Timeline for Should I accept this unfunded offer from my dream school or wait for funded offers?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
10 events
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| Jan 30, 2021 at 8:47 | comment | added | Alexander Woo | @noobie - cutoff for being seriously considered by hedge funds just for being smart - industry jobs that actually require a PhD are basically just NSA and its contractors, plus some biotech and DoD contractors if you're super-applied in one of those directions. (I'm not counting stats.) Pure math is about 20-25 years behind English. If you look at English before or after the 2008 recession - an average student from a good program has a reasonable chance of getting some kind of permanent academic job eventually, but it's not by any means guaranteed (before) or far from guaranteed (after). | |
| Jan 30, 2021 at 8:18 | comment | added | noobie |
cutoff for this cutoff for what? Also, damn didn't know that things aren't as rosy as I was told. Anyways, then what are the industry jobs for which a math PhD is a better qualification than several years of experience, and what do you think the situation will be 10 years later?
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| Jan 30, 2021 at 7:11 | comment | added | Alexander Woo | @noobie - With the significant number of masters in financial engineering programs, this is far from automatic for finance/hedge fund (and has been for 15 years). Maybe data science, but that window is closing. Also, if you can get into a top 10 grad school (which is closer to the cutoff for this), then a hedge fund will hire you out of undergrad, make sure you can do work in that environment, and train you, paying for you to do a masters in financial engineering if necessary. | |
| Jan 30, 2021 at 5:13 | comment | added | noobie |
There are even fewer jobs in industry for which a math PhD is a better qualification than several years of experience. I'm not sure how will be the industrial job aspects post-covid, but I thought the situation wasn't so grim pre-covid, and if someone is a math PhD from a (say) top 50 grad school then if they decide they want to leave academia one-two years before the completion of their program they can self study and do some internships to "easily" land into a $200k+ data science/finance/hedge fund job immediately or atmax an year after graduating. Is this very far from the reality?
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| Jan 29, 2021 at 10:11 | comment | added | Bennet | Very good reality-check answer. I would add, consider the toll on your mental well-being that worrying about money and debt could put on you, and the hours and energy you may need to put to a side job to support yourself. These would likely affect your studying ability and, in a way, reduce the overall academic potential of the dream school as an entire proposition. Of course you may feel you can tackle it, I would just advise to not take it lightly. | |
| Jan 28, 2021 at 16:43 | comment | added | Dave L Renfro | That said, I think you should focus on "fitness" issues, which we know nothing about in your case, and on the subsequent placements of recent graduates in the programs you're considering. In other words, I suggest you stop being so narrowly focused on rankings and such, and instead focus on things that will allow you to be the best you can be. For example, if you grew up in a large city, then you probably don't want to be in a very rural area. Also, some people perform better as big fish in small ponds, whereas others perform better as little fish "underdogs" in big ponds. Which are you? | |
| Jan 28, 2021 at 16:43 | comment | added | Dave L Renfro | then there almost certainly needs to be a few things that you've truly excelled at mathematically (took the USAMO, top 100 Putnam score, successful completion of graduate classes at age 18 or 19, very successful REU experience, a publication or two even in an MAA journal, more than one letter of recommendation saying your potential is higher than anyone at your undergraduate college/university the past several years, etc.), but I see nothing in what you've said that suggests this. (continued) | |
| Jan 28, 2021 at 16:42 | comment | added | Dave L Renfro | @MintBerry Brunch: this is for a masters --- I think you're way overestimating the effect of rankings of a masters degree program (in the U.S.) on the eventual realization of an academic research career. There are of course many exceptions, but generally speaking if you have the potential to get a strong Ph.D. followed by a such a career, it should be very apparent by now. (Of course, realizing this potential is another thing.) Perhaps you have some poor aspects in your past record (I certainly did), but if so, (continued) | |
| Jan 28, 2021 at 3:58 | comment | added | Dawn | I don’t think OP specified PhD or that they wanted an academic career. Although if that were the case this is good advice. | |
| Jan 28, 2021 at 2:10 | history | answered | Alexander Woo | CC BY-SA 4.0 |