How bad does a resume look with a master degree which cost 4 years? I quited PhD in CS and switched to math master with the hope to find a quant job.Since I quited the PhD really late (2.5 years later), and my math master is 1.5 years. Hence my resume will have a 4 year master on that. What would employers think about that? By the way, I am around 30 now and I had a CS master before.Or I should try to graduate ASAP, and go to find a job? Well, in that case, I would only have one year on math, which seems not sufficient.Thank you for your valuable suggestions.

First question is why you quit the PhD ?

The PhD I was doing was not quatitative related and I'm more interested in a quant job.

Quitting something 5/6th of the way through looks *much* worse than not having a quant-focused (or even related!) PhD. Were those 6 months so well spent to cancel out the bad karma of not finishing what you started 30 months ago?If I was reading your CV, I'd think "Wow, this guy's good at making bad decisions". Irrespective of whether you have a quant-focused MSc or not.

QuoteOriginally posted by: commonwealThe PhD I was doing was not quatitative related and I'm more interested in a quant job.off the topic, if you're ABD (all but dissertation) you might look into whether you can finish your dissertation while working. The uni will likely support it as they get another grad and their completion rate goes up, and you get to call yourself "doctor"It's what I'd do under the circumstances

QuoteOriginally posted by: mutleyQuitting something 5/6th of the way through looks *much* worse than not having a quant-focused (or even related!) PhD. Were those 6 months so well spent to cancel out the bad karma of not finishing what you started 30 months ago?I think commonweal is studying in US (based on his/her Halloween signature).... In that's case, 2.5 year is more like half way through rather than 5/6th of the way towards getting a PhD. Anyway, getting a degree in a longer than normally expected duration is not good on CV. I would try to finish the master degree asap. Or, better still, bite the bullet and complete the CS PhD. Ability to complete something undesirable is a talent by itself.

I agree with DY, giving up looks pretty bad.

Academia is funny in many ways, and one of them is that, the longer you are in it, the worse-off you are if it doesn't work out. Quitting graduate school is bad, but earlier is usually better than later (though at MA might be preferable to first-year). Likewise, if you finish, do a couple postdocs but somehow end up in "adjunct hell" the entire world will view you as a burnt-out loser has-been and you'll struggle to get assistant-manager jobs at Borders. It's probably not right for it to be this way, but unfortunately, it's how the world operates.I have a year of grad school, and left for many reasons. If I suspected it were a career risk (and it probably wouldn't be except in applying to other grad schools) I could always leave it off my resume and say I "traveled" during that year. With 2.5 years, I suspect that wouldn't work, and if you had a degree, you could be later face repurcussions for omitting the degree, including alienating the department in case you ever need a reference from them.

Quotealmosteverywhere wrote:but somehow end up in "adjunct hell" the entire world will view you as a burnt-out loserWhat a strange remark. There are many adjunct profs who are tops in their field. There are not many 'chairs' to go round. Why should you worry about what the entire world think of you?

QuoteOriginally posted by: almosteverywhere Likewise, if you finish, do a couple postdocs but somehow end up in "adjunct hell" the entire world will view you as a burnt-out loser has-been and you'll struggle to get assistant-manager jobs at Borders. It's probably not right for it to be this way, but unfortunately, it's how the world operates.The entire world won't view you that way. The people who got the jobs will view you that way because to do otherwise means that *they* wasted years of their lives to get where they are, but you don't have to accept their judgment (unless that is what you want to do). Most of the world in fact is refreshingly indifferent to a lot of academic credentials.If you have a Ph.D. in science or engineering it is very unlikely that you will end up getting an assistant manager job at Borders. (French literature, then maybe). The department that I got my Ph.D. from did a survey of all of the graduating Ph.D.'s for one decade. Very few were in tenure-track academic positions, but all of them had decent jobs, and most had jobs that were science related.QuoteWith 2.5 years, I suspect that wouldn't work, and if you had a degree, you could be later face repurcussions for omitting the degree, including alienating the department in case you ever need a reference from them.Academia or industry? In the case of industry no one cares what the department thinks of you. The odds of getting an academic job are so low that I don't any reason to have that enter into ones calcuations.

Well, I think I will not go back to PhD again since I have been out of it for one year. As for the matter of this applied math master, would you suggest go graduating or stay for an additional 8 months to take PDE and Stochastic Process? Or do these "core" courses really matter that much to worth 8 months stay in gradschool where I already spent 3.5 years?