Where I got my PhD, you could drop out after one year, simply having completed the courses of that year, and you’d get the MA.
This is true for my program too, although one year wasn’t enough time for me to figure out other things I wanted to do.
you can use this approach as a stepping stone to finance jobs.
I hear this regularly, but I still don’t understand how it works. Does this come from networking that happens at top schools, or are there finance companies actively recruiting PhDs? What qualifies as a “top program”? A department well respected in the field or a university famous for other reasons? Is a famous adviser at a poorly-known school better or worse than the reverse?
I am not familiar with the details myself, but I understand that the top schools would include MIT, Harvard, and maybe 4 or 5 more. Physics is apparently the top program for this, though math and others might qualify.
Also, I read that the demand for physicists etc. has gone down, now that Wall Street has realized what math is actually needed to be a quant. The math is pretty simple, and can be learned specifically for the purpose rather than in a PhD program.
What do you do if you want to do a PhD, satisfy all the other criteria, and DON’T have other career options available?
I can’t imagine that doing a PhD is worse than sitting on your ass unemployed, but if you have ideas about this I’d be interested to hear.
OK, assuming that those criteria are satisfied, then you can start the PhD and drop out with an MA—which is paid for, unlike most MA’s.
Where I got my PhD, you could drop out after one year, simply having completed the courses of that year, and you’d get the MA.
If you’re in a top program in physics or similar hard sciences, you can use this approach as a stepping stone to finance jobs.
This is true for my program too, although one year wasn’t enough time for me to figure out other things I wanted to do.
I hear this regularly, but I still don’t understand how it works. Does this come from networking that happens at top schools, or are there finance companies actively recruiting PhDs? What qualifies as a “top program”? A department well respected in the field or a university famous for other reasons? Is a famous adviser at a poorly-known school better or worse than the reverse?
I am not familiar with the details myself, but I understand that the top schools would include MIT, Harvard, and maybe 4 or 5 more. Physics is apparently the top program for this, though math and others might qualify.
Also, I read that the demand for physicists etc. has gone down, now that Wall Street has realized what math is actually needed to be a quant. The math is pretty simple, and can be learned specifically for the purpose rather than in a PhD program.
Then create some career options for yourself. A PhD is unlikely to be the way to do so, however.
I may agree with you, but that doesn’t give me constructive advice for people who are in or considering PhDs and not interested in much else.