Do scientists who are hired as say, biotech equity analysts, need a Ph D to get started? MBA? Both? Would investment banks rather hire a Ph D fresh out of grad school or a BS with a few years of work experience at a biotech/pharmaceutical company? Thanks.
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They don't need a PhD but I guess it helps? I know someone who started in ER at UBS after a Chem Engineering PhD, but had no other previous financial experience.
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Most banks have little need for people with science training. Maybe at the upper level it helps in a healthcare group, but overall not so much. A science PhD or MD would add much more value at a hedge fund or PE shop because at those places, you need to understand products much more so than in banking, which is more capital structure-focused. I used to work for a healthcare hedge fund / PE shop, and every single person there (except one) had either a PhD, MD, MBA or two of the above. I'd suggest looking into PE, VC, and hedge funds if you want to apply science training to Wall Street.
m0nk3y, i believe that the original poster was referring to equity research, not ibd. no ph.d is necessary for equity research, but a serious science background is pretty much needed to be on a biotech or pharma ER team. at the bank i did my sa er stint at, the only sa in biotech did his undergrad in biomedical engineering (he decided against wall street and is now getting a ph.d). in addition during that summer, the bank also hired a full-timer to work in biotech straight from a research position. he had a ph.d from columbia.
this is not the case for teams covering, for instance, managed care and medical supplies.
Thanks a lot guys. This is all great to know!
I intern at a BB in their ER department and my senior has a PhD. It's definitely not necessary but for more technical sectors it provides you a greater understanding of the area your covering.
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