<p>Hi, I was surprised to see a report on high attrition rate in Maths related </p>
<p>PhD programs. I am interested in pursuing a PhD in Finance or </p>
<p>Mathematical finance but I am worried about its difficulty level. In case I </p>
<p>have to quit my PhD, will the university grant me a Masters in </p>
<p>Finace/Mathematical Finance?
Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>any reply guys??</p>
<p>math phds are 1) hard 2) no pay. 3) no guaranteed good salary after you complete 4) long.</p>
<p>so why math phd instead of some defined specialized area like engineering where jobs may be a lot more lucrative on average.</p>
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<p>Of course it depends on the university. You have to find that out specifically for the university you want to attend.</p>
<p>Yes, most universities will grant you a master’s (with hesitation because they invested in you to finish). You have to finish all the work to get the master’s though.</p>
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<p>Really? I am no expert but I was under the impression that math PhD programs usually come with full funding (I have heard from several sources that an offer of admission without funding should be considered a rejection) and most programs expect you to finish in 4-5 years (contrast that to the humanities!).</p>
<p>Finance PhD programs are fully funded (tuition and living stipend). Attrition rate depends on school and student. Lots of jobs. VERY high pay. Market is not like that for math phd. This is true for most business disciplines.</p>
<p>Math PhDs aren’t necessarily low paying. If you obtain a professorship at any decent university you can usually make 6 figures in due time. I can only imagine how much Andrew Wiles gets paid…</p>
<p>I can only imagine how many Andrew Wiles there are.</p>
<p>jmilton makes a great point. Math and other fields like Physics are very prestige oriented. There is an elite and you damn well know if you are in the elite from the get go. It’s a tough job market to become a professor, even kids out of Michigan, Harvard end up at Tier 2 schools. It’s extremely difficult to get into a good math program, which is pretty much a necessity to work at a top 30 university.</p>
<p>I think the original title of this thread changed from Math Phds to Mathematical Finance PhDs. Now specializing in finance is another story which puts you off the professorship market and more on the banking market (which may be a good or bad thing nowadays).</p>
<p>“Now specializing in finance is another story which puts you off the professorship market and more on the banking market (which may be a good or bad thing nowadays).”</p>
<p>On the other hand, the <em>academic</em> job market for Ph.D’s in mathematical finance is much better/less competitive than for Ph.D’s in pure math, and finance professors are paid much more than math professors-- mathematical finance just happens to be very useful and very boring.</p>