EDHEC-Risk Institute PhD in Finance - FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are your admission requirements?
- What are your residency requirements?
- What are the language requirements of the programme?
- Do you require GMAT or GRE test scores?
- I have not yet sat for the GMAT/GRE. Can I apply for the PhD and sit the GMAT/GRE subsequently?
- What information do I need to provide as part of the application?
- What is the cost of the PhD?
- Do you offer financial aid to PhD candidates?
- Do you have an online application system?
- Can I submit my application by email?
- What are the deadlines?
- What is the profile of the entering PhD in Finance class of 2011?
- What courses are required for the degree?
For further details about the EDHEC-Risk Institute PhD in Finance programme, please refer to the "Information Sessions, Newsletter, & Contact Details" section. |
1. What are your admission requirements?
Admission to the EDHEC-Risk Institute PhD in Finance programme is highly selective. Normal entrance requirements include: a master’s degree (or equivalent) from an accredited school, college, or university (business management, economics, science, and engineering degrees are preferred); academic excellence; superior scholastic potential (certified by GMAT or GRE scores); and English proficiency.
2. What are your residency requirements?
Residential requirements are kept to a minimum—some 40 days over three years—by concentrating core courses into four separate weeks, delivering elective seminars over three consecutive days in weekly blocks, and using EDHEC Business School’s state-of-the-art virtual classroom for monthly research workshops. Core courses are given every year so that missed modules may be made up, and the portfolio of electives offered over the second and third years of the programme allows doctoral candidates to select seminars that fit their professional objectives and constraints.
3. What are the language requirements of the programme?
English is the sole medium of instruction in the EDHEC-Risk Institute PhD in Finance. The programme demands a very good command of oral as well as written English. English proficiency test scores are part of the application package for non-native speakers. We accept TOEFL, TOEIC, IELTS and UCLES.
Average score requirements are:
- TOEFL 603(PBT)/250(CBT)/100(IBT)
- TOEIC 900
- IELTS 6.5
- UCLES: Certificate in Advanced English - Pass.
4. Do you require GMAT or GRE test scores?
EDHEC Business School requires GMAT or GRE test scores for admission to the PhD in Finance programme.
EDHEC Business School's GMAT institutional code for the PhD in Finance programme is 3QQ-WQ-32.
EDHEC Business School's GRE institutional code for the PhD in Finance programme is 4242.
5. I have not yet sat for the GMAT/GRE. Can I apply for the PhD and sit the GMAT/GRE subsequently?
A candidate may request the Admission Committee to review his/her application pending GMAT/GRE scores provided his/her application is filed before the 1st application deadline. Candidates who choose to do so may lose the opportunity to increase the perceived quality of their applications through outstanding scholastic aptitude test scores. For candidates who are positively considered for admission, the Committee will set minimum GMAT scores to be met as a part of the conditions of their final admission into the programme; the GMAT score reports must be received before the 2nd application deadline. We expect the average accepted candidate to have total GMAT scores of 680 or GRE scores of 680 in the verbal reasoning section of the test and of 800 in the quantitative reasoning section.
6. What information do I need to provide as part of the application?
The complete application file consists of the application form, two forms/letters of recommendation, transcripts from undergraduate and any graduate programs, copies of diplomas, GMAT or GRE scores, proof of English proficiency (e.g. test scores), a writing sample or proposal for a doctoral thesis, a personal résumé, a copy of passport/birth certificate and a recent identity photograph.
7. What is the cost of the PhD?
Tuition fees for PhD candidates (European programme) are €32,500 for the 2012/2013 academic year, €35,000 for 2013/2014 and €35,000 for 2014/2015. Fees do not include travel and accommodation expenses.
Tuition fees for PhD candidates (Asian programme) are SGD63,000 for the 2013 academic year, SGD63,000 for 2014 and SGD63,000 for 2015. Fees do not include travel and accommodation expenses.
8. Do you offer financial aid to PhD candidates?
Residential track participants will work as research assistants in Singapore or London. In return for their part-time duties with the School, residential track participants will receive full-tuition waiver plus competitive compensation. Two research assistant positions are offered for PhD in Finance candidates in the entering class of 2011/2012.
