phd topic for quant role

[Arjun Kumar]

I am wondering...how much does the topic you do a phd in matter if you want to get a quant job in the end? I have an offer for a PhD and I could be doing things like computational geometry and computer graphics. I am a mechanical major who minored in CS, not a statistics major, a CS major or a neuroscience major so I may not be able to do a PhD with heavy statistical machine learning/data mining. So that's why I'm wondering whether I should take up the PhD having financial engineering in the back of my mind.

 

[Canuck]

Wow that sounds really interesting. How is your finance background and applied math background?

 

[Andy Nguyen]

The exact PhD thesis may have little to do with the job you do post-academia unless your PhD department/advisor is heavily connected/funded by industry.
Your research ability and computational skills are what valued by employers and they trust that you can bring that skill set to the job.
It's always a good idea to keep yourself current by reading up on industry newspaper, attending conference, etc.

 

[Tommy Akeju]

do quants require phd in hard sciences or an mfe to work in a hedge fund