CS thesis based master or Financial Engineering Master

[Genesix]

Hello everyone,

I'm applying to Financial Engineering programs this year and I have got some top7 offer. Also, I have got an Computer Science Master offer from a good cs university(QS top 30) and the topic will be reinforcement learning and finance. I want to be a quant researcher in the future. Could anyone please give me some suggestion? Which field is better? Does it worth to get a CS or OR or STAT PHD degree? Is PHD better in the long run (promotion)?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Connor Whelan]

I'm not sure if I have any useful advice, but I'm actually in a much similar situation and figured I'd share my thoughts. I'm an undergrad and plan on moving on to pursue a Phd in Applied Mathematics from a top program that offers financial mathematics courses. I'm choosing to get a Phd over a masters because 1) it's more rigorous 2) I enjoy academia and getting paid to study and research (almost) whatever I want 3) Phd's get priorities when it comes to funding. I'm also really skeptical when it comes to MFE programs, there's probably a few of them that are solid but I feel as though Quant Finance is a field that requires a heavy background in math if you want job security and a Phd is the only way to achieve that. Obviously CS and machine learning research at a top school is a great opportunity, but IMO applied math with sufficient knowledge of CS puts you in a better position career wise rather than the other way around. My adviser argues that machine learning is just an area of applied math and stats that was taken over by computer scientists.

 

[Genesix]

I'm not sure if I have any useful advice, but I'm actually in a much similar situation and figured I'd share my thoughts. I'm an undergrad and plan on moving on to pursue a Phd in Applied Mathematics from a top program that offers financial mathematics courses. I'm choosing to get a Phd over a masters because 1) it's more rigorous 2) I enjoy academia and getting paid to study and research (almost) whatever I want 3) Phd's get priorities when it comes to funding. I'm also really skeptical when it comes to MFE programs, there's probably a few of them that are solid but I feel as though Quant Finance is a field that requires a heavy background in math if you want job security and a Phd is the only way to achieve that. Obviously CS and machine learning research at a top school is a great opportunity, but IMO applied math with sufficient knowledge of CS puts you in a better position career wise rather than the other way around. My adviser argues that machine learning is just an area of applied math and stats that was taken over by computer scientists.

Thank you for your advice. I think for PHD and thesis-based master, people will get the training of doing research and abilities of problem solving, which the industry might have strong interest in. Good luck with your Amath PHD and I believe you will be accepted by several top universities.