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PhD Finance Program
The finance Ph.D. program is designed to prepare students for academic careers in financial economics. Financial economics is the study of how individuals and firms raise and invest resources, and how financial assets are priced. Specific topics in asset pricing include the determinants of asset returns, pricing of risk, behavior of investors, and trading mechanisms. Specific topics in corporate finance include capital structure, payout policy, financial intermediation, internal capital markets, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance.
During their years of study, students work closely with faculty members in the Department of Finance and Business Economics (FBE), both as students in classes and as assistants on research projects. The FBE faculty includes a wide array of internationally known experts in finance who publish regularly in the top journals and hold leadership positions in the top journals and professional organizations in finance.
A central premise of the program is that the most effective way to learn how to do research is to do research. Based on this idea, the program revolves around production of scholarly papers by students, typically one in each year. The first two years of the program also include a large classroom component in which students develop foundational skills in economics and statistics, and then complete full-year sequences on asset pricing and corporate finance. The curriculum features a set of revolving half-semester classes on cutting edge topics taught by USC faculty members and expert visiting scholars. Students also attend weekly seminars featuring presentations by leading experts at other universities.
Graduates of the program typically seek academic positions as faculty members at research institutions. Recent graduates have found jobs at a variety of strong research universities, including the University of Chicago, University of Michigan, Emory University, and University of Utah, as well as at leading universities outside the United States.
Recruit
The program maintains a supportive and collegial environment that fosters collaboration between faculty members and PhD students. All students are assigned one or more faculty mentors for the duration of their studies, and faculty members are actively engaged in supervision of student research.
Requirements
Year 1
Sample Schedule
Fall:
Spring:
Summer
Students are assigned a faculty mentor upon entering the program. The faculty mentor advises the student on course selection and as appropriate involves the student in a research project. During the first summer, each student conducts a supervised reading of the literature and prepares a research proposal or study.
Year 2
Spring
Summer:
Students spend much of the second year developing and producing an independent study. The study is submitted to the program at the end of the summer, and serves as the qualifying exam for the second year.
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Job Market Candidates
I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Finance at the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California. My research focuses on Macro Finance, Financial Intermediaries, and Labor Finance.
APPLYING TO THE PhD PROGRAM
DATES + DEADLINES
September: Application OpensDecember 15 Application Deadline: Accounting and Management and Organization*January 15 Application Deadline: Data Sciences & Operations, Finance & Business Economics and MarketingFebruary 15 Decision Notifications BeginApril 15 Admit Decision DeadlineThe Fall 2023 application is open!The link to the PhD Program application is available on the Admissions page and the next opportunity to apply is for Fall 2023 admission. Late applications may or may not be considered at the discretion of the admissions committee.Admissions decisions are made from mid-February to mid-April. You will be notified by email when a decision has been made.
REQUEST INFORMATION
For more information about this program please fill out THIS FORM.
ADMISSIONS CONTACT
Ph.D. ProgramUSC Marshall School of Business3670 Trousdale Parkway, BRI 306Los Angeles, California 90089-0809EMAIL