If one want to be more successful in finance industry,should he enters finance industry with PhD in quanor should he enters finance industry with MS in quan fin and earns moreexperience than PhD?Which choice is more valuable?Thanks.

Both degrees are valued, but neither will do more than get you an entry. Even for that purpose, the quality of the program and your particular work can make more difference than the degree.My personal feeling is there is never a point to getting a Ph.D. unless you plan to teach.

Aaron, I must disagree with your last statement about PhD's. Maybe I can convince you that there is more to a dissertation than a teaching job at the end (or an octopagillion $$$ position in a bank, as many people on this forum tend to think).PhDs offer the freedom of doing research for a long period of time with access to priceless ressources...I have in mind other students with converging interests, and more importantly the faculty members; they are often leaders in the field who decide what is "hot" and what is not. This offers an unparalleled environment in which on can indulge in one's interest, without worrying about anything else! (they even provide meal plans so you don't have to cook!!) A PhD is the easiest and quickest way to serious research. In addition, one gets a chance to live the academic life...and get some flavor of teaching.PhD programs last a while (say 4 to 6 years), and often take up the best years of your life: the mid-twenties (maybe I am wrong on this point!). So I like to think of them as small careers. They are a good thing in themselves. The final result: a new observation, maybe a new interpretation of an old physical experiment, a new computer program, or even a new theorem....the reward/high of a new discovery is well-worth the many months/years of struggling.A PhD is an experience in itself regardless of what one does before or after it. I don't like to think of a vertical structure (PhD's are better than MBA's which are better than BA's etc). In my view, different diplomas simply reflect different interests (at a given moment in time).

Sorry not to be adding anything worthwhile to 1Edwards query, but I wonder why this thread /post on this forum is getting more attention than the same thread in the Careers forum?!Anyway, I think it would be a good idea for the site administrators to consolidate similar threads (specially the threads on which there has not been any activity in recent times) and create sub-directories within the root forum. The General and Student forums are getting difficult to navigate.

I don't know whether a PhD will shower you with success & riches, but it surely is fun. The trouble is one day you wake up and find you have to make a living ...... you are fortunate if there's direct application of your work in industry, or else it can be a struggle. I suppose in some senses no different from other degrees, except that you've spent years doing it. Personally, I think one's asking for trouble, if one enter's a PhD program "casually." Casually? I.e. enter a program with riches on your mind as opposed to a strong interest for the subject. If its the former it will be a heavy trudge ....

Your PhD years are probably the very last chance you have in your life for devoting yourself completely to thinking about something that you really like, regardless of how esoteric it may be, for a number of years with no distractions, no pressure to produce papers, write grant applications, supervise students, or even make a decent living. Of course, at some point you will be under enormous pressure to write up and get a job, but for a number of years it will be too early to think about any of these concerns. You are allowed to dream on all day, stay up all night, do whatever you wish to do, etc, etc, and if you have a decent supervisor, it's all perfectly acceptable. If you also happen to have all of the above in a respectable university, with a critical mass of people, particularly fellow students, who are maniacal about research and where staff take students perfectly seriously, then it's a truly great experience. I would recommend it even to my own kids. PS I wrote all of the above, then I noticed that zq has said exactly the same thing earlier. That's not the first time that this happens. Maybe I don't have to say anything whenever zq writes first My only qualification, as compared to what zq says, is that I believe that the above applies only to research oriented universities, where PhD students are taken seriously as PhD students, rather than used as cheap labour to teach calculus to 1st year Engineers. In the latter cases, young people could be simply marking time.

....... fellow students, who are maniacal about research ........ research oriented universities And Highly Accomplished Maniacal Supervisors .......... (read maniacal as passionate about research) ..... could really make it worthwhile......

Omar, Thanks for completing my thought! I agree that my description applies mostly to research oriented institutions.The slave labor routine (grad student = cheap labor) is not what I consider a fun experience! That's a personal view. However, I don't mind doing my share, as long as the research is good. After all, someone has to pay for the meal plan!I have friends who love to teach even 1st year calculus to engineers. They are happy and that's all that matters.

University is an exercise in propaganda. If you want to dig ditches, get a job. If you want to talk about digging ditches, get a Phd. Of course, on the one hand, you will only likely discover anything useful about ditch-digging if you are actually down in the mud day-in-and-day-out. But then, if you do discover something interesting about ditch-digging, you will want to be able to plug your findings into the propaganda pipeline controlled by the intellectual class.I think one of the tragedies of my life has been that I am a social person, rather than a roll-up-the-sleeves and work alone all night person. But my lack of a college education has forced me into anti-social pursuits such as poker playing and trend trading, when I fancy myself to be more cut out for actually innovating and promoting a brokerage hub for the use of other strategists. Then again, if I weren't an anti-social crocodile, my teachers would have graded me better.MP

"I have friends who love to teach even 1st year calculus to engineers. They are happy and that's all that matters. " Oh, I don't mind it at all. I actually enjoy it very much as long as someone is learning. But it's not something that young people should be doing for too many hours a week if their intention is research.

I have already mentioned somewhere on this forum an interesting article in RISK (2001 I guess ?) that discussed this very issue as projected to jobs and salaries in finance. The overall conclusion was that while Master programs in fin math are useful, one typically needs a Ph.D. (for an entry level positon) to land an interesting job that pays good $$$.