Pursuing a Doctoral Degree in Finance
I have an excellent job with tremendous advancement opportunities. At my well-paid job at a prestigious investment bank on Wall Street, my computer science and analytical skills are recognized and lauded. Moreover, I enjoy intellectual interactions with my Ph.D. colleagues, have many friends, and am appreciated by my managers. Still, I feel a void in my life. While my friends and colleagues do not understand my decision to leave my rewarding career, I know that I have no choice if I am to pursue my long-term goal and my childhood dream: to teach and publish research. While my friends think I am sacrificing certain career advancement for unnecessary training, I do not act impulsively, and I am certain that I have made the correct decision. What they do not understand is that I will derive even greater satisfaction by pursuing a doctoral degree than by earning a higher salary and advancing in my present career. By pursuing a doctorate, I will have the priceless opportunity to realize my dream.
Learning gives me a world of satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. The more I learn, the more fulfilled I feel. I do not learn solely to apply my knowledge in a practical setting; instead, it is the quest for knowledge and the challenge of learning that motivates me. Originally, I took my current job since I saw it as an invaluable opportunity to further my learning experience. Over the past two years, I have accumulated a good knowledge of Finance. I was introduced to Bayesian Statistics, GARCH processes, and other topics of time series analysis. I also learned how to price volatility swaps and categorize different optimization tasks.
While I never intended to focus solely on the practical side of finance, nearly all of my work revolves around it. For example, I have done research that forecasted assets' expected returns as well as research on a better way to execute a trade. These research opportunities were all results-oriented. I rarely have had the opportunity to look at the theoretical aspect of finance, like deriving closed-form solutions to evaluate financial instruments, which I sometimes find interesting. Although I try hard to broaden my knowledge of theoretical finance by reading finance and econometrics books on my leisure time, I am not able to test those theories empirically.
Figure 2 - Close up of the study area, Silver beach is located just on the border of Captain Cook Drive
hard rock is eroded, it can cause an island of hard rock left of the
According to the biological perspective, dysfunction/abnormality is caused by a few different things. However, most problems are linked to specific dysfunctions in areas within the brain, such as issues with the transmission of messages from neuron to neuron. Biological perspective theorist, study the brain, immune system, nervous system, and genetics looking for problems, which can all. Lead to dysfunction/abnormality when not working properly.
wage and find an opening in a skilled trade job (2015). While it is true that there are plenty of
The Strengths and Limitations of the Biological Model of Abnormality This model uses physical illness as a model for psychological disorder, suggesting that like physical illness, mental illness has an underlying bodily cause. It proposes that genetic, organic or chemical disorders cause metal illnesses which give rise to behavioural and psychological problems. Thus, abnormality has physical causes such as brain dysfunction (neurological), biochemical imbalances, infections or genetics and so can only be cured through medical treatments. Therefore it implies that abnormality results from properly functioning physiology, a properly functioning nervous system and no genetic predispositions to inherit mental disorders.
Defining Abnormality One way of defining abnormality is in terms of characteristics or behaviours that are statistically infrequent (the deviation from statistical norms definition). However, this does not take into account the desirability of a characteristic or behaviour. The definition also fails to recognise that in all cultures large numbers of people may engage in behaviours that constitute mental disorders. A further problem is the failure to identify how far a person must deviate before being ‘abnormal’. Such decisions are difficult to make and then consequently justify.
Throughout high school and during my undergraduate studies, education was never a top priority for me. Only during the past two years, in the "real world", have I realized the importance of education. I look back at those years and wish I had done more and realized all the potential I had in my hands and not wasted so much time. During my undergraduate career my social activities consumed my life. My friends were not motivated to do well in school so I followed their lead. My grades were low, and I did not even care. After I graduated in 1997 with a Psychology B.A. and lost touch with my old friends and old ways, I have realized that I should have spent more time doing some soul searching and thinking what it was that I wanted to do with my life. I liked Psychology but what I really wanted to do was work with children more closely. I had spent my junior and senior years involved in internships at Head Start and at a High School in a Program for teenaged mothers. I loved my work there. At Head Start I was a Teacher Aid for the pre-school, teaching the children to read, numbers etc. And at the High School I counseled the teenaged mothers, took care of their kids while they went to school and after the school day I tutored them with their homework. After being out of school for a while, I started to miss that. The feeling that I was teaching something those kids, the feeling that I was making a difference. I was determined to find a job in education, with my background in Psychology, how hard could it be? I found work at a residential school for runaways and abused teenaged females. It was great! I was ready to go, I was going to change the world and change those girls lives. What I didn't realize is that will alone does not make me a teacher and that I needed training, a lot of training. I made a lot of mistakes in that job. I got discouraged and decided to forget about working with children, forget teaching and do something else that paid more. So, I got a job as a Secretary, I did that for about two years. Teaching, working with children was always on my mind.
When erosion can carve out sea caves, arches, stacks and blowholes in a headland. Sea caves form when weak areas of headlands and cliffs are hollowed out. The cave could be worn away to reach the other side of the rock, or two sea caves might meet. In both cases, a sea arch results. The waves continue to corrode the rock until the arch collapses due to the weakening of the top portion. All that remains is a stack, which is eventually reduced to a stump by wave erosion.
Tools like these are meant to be used again and again each time life throws another curve ball your way.
Exploration of Gower Peninsula Swansea is located on the beautiful Gower Peninsular, the UK's first designated 'area of outstanding natural beauty'. Although much of the city's architectural heritage was destroyed in war time bombing, its wide sandy beaches, spectacular coastal scenery, varied cultural events, lush parks, magnificent Maritime Quarter and medieval castles have preserved Swansea's place as a major vacation destination. Walk the streets of Swansea and you'll know why Wales is a European economic tiger! The Gower Peninsula was the country’s first designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and boasts spectacular landscapes peppered with pre-historic, Roman, Celtic, Saxon, Viking and Norman relics. Nearby is Wales’ second city,Swansea, which has a good selection of galleries and home to some of the best funded museums in the UK.
This career peaks my interest since in this role I will have the opportunity to construct my future and I will never stop learning. The constant innovation in finance is commonplace and it creates a work-day that is fast paced and so with this career, I see a promising future. This career interests me also because I will have the chance to practice what I have learned in school and the career places a premium on consistent results, rigorous analytical ideas or thoughts,
I believe the quantitative skills that I practiced and honed from my past experiences could bring me unique perspective for my graduate studies. At Princeton University’s Master in Finance program, I would like to further gain financial knowledge and skills, and ultimately prepare myself for the long-term challenge in my future career of financial analytics.
What is it that I am learning? How will it help me? How important is it to be? In summary, if I need it, then I will learn it. 2.
In psychology, there are what are called models of abnormality. These models are what scientists use to explain events, and they are also called paradigms. (Comer, 2015, Abnormal Psychology.) Something is considered abnormal when it is not within what society determines as normal, or is dysfunctional. In psychology, we have many different models used to explain abnormal behaviors and the treatments associated with these behaviors.