I am debating between going for a PhD or grabing a job two years later.Now I am a first year graduate student in Computational Finance in Math Depart in Purdue Univ. My undergraduate major is math, however, my programming skill is not that good, which I will make up in the following two years.I don't want to be in the academic area, so I wonder which path is better for me. It there anybody can offer a comparasion between a fresh PhD vs. a Master with ~5 yrs experience? If PhD, is it necessary to transfer to a another(better) institution, which is likely to prolong the period on campus for about 2 years. However, someone says that Purdue does not have a strong reputation enough to make you in Wall Street. So that is why I am thinking about pursuing a PhD in another place.And if Master+job, what kind of job is most likely for me to get. I know it is hard to garantee this. So far as I know, most of jobs available for Masters in this area are something like programming positions. Is there any possibilities? And how about the ratio(programmer/total)Thank you

anyone?

Depends on if you are interested in academic. I always suggest my clients to think about carefully before making decisions.

If you don't want to be an academic, then avoid phd programs. You will be miserable in them because they won't serve your needs. (A phd student takes an entirely different set of courses than what a masters student would take.)

Are you interested in a Ph.D. in physics or math?If you like physics and/or math and you aren't sure what you want to do, I'd argue that a Ph.D. is a spendid idea provided that you go into the program knowing that you have very little hope of getting an academic position. The problem with Ph.D.'s in science and math is that most of the people in the universities have never been outside of them, and they don't realize how useful one is outside of academia.

QuoteOriginally posted by: twofishAre you interested in a Ph.D. in physics or math?If you like physics and/or math and you aren't sure what you want to do, I'd argue that a Ph.D. is a spendid idea provided that you go into the program knowing that you have very little hope of getting an academic position. The problem with Ph.D.'s in science and math is that most of the people in the universities have never been outside of them, and they don't realize how useful one is outside of academia.yes, I to some extent like math, but I am sure I won't be a academic guy in this area. but so far as I know, PhD are required to be a quat, right? so how are the positions there for masters? could you talk more about this?thank you

QuoteOriginally posted by: simpleshueyes, I to some extent like math, but I am sure I won't be a academic guy in this area. but so far as I know, PhD are required to be a quat, right? so how are the positions there for masters? could you talk more about this?thank youIf you are sure that you want to go into finance, then a Ph.D. is less useful. The usefulness of a physics/math Ph.D. is that it gives you a lot of flexibility should you want to change your career after 10 years. This becomes *really* useful because you are less subject to the whims of the economy. No one knows what the world is going to be like in twenty years, and having a strong education background lets you deal more easily with whatever fate throws at you.As far as being an academic, the market for academics in science and math is so bad that you really can't count on an academic job on your way out. The other thing is that the journey is as important as the destination. If you are really anxious to get out into industry that moves things away from getting a Ph.D. If you like school, that moves things toward getting a Ph.D.

QuoteOriginally posted by: simpleshueyes, I to some extent like math, but I am sure I won't be a academic guy in this area. but so far as I know, PhD are required to be a quat, right? so how are the positions there for masters? could you talk more about this?thank youThere are some other posts that you could refer to. I will say this and people can disagree. If you want to head a quantitative research group or trading desk, then you will need a PhD - mainly in Maths, engineering, physics, statistics and have very good knowledge of Finance. But, if you are a Phd in Finance from a top tier school, then that is great too! With PhD you can get job easily ( no doubt) and many jobs require the title , 'PhD' unless you have a very good experience + have bachelors/masters in a quantitative field (again from a very good university). Now getting good experience is not easy unless you have good skills, so it goes back to how you build it - go back to school or learn on your own , do certifications, publish papers with smart people (where to find them?) and so on. Of all I guess, it becomes easier if you do build your skills part time like course work and certifications, etc. Again, that is not a guarantee that you might end up doing a very good quantitative job.... On re-reading my own post, I guess I am leaning towards emphasis on coursework (be it full time Phd or some other way). Plus you need to have decent programming skills in SAS, Matlab, VB or better still in C/C++ ( at least know STL in C++).

QuoteThere are some other posts that you could refer to. I will say this and people can disagree. If you want to head a quantitative research group or trading desk, then you will need a PhD - mainly in Maths, engineering, physics, statistics and have very good knowledge of Finance. But, if you are a Phd in Finance from a top tier school, then that is great too! With PhD you can get job easily ( no doubt) and many jobs require the title , 'PhD' unless you have a very good experience + have bachelors/masters in a quantitative field (again from a very good university). Now getting good experience is not easy unless you have good skills, so it goes back to how you build it - go back to school or learn on your own , do certifications, publish papers with smart people (where to find them?) and so on. Of all I guess, it becomes easier if you do build your skills part time like course work and certifications, etc. Again, that is not a guarantee that you might end up doing a very good quantitative job.... On re-reading my own post, I guess I am leaning towards emphasis on coursework (be it full time Phd or some other way). Plus you need to have decent programming skills in SAS, Matlab, VB or better still in C/C++ ( at least know STL in C++).Thank you first.If I have not misunderstood you, you mean PhD can offer you some useful experience, without much risk, while with only a master degree it is not easy to get such a position that you can get useful experience from? Right?

QuoteThe other thing is that the journey is as important as the destination. I really like this sentence,and yeah, it is true that it seems many guys in math do not know how useful is math outside

QuoteOriginally posted by: simpleshueQuote Thank you first.If I have not misunderstood you, you mean PhD can offer you some useful experience, without much risk, while with only a master degree it is not easy to get such a position that you can get useful experience from? Right?Broadly speaking, yes! There are of course exceptions....

Thank you very much all your guys.I will think about this more seriously to make a decision.

QuoteOriginally posted by: KackToodlesIf you don't want to be an academic, then avoid phd programs. You will be miserable in them because they won't serve your needs. (A phd student takes an entirely different set of courses than what a masters student would take.)This is not true. Many times, a masters is a stepping stone towards a PhD and some of your courses can be transferred. Many schools like Dartmouth , Berkeley (the two I have been to) also recommend the masters students to take PhD level courses. Its true that you may only take a sub-set of the Phd level courses but if you wish you could tailor your masters accordingly so that it will help you get into the PhD program. So, you could actually look for similar places where there is some intersection between masters and Phd. Then after you build your basics and take some advanced courses, you can ask yourself as to what direction you wanna go -- a job or Phd.

QuoteThis is not true. Many times, a masters is a stepping stone towards a PhD and some of your courses can be transferred. Many schools like Dartmouth , Berkeley (the two I have been to) also recommend the masters students to take PhD level courses. Its true that you may only take a sub-set of the Phd level courses but if you wish you could tailor your masters accordingly so that it will help you get into the PhD program. So, you could actually look for similar places where there is some intersection between masters and Phd. Then after you build your basics and take some advanced courses, you can ask yourself as to what direction you wanna go -- a job or Phd.yeah, that is what I am doing now. But thank you very much any way!Here I still have another question. If I'd like to transfer to another school to continue my PhD after this Master Program, can some my courses be transferred? If I pass the qualifying exams in Purdue, do I have to take those in other institutions?