PhD to Banking
Hey all. I'm graduating with a PhD in politics from a top school soon. Studied Economics (but not Finance) as an undergrad at a large, non-elite public school. Excellent grades, including in quant courses, in both undergrad and grad. Many academic and research awards in both as well. Jumped from undergrad to grad, so no standard postgrad, full-time work experience, but have held lots of part-time jobs and internships in policy, research, and teaching (nothing to do with finance or banking again). Want to transition to a career in banking, and am considering applying to analyst or associate programs at the major banks that recruit at my school.
Wondering if, given my background: (1) such a transition is possible without a further degree in related areas (MBA, MS Finance, etc.); (2) I should apply to associate positions (as an advanced degree candidate) or to analyst positions (as a candidate with limited work experience in the traditional sense); and (3) I should apply to associate positions leaving the PhD out of the education section of my resume and presenting it as research work experience instead.
Any thoughts are highly appreciated. Thanks a million.
why banking, why now?
Several reasons, but the main one is that I'm interested to work at the intersection of policy and business, and banking/finance has been at the center of regulatory and policy changes in recent years. I'm finishing up my thesis and am ready to transition now.
Now: any thoughts on my original questions above? 0:-)
Finance PhD looking for Banking positions (Originally Posted: 01/15/2016)
I am a Finance Ph.D in a top 3 business school, graduating soon. My dissertation is about mergers and acquisitions. I am very interested and want to pursue my career in investment banking. I want to be a banker rather than a professor. Can you guys banking veterans give me some advice on the paths to reach my career goal? I really appreciate it. Please comment here or pm me. Thanks in advance!
Network with alumni and leverage what OCR you have access to. Make sure you understand the M&A process from a practical point of view as well.
Thank you for your advice! Great points!
How would bankers think about the PhD though in finance? Would it be an issue? Thanks.
Bump thread for my wife, a PhD candidate in finance as well.
M&A Bankers do not care about M&A research, as most of it says that M&A is value destructive, and besides they get paid off fees not performance. Dissertations on asset pricing can be used to leverage jobs in trading HFT etc., but a PhD in investment banking is very rare. As a PhD you are over-qualified to be an analyst and under-qualified as an associate. Besides, most people do IB to get to the sell side and Hedge Fund opportunities are already available to you (but perhaps not Private Equity)
just my .02 interested in learning more PhD career paths in Finance
Thanks, realjackryan. Could you elaborate more about the under qualified as associate part? Any bankers would like to share some thoughts?
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