PhD in Economics

Quote from WallStGolfer31:

ImamicPH,

I've got a summer internship almost in the bag for summer 2007 at the KC Federal Reserve Bank. You think that'll mean anything in terms of job exp?
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Sounds REAL impressive. So you're aware, this is a little out of my league. I'm not the office and tie bank type. I don't really know or interact with the John Merriweather types. Did you ever read Liar's Poker. In the eighties everyone majored in Econ and wore a suit to work. Now, from where I'm at it's more about risk management, everyone has the new idea, you know?

I wouldn't want to get typecast into only forecasting GDP. Most of the guys I work with went to school for computer science or financial engineering. I don't know if it's because there's just more of them or it makes it easier to trade now.

One thing I know about what you're doing. You're eligible for a big salary and a corner office, with a little less stress.

If you wanted to trade, the KC Reserve bank internship looks prestigous, but I would think you'd still need a little more coaching and might fear you becoming a primadonna.

On the other hand, it may get that interview at GS or BAC if that's what you want.
 
Quote from ImamicPH:

Sounds REAL impressive. So you're aware, this is a little out of my league. I'm not the office and tie bank type. I don't really know or interact with the John Merriweather types. Did you ever read Liar's Poker. In the eighties everyone majored in Econ and wore a suit to work. Now, from where I'm at it's more about risk management, everyone has the new idea, you know?

I wouldn't want to get typecast into only forecasting GDP. Most of the guys I work with went to school for computer science or financial engineering. I don't know if it's because there's just more of them or it makes it easier to trade now.

One thing I know about what you're doing. You're eligible for a big salary and a corner office, with a little less stress.

If you wanted to trade, the KC Reserve bank internship looks prestigous, but I would think you'd still need a little more coaching and might fear you becoming a primadonna.

On the other hand, it may get that interview at GS or BAC if that's what you want.
More...




Hey thanks. I know it may sound impressive, but the job functions I was exposed to had nothing to do with econ or finance! lol it looked mostly accounting and management. There's only about 150 economists within the entire system, everyone else runs the banks opperations.

Yeah I've read Liar's Poker, damn good book too. My ideal position would be working in conjunction with portfolio managers and setting up strategy. Chief Economic Strategist and such.
 
My Econ professor told the class, don't go for PhD in econ, just go for MBA. With a MBA from a good school, you can easily land a 6 figures job, with a PhD in econ, you most likely ended up teaching in a university that paying you under 50k.
 
Quote from WallStGolfer31:

Hey thanks. I know it may sound impressive, but the job functions I was exposed to had nothing to do with econ or finance! lol it looked mostly accounting and management. There's only about 150 economists within the entire system, everyone else runs the banks opperations.

Yeah I've read Liar's Poker, damn good book too. My ideal position would be working in conjunction with portfolio managers and setting up strategy. Chief Economic Strategist and such.
More...

It sounds like you're on the right course for consulting with PMs.

Some of the PMs will probably ignore you during the meetings, if they're not mandatory some might not even show up.

Economists are like seatbelts, they don't always save lives but all banks have them.
 
Quote from thecalip:

My Econ professor told the class, don't go for PhD in econ, just go for MBA. With a MBA from a good school, you can easily land a 6 figures job, with a PhD in econ, you most likely ended up teaching in a university that paying you under 50k.
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I've been told college professors make pretty good money, somewhere around 120k-150k average if they teach high demand subjects like econ, business, accounting, etc. A textbook deal or two will make them millionaires with next to no stress.
 
I just can't grasp how a degree in econ. or finance is any beneficial except tuituition to a school. any of the like classes I had were a joke. you can learn the same amount of info on your own. understanding how the stock market crashed and understand gdp and other terms of of the industry is trivial at best. like I saiid in a post before, these seem like the kind of jobs anyone could do.
 
Quote from ImamicPH:

It sounds like you're on the right course for consulting with PMs.

Some of the PMs will probably ignore you during the meetings, if they're not mandatory some might not even show up.

Economists are like seatbelts, they don't always save lives but all banks have them.
More...

Yeah, thus far, from what I've been looking at, I think I'll be doing my masters in finance (1 year) and then my PhD in Econ (3-5 years)


From who I talked to at the admissions office, they tell me its really what you want to do in terms of where you go afterwards. I think the masters in finance will help me move more into the position I'm looking for.


Hell at a conference the other year, I met a VP from Merrill and went home to look him up online, the guy had his masters in history and phd in political science. Other than his CFA, he looked like he didn't even belong there.
 
Quote from jtnet:

I just can't grasp how a degree in econ. or finance is any beneficial except tuituition to a school. any of the like classes I had were a joke. you can learn the same amount of info on your own. understanding how the stock market crashed and understand gdp and other terms of of the industry is trivial at best. like I saiid in a post before, these seem like the kind of jobs anyone could do.
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But when two or three economists sit down and talk about an issue you can tell they know their stuff.

It's like the background music in a movie. If a scene is good, you don't really need it, but it makes for that much more enjoyment.

It's nice for the big banks to have someone in house to decipher what the fed is doing.

We need economists and if they are doing their job, we don't know we need them.

They're like security officers.
 
Quote from jtnet:

I just can't grasp how a degree in econ. or finance is any beneficial except tuituition to a school. any of the like classes I had were a joke. you can learn the same amount of info on your own. understanding how the stock market crashed and understand gdp and other terms of of the industry is trivial at best. like I saiid in a post before, these seem like the kind of jobs anyone could do.
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Believe me, if this were true, they would love to cut salary costs of the economists they hire to 45k and hire just a bunch of undergrad noobs. They wouldn't be spending 100k+ on grads.
 
Quote from thecalip:

My Econ professor told the class, don't go for PhD in econ, just go for MBA. With a MBA from a good school, you can easily land a 6 figures job, with a PhD in econ, you most likely ended up teaching in a university that paying you under 50k.
More...

I wouldn't say easily. There was an infamous story about an unemployed Harvard MBA grad in Time mag a few years back. There's no such thing as guarantee in life.
 
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