Stop blaming your degree(s) for the unhappiness in your life. Once you realize its YOU, not your degree that determines your happiness, your life will be much better. Don't think your degree will replace any serious deficiencies (emotional, social, intellectual, etc.) that you have in your life. Some MBAs are earning twice as more than quants with PhDs because they are the among the best at whatever job they have, not because they have MBAs. The connections you make as an MBA may land you a job out of the program, but will certainly not carry you to the top.

But ChicagoGuy if you can't get onto the field you can't lpay the game. With a PhD you can't get om the field... And I have got news for you, just because you are a shitty quant doesn't mean you'd be crap at everything else in the FO!

i386, PhDs ARE treated worse than MBAs (tho both are treated abysmally in the beginning - only diff is the abuse never ends as a quant at an IB) and you are deluding yourself thinking that money does not matter. The only way a PhD has any more value is if you slacked your way through it and enjoyed being semi retired in your 20s only problem is that you have thus consumed part of your retirement upfront.

QuoteOriginally posted by: EscapeArtist999i386, PhDs ARE treated worse than MBAs (tho both are treated abysmally in the beginning - only diff is the abuse never ends as a quant at an IB) and you are deluding yourself thinking that money does not matter. The only way a PhD has any more value is if you slacked your way through it and enjoyed being semi retired in your 20s only problem is that you have thus consumed part of your retirement upfront.Steady on young slamon. Its not really your place to tell people how to be happy, I hear tell of the odd academic who enjoys his/her subject. IMHO more money is a nice thing to have but I would place interest in my work as being of higher priority than cash (as long as I have enough to get by, which you would get in either academia or finance witha a PHD).

Don't confuse frustrating, difficult, and boring with interesting hungryquant.

QuoteOriginally posted by: EscapeArtist999Don't confuse frustrating, difficult, and boring with interesting hungryquant.What was you PHD in by the way ?

Stochastic Processes.

QuoteOriginally posted by: EscapeArtist999Stochastic Processes.did you choose this topic specifically for a career in finance ?

No. It was marginally interesting in the beginning, and seemed like the least amount of trouble. I had no serious interest in research or math, it was my ticket out of the third world.

It has been sometime for a post by KackToodles aka Deepvalue.

AbhiJ,They (he?) are probably on the new forum that TF found.

QuoteOriginally posted by: AbhiJIt has been sometime for a post by KackToodles aka Deepvalue.KT / DV is making too much money at GS to waste time here with mere mortals.

KT/DV don't work at GS, and if they did, they would be strats getting paid peanuts for 60-70 hour weeks of sheer programming hell.

I occasionally come across these smart MFEs who want to chuck up $150K jobs and go to a second-tier or third-tier school for a Finance PhD. Once their mind is made up, nothing you can say will convince them otherwise.

TJ, even an Ivy PhD is a waste... That being said, if the job they had was fundamentally quant (coding) as an mfe, then maybe it's not much of a loss... Not sure.