Tehraio

Hi people, I'd like to get opinions on my dilemma. I am currently doing a mres. Those of you who don't know it's a 12-18 months degree working on a research project culminating in a dissertation. I should be done early next year, and I'm now considering applying for PhD programs at schools like Oxford, UCL, LSE, MIT, PSE, ETHZ etc... and maybe more. But here is the thing: I'm going to submit a paper for publication by the end of the year, and an extension of this project will also turn into another paper by the time I'm enrolled in a PhD program at another. My university offers the possibility of using the work done as a mres student as chapters of a PhD dissertation. Basically you need 3 papers turned into a dissertation, and you're good. (I think that's typical of the 3 essays/chapters system). This means that by the time I enroll into a new PhD program I would roughly have half to two third of a PhD completed at my present school. I am wondering about my options because the schools I have mentioned above are way more prestigious than my current school, and I know prestige matters quite a lot to become an assistant prof at a great school (or in a great location). At the same time, enrolling in a new program means spending 3-5 more years compared to 1-2 (opportunity cost). I understand going to a top school is a once in a lifetime experience, and I am wondering about the opportunity cost as previously said, but also the cost of not going. I am also wondering about alternatives: What do you guys think of: me pursuing the PhD where I am at, and then seeking post-docs at one of these prestigious groups. Would producing good work as a post doc "earn" me entrance into their networks? ps: You will notice I haven't discussed the research fit because I have a good idea of the kind of research I would do at these institutions. I already know who is who, and who does what.

I will apply for admission to Finance programs. I live in Indiana and with Bloomington and Purdue we have two very good Finance programs with great placements. They each only take maybe 5 students every year if I'm not mistaken, so I think it's a smart move to think of alternatives which would allow me to attain similar career objectives.

Yeah I've seen one so far to be honest: Matthew Dixon | IIT Stuart School of Business | Illinois Institute of Technology and he got his PhD at Imperial College which is, with Oxford and Cambridge, part of the trinity of elite universities in the UK. So although, like many aspiring PhD students, I would love to get a position as an assistant professor of finance, given my circumstances I don't think it's smart for me to think about this too much. When I look at Matthew Dixon's record, I can see that despite being a mathematician he published in finance academic journals (international ones, not the ones in america for the most part I think). And he really is a mix between a Quant and a financial economist. I like his profile but It's very rare... You think I could work for a research institute like, say, the IMF, the World Bank, the Fed if my thesis is not in Finance? Or am I getting this wrong? I'm assuming they mostly recruit junior economists who graduated from economics/finance PhD programs. Following that logic, just taking courses wouldn't cut it.

yes, that's what I wanted to know. I was already familiar with econ students being supervised by finance professors. If this is really possible, I would strongly prefer that option. I figured I would take the required economics/finance courses recommended by the finance faculty.

Hey guys, I was wondering if any of you had general information on whether business schools allow their faculty to co-supervise a PhD thesis for a student in another department. Say I'm a student in the mathematics department (or another department...), and say my interests are in applied mathematics, and I'm precisely interested in financial economics (asset pricing theory/empirical, risk management, market microstructure etc...). I understand the club of finance professors is very selective and you have to have graduated from a business school to work as one. So that's not my goal, I'd like to eventually work for a research institute as a financial economist or something similar. My question is motivated by this, I'm currently doing a master's in mathematics, and I think after my master I could get in a decent program in mathematics for a PhD (possibly one in a school which has a very good finance program). I know finance programs only take 5 or less students every year, so I'm not sure it's worth investing money and time into taking additional courses in economics, or finding employment as an economics RA (that one, is rare to find to be honest...) for such a low probability of being admitted (usually 2-3%). I appreciate all inputs. thanks.

I'm basically posting this for those who might be in a similiar situation to mine who bombed their ugrad and who recovered later on. I don't know what will work but I applied to lots of schools for mathematics, finance, and economics. the economics programs are the only ones listed here, the math ones will be on another forum, let me know if you are interested. If nothing works I guess I have my Bachelors now, for what it's worth . . . Type of Undergrad: public uni in the midwest, has Msc and PhD in economics Major(s): B.Sc Physics Undergrad GPA: 2.4 :victorious: Relevant Honors: Dean's List fa14,spr15,fa15 GRE: not taking it, hate it, hate it ! lol Math Courses: calc 1 (A-), calc 2 (B+), calc 3( D-D-F lol for real I took it 3 times), LinAlg (C, skipped so many lectures, prof was an ex korean soldier who fought in the ww2, his english was formidable /s), Vector Calc (A), ODE (B+), Num Analysis (B+), Grad Num Meth ODE/PDE (B), Grad Nonlinear dynamics (A-), Mathematical Biology (B-) Econ Courses: Grad Micro Theory and Grad Macro Theory (Spr16), the profs told me the courses are mostly self contained so I figured I'd give it a shot. Other Courses: tons of physics courses, that's my major lol and also another course in python programming. LOR: no idea how strong my recommendations are so yeah . . . lol Research Experience: research assistant for 2 summers, 1 in nuclear engineering, and 1 in medical physics: cancer radiotherapy. Teaching Experience: lol none Research Interests: agent based models, economic theory, financial economics, business cycle, financial crises, complexity theory, macroeconomic emergence. SOP: I bombed my undergrad, I dropped out of school, I came back & now my GPA is 3.5 I'm hoping admission will look at that more than my cgpa which is 2.4 :grief: Applying to: Manchester Financial Economics Msc University Tech Sydney PhD Economics Essex Computational economics Msc - rejected in 2 days, record? York Financial Economics Msc City Financial Economics Msc Science-Po/Paris 1 Dual degree Msc in quantitative economics Kingston Financial Economics Msc

yeah, I emailed a couple universities about that and they said it's fine. As long as the grades are good I'm sure they will see it as advantage.

I may find myself in a similar situation as yours in a couple years. from what I understand your issue is that you're working in finance from the fringes (econ policy impact on financial markets?) and you'd like to totally make the transition into academic finance. I have had some thought about it and I think the challenge is to find a program that will not block you from applying because you already have a PhD. After that you need to explain that you can't do what you want to do with your present qualifications: basically what you want to study/research is different than what you do now. I'm very interested in hearing from others on this.

based on employability alone, I'd recommend germany. 1st time I heard about the paris school of economics was when piketty became famous but that's about it. if you don't want to do a PhD, living in place where there are plenty of jobs available seems to be a better solution.

@erp, are you french?

you know to tell us maybe more about what you want to do careerwise? do you want to work in france? europe? the US?

yes that's pretty rare, at the swiss finance institute there are people with PhDs in mathematics but I guess Europe is different from the US. I know that Finance programs are extremely selective, so after getting a Masters in Computational finance, I plan on working before applying for admission. I'd like to work as a quantitative analyst/financial engineer or apply for research assistant/analyst positions at federal banks/ the IMF/ the World Bank or any other research institute. what type of work would be preferable?

alright, I have started looking at the journal of finance (their search engine is not very good though) is it even possible to get a Finance assistant professor position with a Math PhD? I doubt it , , ,

Hi, From what i've read asset pricing seems to be the category which is closest to mathematical/computational finance. Is it possible to do a PhD in Finance with a strong focus on computational finance inside a business school instead of a PhD in Maths? or is that frowned upon by graduate admission committees? Best.

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