EDHEC-Risk Institute and EDHEC Business School do not offer scholarships to executive track participants in the PhD in Finance programme. Executive track participants are usually either selffinanced or company-sponsored. As human capital development and R&D-related expenses, tuition fees and associated costs may, in some jurisdictions, be eligible for specific public or collective funding schemes.
The EDHEC-Risk Institute PhD in Finance is one of the approved programmes under the Doctorate Scholarship Programme supported by the Singapore Financial Sector Development Fund (FSDF). Applicants to the programme may be eligible for funding support on a case-by-case basis. Preference will be given to candidates who are Singapore citizens or permanent residents. Interested applicants should contact the FSDF Secretariat for further.
9. Do you have an online application system?
EDHEC-Risk Institute does not offer an online application for the PhD in Finance programme. If you are interested in the PhD in Finance programme, please request the application form by email to Ms Maud Gauchon: executive track form, residential track form.
10. Can I submit my application by email?
You will need to send your documents by surface mail but you may send an electronic version of your application package to expedite its processing.
11. What are the deadlines?
- Executive track (European programme):
The next deadline for application for October 2012 admissions is March 30, 2012.
- Executive track (Asian programme):
The next deadline for application for February 2013 admissions is March 30, 2012.
- Residential track (European programme):
The next deadline for application for October 2012 admissions is March 30, 2012.
- Residential track (Asian programme):
The next deadline for application for February 2013 admissions is March 30, 2012.
12. What is the profile of the entering PhD in Finance class of 2011
The entering class of October 2011 (European chapter) will start the programme on the EDHEC Risk Institute–Europe campus in London. During the first of the four residential weeks of the academic year, these new PhD in Finance participants will attend two of the required courses and participate in their first monthly research workshop.
Seventeen applicants were admitted to the Europe-based programme, fifteen to the executive track and two to the residential track. Fourteen of these confirmed that they would be joining the programme in 2011/2012.
The more experienced practitioners joining the executive track of the EDHEC-Risk Institute PhD in Finance usually embark on the course to take a step towards senior positions in finance or, when they already hold such positions, to help them steer their organisations in new directions. During the programme, they work with leading specialists on research of particular relevance to their organisations.
The average (median) age of the twelve executive-track professionals matriculated is thirty-nine (forty) and they average thirteen years of experience. Three head companies as chief executives or presidents, one is a chief finance officer, two are senior managers, one is a trader, and another five work in investment analysis (two as quantitative research directors, two as quantitative analysts, and one as fixed income specialist).
Four continents and twelve nationalities (American, British, Canadian, Dutch, French, German, Israeli, Italian, Lebanon, Polish, South African, and Swiss) are represented amongst executive track participants. Six of these participants work in Europe, five in North America, and one in the Middle East.
Eight participants work in investment management, including two for end investors, one works in wealth management, one works for a financial software company and two work in financial roles within non-financial corporations (in the oil and healthcare businesses respectively).
These practitioners have solid academic backgrounds. They completed first degrees in economics (4), mathematics or engineering (3), humanities (2), finance (1), and business (1) at institutions such as Bocconi University (Italy), Dartmouth College (USA), Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands), University of Cape Town (South Africa), University of Notre Dame (USA), University of Toronto (Canada), and Westpoint (USA). They hold graduate degrees in finance and financial engineering (7), business administration (6), mathematics and statistics (2), economics (2), and biology (1). These master’s degrees are from institutions such as Berkeley (USA), Boston College (USA), Cambridge (UK), EDHEC (France), ESSEC & Mannheim (France/Germany), and Harvard (USA). Their average and median GMAT score (total) is 680.
The two residential track participants come from India and Russia and have first degrees in engineering and graduate degrees in finance and engineering from Goethe University (Germany), the University of Karlsruhe (Germany), the University of Michigan (USA) and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (Russia). They will be working part-time as research assistants within EDHEC-Risk Institute in Nice. Their average GRE (quantitative) score is 795.
13. What courses are required for the degree?
The EDHEC-Risk Institute PhD in Finance requires four core courses (Financial Economics, Corporate Finance, Continuous-Time Financial Economics, and Empirical Methods in Finance) and a minimum of five elective seminars. All courses are evaluated and the cycle of core courses is followed by a comprehensive examination. PhD candidates also participate in research workshops and presentations, and work closely with faculty and alongside the EDHEC-Risk Institute.
