Number of applications for Fall 2013

[diegosanaz]

Is it my imagination or are there much fewer applicants this year? I mean, for example, today is the final day to submitt an application at Chicago and there are only 7 applications in the tracker.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

All the numbers so far have indicated we will have a lower number of applicants across many programs this year. How much lower and why, I don't know yet.

 

[Ian Kaplan]

I speculate that the there are fewer people applying to quant programs because the job market is pretty grim. Also the salaries for quants are not that impressive these days. You can make similar amounts of money with a masters in computer science and you don't have to live in New York, so your quality of life is likely to be higher.

My hope, since I'm in the University of Washington program, is that this too shall pass. Unfortunately, as with market bubbles, I don't know the timing.

 

[diegosanaz]

That might be correct. In the employment we are the offer and the employers the demand. The demand went down: less jobs less salary. But now the offer is also going down, so the jobs might mantain at new levels, but the salary will go up again.

 

[shivgan joshi]

Are PhD application in Quant Finance also dropping?

 

[Ian Kaplan]

I think that PhD programs are different from Masters program. Those who are getting a Masters degree pay their own tuition. In a PhD program the tuition is waved and the candidate frequently gets a stipend, in exchange for teaching. I think PhD programs have some number of slots that they can support and they are able to fill these. In the United States many of these slots are filled by foreign students, for a variety of reasons.