I was looking at some student bios at Berkeley and the profiles seem very surprising. 13 students had already one masters degree, 4 had 2 masters degrees already, 5 had physics PhDs, 9 had MBAs (w/ 1 having another masters), 1 had a Chem E PhD, 1 had a Econ PhD and at least 2 had prior trading experience (and were apparently very successful at trading). I thought the physics and econ PhDs knew this stuff already.Do people with these backgrounds really need the additional masters to get/keep a job in finance? Is the job market really that bad that a condensed matter physics PhD from Berkeley can't get you a "quant" job w/o going back for a MFE or am I missing something? Is this cross section pretty typical at most other MFE/Math Fin programs?

I think this cross section is similar to what we have at CMU, although we do not have 5 Physics Phds. My impression is that many of the people who go to do a MFE degree have little formal training in finance. They tend to be bored with the applications of math/CS in the field they are coming from, and have only read a few books about finance. They also want to make more money. They are used to basing their careers around a formal education. It is harder to get interviews without being in school, so in general going back to school makes sense. If you are going to spend a year or two looking for a job in a new field, why not do it while you are learning about the field in school. The career services offices and the alumni contacts make it a ot easier. Also it is much easier to get internships than full time jobs. You cant really get an internship unless you are in school. Also I think my impression is that when interviewing, the Physics Phd's and Math Phd's are competing against each other. So if you are looking for a serious quant, and there 10 Phd's, it may be hard to choose. It is easy to take the guy with the Finance PhD and an MFE since they can usually get up to speedquicker. You may sabe yourself 6 months of training time. I don't think the job market is bad, just very competitive. Many years ago, maybe 10, people I knew comingout with a PhD in Finance from a top school came in as VP's. Now they are coming in as associates. There is a demand for quants, but there is supply as well, so people do what they need to do to get a competitive edge in the job market.QuoteOriginally posted by: JimothyI was looking at some student bios at Berkeley and the profiles seem very surprising. 13 students had already one masters degree, 4 had 2 masters degrees already, 5 had physics PhDs, 9 had MBAs (w/ 1 having another masters), 1 had a Chem E PhD, 1 had a Econ PhD and at least 2 had prior trading experience (and were apparently very successful at trading). I thought the physics and econ PhDs knew this stuff already.Do people with these backgrounds really need the additional masters to get/keep a job in finance? Is the job market really that bad that a condensed matter physics PhD from Berkeley can't get you a "quant" job w/o going back for a MFE or am I missing something? Is this cross section pretty typical at most other MFE/Math Fin programs?