people's money. I don't know if you have ever been to Australia, but I live in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. I posted the details of two offers I have just received in Oz, and the dough that goes with them. I would not take a job at Wharton for all the tea in China. Have you ever been to Philly? Now, I would give my back teeth to be admitted to and/or work at MIT, Harvard, NYU, Columbia, Berkeley, or Stanford, but nowhere else really inspires right here and now. Sure, that will no doubt change once I finish and opportunities become more concrete and my academic rep starts. But no way do I want to live in Chicago, or god foresaken hillbilly country towns like Durham, Rochester, Ithica, and where the hell is Wisconsin, let alone Madison? And even if I did go, salt would be added to the wound of social death by the paltry funding (if any). OTOH, I am very interested in UCSD, but again a dreary country town, except on the water. Could you imagine the pain of a Sydney harbour resident having to be reminded of that for 5 years? I'll leave it at that for now, but I've also applied to the 5 or so European schools, each of which I would jump at accepting. Now, there's no way in hell I'm gonna get US those schools above. But I knew that years ago without having to ask. Spending years reading thousands of Ivy League resumes applying for MBB jobs, but even more importantly the references that went with those resumes, gave me a very realistic understanding of where a 42 year old sits in the Economics/Finance PhD pecking order. Having said all that, I assure you, that if I decide I would like to move back to the US once more, you will be proved wrong within about 30 minutes. Oh, and by the way, where do you expect you'll be getting your phD and getting offers from afterwards?

phdhope I have applied to a number of schools in the US and Europe, but given how concerned I was about my age, I did put quite a bit of work into my local - Australian - apps. I never for one moment thought any of the schools/departments I was applying to were significant players. But can you confirm something that did quite surprise me. The University of New South Wales Business faculty really sold themselves quite aggressively, even claiming their Accounting program was in fact quite a big name internationally. Is that true?

decide The perfect solution for you here is to effectively get both via LSE's MSc Econometrics and Mathematical Economics

Now, after the two offers from Economics PhD programs, I am waiting on the Finance PhD programs. Bit more nervous about them, given the large number of Chinese and Russian and Physics PhD former rocket scientists I'm competing with.

Sorry for cross-posting from Economics, but as I am applying to both Financial Economics PhD programs and Finance, I think it's OK. As I posted earlier, I am a 42 year old Australian who thought his chances were pretty bargain basement. How wrong I was! Despite a fellow-Aussie asking where my' humility' went I simply cannot control my shock and delirious hppiness. 8 hours ago, I received emails and confirming follow up phone calls from 2 of Ausralia's leading universities offering me a place in their Economic PhD programs - following the financial Econometrics tracks - starting in January, 2011. Both cover all fees, but here's the TWO kickers: 1. Uni A offers me in addition to the full fee scholastship: (i) a tax-free stipend of A$35,000 p.a!! (ii) Up to 8 hours per week [and summer] tutoring first year undergrads, but only if I want to. The pay is $125 for the first one hour tute (which includes a maximum of 2 hours of reasonable preparation time, and one hour office availabilityto be shared between 2 tute groups FROM MY OWN - shared - OFFICE!). For every repeat of the same tutorial, the pat drops to $85 per hour [still pretty sweet], but only ONE hour of preparation/consultation time is expected. If I accept, I think I'll start with 4 hours of tutoring, which would take up 9 hours per week, 5 spent in my office, all for an extra $380 per week on top of the no-strigs-attached $35,000 pa. (iii) But the even bigger kicker is they are crediting most of recent Masters and Math, thus allowing me to complete only 3 semesters of coursework, of which 1 of the 3 can be split over this Summer [that is starting in 4 weeks] and ditto next Summer AND if I want, I can spend 1 of those Semesters with one of the 40-something international partners, including Toulouse, HEC, Queens, TI, and a ton of others. So basically, I can have the whole PHD finished - coursework, thesis, and job paper - all finished three years from today, receiving $1,000 cash every week for the privilege. DOWNSIDE: It ain't Harvard But I reckon I can bridge that gap somewhat. 2. Uni B has offered slightly less - $30,000 - and did not make as resounding comforting noises as Uni A. I'm pretty sure I could negotiate hard, but I'm not that keen on them. I now have three outstanding applications with Australian Finance PhD programs, four non-Oz Eco, and six non-Oz Finance. I am going to personally telephone the Oz Finance facultues right now, and see if my news can jolt their decision-making. If that works, I'll go for the foreigners. DUDES, I am so stoked!

manchild, give what you say about the ease of tutoring, what would you say would be the MAXIMUM number of hours before your PhD suffered?

Thanks petecheese, sorry if I come across as arrogant, lacking in humility, or unbearablem but Isimole cannot control my shock and delirious hppiness.

Oops sorry. UBC, eh? How long ago did you find out? Have they give you any money?

so manchild what sort of places are you applying to and hoping to get in?

Singmeat If you never quite got before what people meant by Math being beautiful, you will be bowled over by it if you take Complex Analysis. It is divine.

In Australia, most PhD funding is provided by competitive government scholarships, which are often topped up by the richer unis or external parties, so the two decisions tend to be announced simultaneously, but clearly from what I have read on this forum, this is highly unusual.

I have just received emails and confirming follow up phone calls from 2 of Ausralia's leading universities offering me a place in their Economic PhD programs - following the financial Econometrics tracks - starting in January, 2011. Both cover all fees, but here's the TWO kickers: 1. Uni A offers me in addition to the full fee scholastship: (i) a tax-free stipend of A$35,000 p.a!! (ii) Up to 8 hours per week [and summer] tutoring first year undergrads, but only if I want to. The pay is $125 for the first one hour tute (which includes a maximum of 2 hours of reasonable preparation time, and one hour office availabilityto be shared between 2 tute groups FROM MY OWN - shared - OFFICE!). For every repeat of the same tutorial, the pat drops to $85 per hour [still pretty sweet], but only ONE hour of preparation/consultation time is expected. If I accept, I think I'll start with 4 hours of tutoring, which would take up 9 hours per week, 5 spent in my office, all for an extra $380 per week on top of the no-strigs-attached $35,000 pa. (iii) But the even bigger kicker is they are crediting most of recent Masters and Math, thus allowing me to complete only 3 semesters of coursework, of which 1 of the 3 can be split over this Summer [that is starting in 4 weeks] and ditto next Summer AND if I want, I can spend 1 of those Semesters with one of the 40-something international partners, including Toulouse, HEC, Queens, TI, and a ton of others. So basically, I can have the whole PHD finished - coursework, thesis, and job paper - all finished three years from today, receiving $1,000 cash every week for the privilege. DOWNSIDE: It ain't Harvard :( But I reckon I can bridge that gap somewhat. 2. Uni B has offered slightly less - $30,000 - and did not make as resounding comforting noises as Uni A. I'm pretty sure I could negotiate hard, but I'm not that keen on them. I now have three outstanding applications with Australian Finance PhD programs, four non-Oz Eco, and six non-Oz Finance. I am going to personally telephone the Oz Finance facultues right now, and see if my news can jolt their decision-making. If that works, I'll go for the foreigners. DUDES, I am so stoked!

econm Phew! Thanks for tell me that. While blogging technology can be awesome, it can still cause a lot of unnecessary hurt and misunderstanding. Now, that I've been so uncouth, if you are interested in any other positive alternatives I could suggest for you... :)