Chaotic: Will a postdoc at Harvard give more options on the long term than a permanent position at an IB?I think so. It will keep you into the United States, which is not a small thing.Chaotic: Will a postdoc at Harvard give more options on the long term than a permanent position at an IB?I think that a postdoc at Harvard will give you more options in the long term than a permanent position at an IB outside of the US/UK.Chaotic: Would this postdoc improve my chances of getting an interview?If it keeps you around for one to three years while you wait to see if the economy improves or not, then yes.

Thank you very much for your insightful comments. It seems that it would be a mistake to miss such an amazing opportunity at Harvard.I have background in theoretical physics and comp. bio. will be a completely new field for me. I owe this opportunity to my advisor (super famous)and to a lesser extent to my computational skills.Another concern I have is my age. I came to the US after some time in the industry, so I am in my early thirties.

QuoteOriginally posted by: ChaoticThank you very much for your insightful comments. It seems that it would be a mistake to miss such an amazing opportunity at Harvard.I have background in theoretical physics and comp. bio. will be a completely new field for me. I owe this opportunity to my advisor (super famous)and to a lesser extent to my computational skills.Another concern I have is my age. I came to the US after some time in the industry, so I am in my early thirties.Don't assume a postdoc at Harvard will open all doors in banking. It will be helpful for banking but perhaps not as helpful as you think. Many bank managers are more concerned about where you did your PhD and undergraduate degrees. However, the postdoc at Harvard will be very helpful for academic positions should you decide to remain in academia. I know guys in their mid-30s who made the transistion to banking. Some even went to Goldman. The better shops tend to discriminate less based on age.You say your advisor is "super famous". Is he a Nobel Prize winner? When applying to banks, you should emphasize this point. It may be helpful.

Vikram Pandit(CEO of Citigroup) made the transition to banking around 37 where he headed the Morgan Stanley's institutional securities division. He was a PhD, MBA and a prof prior to making the transition tho.Early 30s isn't a problem at all, the average age for Ph.D graduates tend to vary between 27-31, and some are even older in Canada. The key is to gain useful experience while you are still in academia which will be transferable to finance later. SG

I have seen way too many people waste the best years of their lives doing a postdoc at Harvard or MIT. Sadly a postdoc at Harvard is not nearly as valuable as a PhD or bachelor from Harvard. Harvard recognizesthat you are a very qualified person and is hiring you for a very low wage. Most probably you will find out that your professor is just like a boss at work, only much more difficult to meet and please.If your job offer were from US I would say take that job immediately. In your condition I have some doubtsbut I still lean toward taking the job.

Do you want to live in the US, or in your home counrty?

Don't harvard Cbio labs have about a dozen postdocs? It's easy to get lost in the hordes even while your boss works you to death.

QuoteOriginally posted by: asimeqiI have seen way too many people waste the best years of their lives doing a postdoc at Harvard or MIT. Sadly a postdoc at Harvard is not nearly as valuable as a PhD or bachelor from Harvard. Harvard recognizesthat you are a very qualified person and is hiring you for a very low wage. Most probably you will find out that your professor is just like a boss at work, only much more difficult to meet and please.If your job offer were from US I would say take that job immediately. In your condition I have some doubtsbut I still lean toward taking the job.You have to be careful defining the question. Having a postdoc from Harvard is really useful if you want to go into academia. The postdoc itself is completely useless if you want to go into industry *BUT* the skills you end up learning while doing the postdoc could be quite valuable. If you were doing the exact same thing as a postdoc that you were doing as a Ph.D., it would be of limited value. However, the original poster is planning on doing something completely new and different, and computational biology sounds like it could be very useful to investment banking. I don't know how it could be useful, but it's something that the interviewee can explain during an interview if they have some basic finance knowledge.

QuoteOriginally posted by: musterseedMany bank managers are more concerned about where you did your PhD and undergraduate degrees.People tend to be most concerned about the skills that you have. Part of the challenge will be explaining to the interviewer, why the work you did is relevant to finance, and the challenge here is that you won't be able to get the answer from any book. Things that involve processing massive data sets and parallel computing are very applicable to finance.QuoteYou say your advisor is "super famous". Is he a Nobel Prize winner? When applying to banks, you should emphasize this point. It may be helpful.The fact that your advisor is super famous is something that you need to emphasize on the resume, since he might not be famous to the HH and HR people that do the initial screening. Most people have heard of the Nobel prize, but if you write that your advisor (or even you) have has won the Field Medal, most HH or HR might have no idea what that is, so you need to include a tag saying that is the "equivalent to the Nobel prize in mathematics." If your advisor hasn't won the Nobel, then trying to point out that he is world famous is actually an interesting marketing problem.

