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PhD Intakes drops for Finance, recession or low applications the reason

shivgan joshi

Joined
12/18/12
Messages
71
Points
18
Hi,
I was exploring and found that PhD intake for many Univerisites were cancelled for 2013 Fall namely FIU, University of WO Canada, UFL, and many more.

I read somewhere that MS Fin engg applications also also on a decline.

Is it because of poor placement of PhD finance or because even in world of Fianance they prefer PhD in Math / Physics and which are 100% hardcore engineering for Quant jobs.

I dont think there would be enough PhD Finance guys in the market who cannot find a job. Or am I wrong?

What could be the reason, I think on the contrary CFA FRM exam takers have increased at a faster rate.

Seniors please comment.

Thanks
 
Keith Tan said:
in world of Finance they don't need so many PhDs at all? more finance jobs to retrench...
Click to expand...
It's a buyers market for quants at big firms. This is especially challenging for PhDs, who often have minimal experience.

The FRM certification, on the other hand, is something people find useful after they get a job. It encourages focused study in particular areas. (Full disclosure: I'm on the GARP board and have helped write and edit the exam in the past.)
 
Universities already take in 2-3 PhD's in finance max in a year. Even the top schools take in only 2 sometimes. The public universities have cut down their PhD's due to federal funding for the programs. PhD in finance and accounting are the two hardest PhD's to get into. If you goto a decent school and graduate with a PhD in those two disciplines you almost have a guaranteed job at another school of the same tier with a very high starting salary (150-200+). Very rarely do PhD's in finance actually go into the industry. Most of them become tenure track profs at universities.

Most positions that require a PhD in Finance are filled with people who have PhD's in economics. Economics departments usually get more funding and take ni 4-5 PhD students sometimes. There are so few PhD's in finance that many people teaching Finance usually have PhD in economics. If you find any PhD's in finance in the industry or even in Economics from a Tier 1 school they are almost always in very high positions as they are such a rare breed.
 
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