Party_Key

It all depends on the context. Which university/program is considered better in your country/city? I think that's the question you want to ask given that you are an international student.

A quick Google search gives you the answer you are looking for. PhD in Finance is a lot more involved than CFA, but (I think) not involved enough to be a quantitative analyst. I am not sure what you mean by quantitative finance, but if you want to be a quantitative analyst in Wall Street, I think you would need a more mathematically rigorous PhD such as engineering, computer science, statistics (not social statistics), or mathematics. Unlike finance or economics, it takes time, years!, to understand these subjects. But is it worth spending 4 - 7 years doing a PhD so that you can get paid $150,000 in Wall Street after you complete your PhD? Is it not better to just complete the CFA and get a well-paid job in a fund house or something?

I think you can audit courses from the other departments. I would try an English department. Methods that you mentioned, they do those. There must be research seminar or method courses in the English department in your university. It's not my taste, but good luck.

I accidentally found this thread. I have thought about this a lot. To me, studying a pure liberal arts degree wasn't an option because I have had a hard life and know what it's like to be poor. It's horrible when you can't even buy things that you need. At university, I always ask myself, "what is the purpose of this course?" If a course exists, it has to have some purpose. The purpose cannot be "enriching one's life or value." That's naive. Most employers don't want to hire pure liberal arts grads. People say there are successful business (wo)men with a liberal arts degree. In my personal opinion, they don't understand basic statistics and mathematics. We are simply saying that a liberal arts graduate is more likely to be unemployed and/or a doing low-skilled job. We are not claiming that everyone that studies a liberal arts degree is doomed. Moreover, some believe that most jobs do not require specific skills. Most jobs do not require specific skills, therefore it doesn't matter what you study at university. The second claim doesn't follow from the first definition. The correct statement is most jobs do not require specific skills, but employers prefer STEM grads anyway. Worse, law school is no longer an option for liberal arts grads. Business schools prefer engineers.

If I am understanding you correctly, I have thought about this too, but to me personality, I don't want to run the company. I enjoy solving problems. I am not good at mathematics, as good as I should be (as you will see below), but I still enjoy solving problems. Consultants solve problems that are clearly defined. CEOs solve problems that can't be defined. Running a company is a set and problems solved by ORs/MSs (or system engineers, not sure who they are though) are elements in the set. I don't know how many elements there are in the set.

They don't publish the recent PhD placement statistics. Are there people out there who have done a PhD in IS at London School of Economics and now teach in a US business school? Can you please share your experience?

That's what I thought! If I want to teach IS in a university in the US, it would be a mistake to go there, wouldn't it? Can I still teach in a US business school with a PhD in Information Systems from London School of Economics? It's just I don't understand why philosophy of information is taught in an IS department. That should be taught in a philosophy department, shouldn't it? And philosophy isn't a social science. Maybe, they can change their name to Philosophy of Information Systems or Information Theory? It's not comparable to IS programs in the US such as NYU's PhD in IS? But they are both PhD in IS. I am just very confused. I need more information to make an informed decision whether to apply there.

I am wondering the same. I am thinking about going to London School of Economics to study a PhD in Information Systems, but the program is structured so different from programs here, I am beginning to think that it's a different world over there and that I am better-off staying here. I am not smart enough to get in Harvard, but maybe NYU or Michigan.

Hi, To IS/CS/EE people, What do you think about doing a PhD in Information Systems at London School of Economics? I have looked at the website, but I can't really understand this IS department. Please help. It's so different from the universities here. I am not quite sure what to make of it. There is a lot of philosophies and theories of information. Is IS in Europe like this? LSE is supposed to be one of the good schools in Europe? Thanks, guys.