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Good European vs average American PhD

Joined
2/16/18
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14
Points
13
Hi, QuantNet community!

I am a guy from developing country (former USSR) who is currently deciding where to go for Mathematics PhD -- either U.S. or Europe. I was rejected from top-notch U.S. programs, but got offers from low-ranked ones (about 100s in national ranking and even lower worldwide). On the other hand, I also got an offer from quit decent Netherlands university (maybe in top-10 in Europe, if we exclude UK from Europe). Netherlands project is focused more at pure math like algebraic geometry, while at the U.S. I planned to do a research in probability. My primary target was U.S., but now I am really in doubts.

I am considering quantitative finance as a well paid backup path if I will fail to land a good academic position after all. At this moment I am already working at a data science group in one of the big international corporations (not finance) represented in my country, so I already have a little bit of industry job experience.

My questions are:
1. Suppose that I will try hunting for a Wall Street quant job somewhen in future, then what PhD will be better -- a mediocre U.S. from no name university or a good European?
2. Are there any decent quant finance jobs in the Netherlands? I know ING is located here, but it seems that real quant life around the globe is either in NY and Boston, or London and HK.

Thank you very much, guys, in advance.
 
Eindhoven University of Technology
Traditionally, TUE trains people in the applied sciences (Philips, ASML are there) and is quite good but not necessarily the place to "prepare for Wall Street" (your words). You say it is top 10 in EU, but that is probably not so. To answer 1 and 2 (my 2 cents):

1. Maybe neither choice. Algebraic topology, why and then why TUE? For pure maths, UVA (Amsterdam) is better and much closer to the action than Eindhoven.

2. Probably not, especially based on what you plan to study.
 
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After all I received an admission offer from University of Pittsburgh and will go there for Ph.D. in Mathematics with specialization in Mathematical Finance.
 
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