Wharton undergrad... would math PhD be ridiculous??
I am a rising fourth year student at Penn doing dual degree finance/ computer science with Wharton and Penn Engineering... Working this summer as an SA at Allstate Investments in Chicago writing VBA programs for ABS traders and am getting really interested in some sort of quant career at a bank/hedge fund, but am kinda of the understanding that Wall Street quants are like almost invariably expected to have some sort of advanced degree in something quant'ish... starting to get interested in some sort of doctorate in Math as a result but it seems like killing myself w/ 4-5 more years of school is a pretty big step especially since coming out of Penn it seems like I could probably get a pretty decent-paying entry level finance job without killing myself for another degree. It seems like PhD programs are pretty tiny and selective, and I don't have a 3.8+ undergrad GPA or anything ridiculous like that, if I'm lucky I'll graduate with about a 3.5 or so. Does anyone know about admissions to grad programs?? I don't have a good feel for my chances at all of getting into a top PhD program and it only seems worth it if I managed to get in somewhere good... Seems like the starting salary for quants w/ a doctorate is like 200-300k or so and since 4 years getting a doctorate could be spent instead as two years as an analyst somewhere then two years MBA then associate, the starting salary of an associate to my understanding also being like ~200-300k, the doctorate doesn't seem totally unfeasible... kinda a big decision to be making though and i don't really know anything about this stuff. any insight would be greatly appreciated... thanks
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My understanding is that it
My understanding is that it is only worth pursuing a PhD if you are really-really interested in that particular field and could imagine yourself being a prof sooner or later (say, after 10-15 in years in a quant job, when you have already made enough to retire). If you "only" want to do business, I think a PhD would be too big of a sacrifice, in terms of time.
Do Yourself a Favor
Go talk to your professors. A few that you really trust. You're a smart kid: a PhD is no small undertaking. If you're just doing it to get it as another accolade on the road to something, you might not have the heart to finish it. They will be able to give you the best advice
Quants seem to tend to end up in trading (see: banking requires nothing mathematical of you beyond what a calculator can do). Get on the phone with some alumni that are doing trading, or working at very quant-oriented shops (DE Shaw, Citadel) and ask them about their experiences. Hearing from the source is the best way to decide what you want to do.
Way to double post this.
Way to double post this.
yeah, sorry.....
yeah, sorry.....
just joined yesterday,
just joined yesterday, thought posting on two different forums could increase the visibility of it... still appreciate any insight on either, though
Why not do an MFE in one of
Why not do an MFE in one of the top programs ? Its usually only a 1 year program and you can then consider a Phd if its not enough. Having a combined comp sci and finance background makes you a likely candidate. Just try to get your gpa up to 3.5
tough question
there's no doubt saying "hey i have a phd in math or physics" is a great way to get hired on wall street or hedge funds...but i think most of those guys don't go into it thinking that way, they just find out there are no jobs in academia. your best bet is probably to get hired out of undergrad at a quant HF that will let you do research. the question then would be does not having that phd hurt you later on..i don't know.