Which road should I take?

[JJH]

I'm a graduate student in Finance, currently doing research for my Master's thesis. My studies have been going quite well and I have a lot of interest and knowledge on mathematical finance and investment management, so I have started to think about doctoral studies.

I have a background in math; I studied "hard core" math in university for a while but decided it was too theoretical for my taste and moved on to study economics and finance. Now finance is my major and I feel that it has interesting research topics and will be very useful in my future career. However, there are certain topics in finance that I'm not too keen about, namely corporate finance matters, which still are a big part of the broader definition of finance.

I would like to do a PhD in Finance and while at it, do another MSc in a supporting field, perhaps applied mathematics. I live in Europe and currently I want to study in my home country (I studied abroad a while back). I am considering the following options, which are available in my country's top universities:

1. PhD in Finance + MSc in Applied mathematics
2. PhD in Finance + MSc in Quantitative finance
3. PhD in Quantitative methods of economics + MSc in Quantitative finance

Quantitative Methods may not be well recognized; it involves mathematics in economics, finance and business administration. It's mostly math and statistics, with the focus on methods and models and not much in practical matters. However, I guess it is what being a quant really is all about.

It's not possible to do a PhD in Quantitative finance here, however, as a PhD Finance student, I can of course choose to do research in quantitative finance and leave corporate finance studies to minimum.

Applied maths is part of the "hard core" math studies in university and after comparing the MSc in Applied maths vs. MSc in Quantitative finance, I'm convinced that the math student could run over the QF student if measured by skills in math, optimization or programming. Of course, the math student has no knowledge of financial instruments...but since I would be doing a PhD in Finance, I don't have to worry about that.

At the moment, I don't plan on staying in academic career for the rest of my life, but who knows what will happen I'm more interested in getting the most useful and versatile education there is for a career in quantitative finance for asset management firms or investment banks.

Which option would you pick and why? I am leaning towards the first option, since I think Applied maths could give me an advantage over Quantiative finance graduates, also because the PhD would be mainly in the field of QF.

 

[Connor]

Option 1 because I like the mental imagery of running over others. I think if your interests are in finance then a PhD in finance makes sense, and I would go with the MSc in applied math if it really is the more rigorous of the two.