Help!!!--- Choice: full time vs part time finance PHD

While it is true that PhD's are more common now, I was not aware that this was the norm in Toronto (NYC and London sure, but I didn't know that was the case in Toronto as well).

In any case, attending part time (I am not sure which schools even allow you to do that) will not allow you to get the most out of the program. If I recall you had an offer from Queen's, they have some decent people there that do work in the area (Frank Milne) and a couple of the profs in the B-school have some private sector experience.

If your goal is to stay in the private sector, I am not sure if the expected payoff is worth the costs of pursuing a PhD. What school is offering you part time?

It is EDHEC risk institute in France, a new program. Its profs are good. But the cost is big.

It seems that you are familiar with the Queens B school. Yes, I am thinking of Frank Milne as a good prof. But I thought he is more theoretical. Queen is good but my opportunity cost is relatively big.

I like research. That is why I am still hesitating here. If I was 5 years younger (I am 37 now), I won't think for a second to head for Queen.

Well, I am not sure if you need to go to France. You might be able to work something out with a person like Tom Hurd at McMaster or someone like that, you might need to do a year or something full time to get your courses done, but after that you can probably work a bit and write a thesis. I would suggest going the math/stats route instead of the business school route if your end goal is the private sector. I am assuming you have the necessary training to do Quantitative finance at a reasonable level (SDE's, Monte Carlo (which is pretty easy), and understand the differences between physical and risk neutral densities, things like that).

Good luck.

I have quant finance master from waterloo. But I don't think math finance itself is promising for finance. I want a real research not just formulae. I know some guy under Hurd, whose research is not that interesting for me.

For business school, I like more real business research with math as a tool. I personally don't think of some complex math necessary. As for queen, its economics background catches my eye. For EDHEC, I don't need to leave my work. They need 8 weeks' residence in 3 years. And they have first class profs with Princeton, MIT PHD.

Personally, I don't like bank type jobs in which even most PHDs just write programs like senior IT. The difference is :some work with quite complex financial models then code them;the other work with simple models then code with huge amount of data from the trading book.

My real intention is with PHD I would be able to work in industry then switch to academia or directly to academia.

Are you a finance PHD student? If so, do you think the research you are doing will have a real contribution to our society? I sometimes just ask myself, will finance need that much mathematicians? I like merton type guys, who develop real ideas not make things more complicate.

I am a doctoral student in a business school. I am not too sure about the contribution that finance makes to society, perhaps very little, it is hard to say.

Again, you will have to decide what it is you want. If academia is your goal, you will almost surely need to go for a full time program, if it is not, then the part time program may be the way to go. But I am not sure how this will be perceived by the private sector, you would be in a better position to assess that.

Good luck.

In my group, some PHD are seeking part time MBA ar rotman or york; some bachelors are seeking part time finance master at rotman. They will be regarding as good. PHD with MBA is easier to be promoted to senior management positions. If for promotion with master background like me, perhaps getting a first class part time MBA is best , like Wharton.

Yes, if you could do an MBA at Wharton, Chicago, Columbia, etc then that is a nice way to go. I would suggest not going the PhD route for a better position in the private sector, it may help, but I think that a program designed for private sector positions afterward (like an MBA) is the best decision if you are private sector oriented.

If you do an MBA in Toronto, I would recommend Rotman. It is separating itself from all of the other schools in Canada (hiring good faculty and has good connections to industry).

Take care