QuoteOriginally posted by: KackToodlesQuote<ost people have to first get an MFE. thus, if you dream is to stay in academia, go to Harvard. But if your dream is to work for a bank, go to the bank.There are good jobs in banks. There are crappy jobs in banks. One thing that I do detect from the original poster is a lack of enthusiasm for the position at the IB. If the situation is that the poster really thinks that the Harvard position is cool and fun, and the IB position is grudge work, and wants to know if he is doomed if he takes the Harvard position, then it's a no-brainer. Take the Harvard position. If the economy improves, they'll be other IB positions. If it doesn't, then why would you want to work in a declining industry?QuoteOR, you can explain your situation to the bank, and ask if they'll give you a 1 year deferral to go to Harvard.If someone had a job in which they could wait a year before filling, I'd be very suspicious about taking it. If the bank can get by for one year, without that work being done, then it must not be very important. One problem is that during that year, things can change. You could decide that you can work somewhere else. The bank could decide that they want someone else. The big problem in asking is that they might say yes.

QuotePeople tend to be most concerned about the skills that you have. Part of the challenge will be explaining to the interviewer, why the work you did is relevant to finance, and the challenge here is that you won't be able to get the answer from any book. Things that involve processing massive data sets and parallel computing are very applicable to finance.To be invited to interview, it is very helpful to have an Ivy league or equivalent on your CV. Some companies - like Goldman, DE Shaw, or McKinsey - probably won't even consider interviewing you unless they see that Ivy distinction. It's not fair, but that's the way it is. That being said, more emphasis is placed on where you did your PhD and BSc than where you did your PostDoc. But still the Harvard name would help. After you get an interview, then what you know becomes more important than where or how you learnt it.

QuoteThat being said, more emphasis is placed on where your PhD and BSc came from then where you did your PostDoc.Yes sadly this seems to be the case with some institutions, but I have yet to see any conclusive evidence linking university of degree to work performance. I guess it acts as a initial filter to provide a subset of CVs to look at (based on the assumption that on average those with a PhD from a top tier will be better - whatever that means). Surely you would assume a limited supply of Ph.Ds in numerate areas graduating globally so I still don't understand why university attended is still used as a filter when they can simply look through a dozen or so fresh PhD grad applicants. Some hiring team will be a bit Bayesian about this in the sense they will look at the PhDs they had in the past and perhaps notice a trend where more were better from the top tier and bias future recruitment campaigns at those universities. SG

QuoteOriginally posted by: musterseedTo be invited to interview, it is very helpful to have an Ivy league or equivalent on your CV.It helps because you can use alumni associations to network, and some places will target certain schools for road shows and work closely with career services. However, in many places it doesn't really change whether a person is invited to an interview. This is particularly true for Ph.D.'s.QuoteSome companies - like Goldman, DE Shaw, or McKinsey - probably won't even consider interviewing you unless they see that Ivy distinction.Are you guessing or do you know? I have very strong reasons to think neither Goldman or JPMorgan care where you get your degree. DE Shaw cares a lot about test scores and things like math olympiads. McKinsey doesn't hire too many quants. QuoteBut still the Harvard name would help. I don't think it will. Going down to the B-school and looking at the posters that say "come here to get interviewed" will as well meeting people that actually work in the places you are thinking about interviewing. This is one reason these forums are useful, since a lot of the information in these forums is stuff people get from alumni, and reading these forums greatly levels the playing field.

QuoteOriginally posted by: StatGuyYes sadly this seems to be the case with some institutions, but I have yet to see any conclusive evidence linking university of degree to work performance.There isn't, but that's not why university degrees matter. You have a certain budget for recruitment events and on-campus interviews, and big name campus are "Brains R' Us." One stop shopping for your staffing needs. It doesn't matter that Harvard has better or worse graduates. They have graduates that are "good enough" and they have money to pay for "brain salesmen."QuoteI guess it acts as a initial filter to provide a subset of CVs to look at (based on the assumption that on average those with a PhD from a top tier will be better - whatever that means).For Ph.D.'s it matters less, since you are hiring large numbers of people. I really don't think that for banking jobs, people care at all where your Ph.D. comes from.QuoteSome hiring team will be a bit Bayesian about this in the sense they will look at the PhDs they had in the past and perhaps notice a trend where more were better from the top tier and bias future recruitment campaigns at those universities. That's not how sales decisions are made. Harvard graduates may not be better than students at other schools, but they aren't substantially worse. At that point the benefit doesn't matter, and you look at the cost. The "brain salesman" from Harvard will call you put and get you to send someone to recruit there.

QuoteIt helps because you can use alumni associations to network, and some places will target certain schools for road shows and work closely with career services. However, in many places it doesn't really change whether a person is invited to an interview. This is particularly true for Ph.D.'s.There is some validity here. Networking helps if you are from a less well known university. The only problem I can see here tho is would a Harvard PhD/MBA have time for you ? Class segregation exists and sometimes invisibly. QuoteFor Ph.D.'s it matters less, since you are hiring large numbers of people. I really don't think that for banking jobs, people care at all where your Ph.D. comes from.Looking at the comments below it seems opinions on this are sadly divided. Yes it dosn't matter in my view, but then someone could also argue that you have better networks in top tier universities and higher marketing budget. Also some of the quant adds put "PhD from a top tier uni" which can also be questioned as to what that exactly means. SG