PSA: Don't get a PhD, kids.

[Tupac Shakur]

An interesting article from the Economist that makes me glad I only got a high school education...

Doctoral degrees: The disposable academic

[Tupac Shakur]

Best line? My nomination...

Many of the drawbacks of doing a PhD are well known. Your correspondent was aware of them over a decade ago while she slogged through a largely pointless PhD in theoretical ecology.

That's only slightly less ridiculous than a PhD in interdisciplinary ecology (tropical mountain developing world low-input agriculture specializing in gender).

[KrazyHorse]

Dr Schwartz, the New York physicist, says the skills learned in the course of a PhD can be readily acquired through much shorter courses. Thirty years ago, he says, Wall Street firms realised that some physicists could work out differential equations and recruited them to become “quants”, analysts and traders. Today several short courses offer the advanced maths useful for finance. “A PhD physicist with one course on differential equations is not competitive,” says Dr Schwartz.

This is actually not true. MFE/MSc Fin is not even close to as highly regarded as PhD physics/math.

[KrazyHorse]

Dr Schwartz, the New York physicist, says the skills learned in the course of a PhD can be readily acquired through much shorter courses. Thirty years ago, he says, Wall Street firms realised that some physicists could work out differential equations and recruited them to become “quants”, analysts and traders. Today several short courses offer the advanced maths useful for finance. “A PhD physicist with one course on differential equations is not competitive,” says Dr Schwartz.

This is actually not true. MFE/MSc Fin is not even close to as highly regarded as PhD physics/math.

[Tupac Shakur]

I'm guessing the typical PhD physicist has more than one course on differential equations under his belt, right?

[KrazyHorse]

I only have two "differential equations" courses. Both were in undergrad.

There are a whole range of other courses and actual research experience which are far more valuable. You'd have to try pretty hard to avoid learning things useful for finance while doing any reasonably mathematical physics PhD.

The physics PhD also says a lot more about your general intelligence than the MFE does

[Tupac Shakur]

I bow to your greater expertise on this issue.

[KrazyHorse]

I wouldn't recommend getting a physics PhD just to go into finance. However, it's a pretty good exit option.

EDIT: one thing to note is that a lot of PhDs choose to be massively useless. >50% of my cohort in physics would never make it in even the realtively sheltered quant world

[Tupac Shakur]

I'm hoping some of the Poly PhD burnouts will chime in here and give me some more anecdotal evidence to deploy the next time I need to talk one of my PhD-enamored friends off the ledge.

[KrazyHorse]

It took 6 years of my life, and by the end I hated physics.

On the other hand, I never would have ended up where I am without it

[Tupac Shakur]

That's a pretty steep opportunity cost, even if the end point is a good one.

[Zoetstofzoetje]

My PhD took me all over the world, and I had a lot of fun. The only downside was the writing-up - that's a biatch.

[KrazyHorse]

I'm not sure if there was actually much opportunity cost.

Without going to PhD, based on my level of maturity at the time, I would have ended up being commissioned into the Canadian Forces (I almost did it anyway).

For top-tier students (which I was not) with a good practical head on their shoulders (which I didn't have) the PhD is particularly costly. For others, it's a decent finishing school for freaks and procrastinators

[Provost Harrison]

I did a year and a bit of a PhD but really, really got sick of research and the political crap that went along with it and left. Haven't regretted it although there have certainly been plenty of ups and downs along the way since, but that is the story of life in general.

[SpencerH]

It's not the PhD that is the waste of time, it's the years spent in academia. KH has gotten it right! Get your PhD then get the **** outa the universities. Get a 'trade' and make money, you cant buy a house with society's 'respect'.