Best Online Doctorates in Finance

Whether your career interests lie in academia or business, graduating with a doctoral degree in finance opens doors to advanced job opportunities and earning potential. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that popular finance careers like finance managers and personal finance advisors may grow by 15%-19% between 2023 and 2033.

These occupations boast median incomes of $156,100 and $99,580, respectively. Doctors in finance also frequently find employment as college professors, educating students and conducting research for scholarly publications. With a variety of online degree options available from top schools around the country, it has never been easier to earn your doctorate in finance.

Two main avenues exist for earning an online doctorate in finance: an academic route and an industry route. Students who want to apply their finance expertise to an industry job should consider earning a doctorate of business administration (DBA) in finance. Students looking to enter the academic profession as faculty should consider a Ph.D. finance program.

While they may seem similar on the surface, these two finance doctorate pathways require different coursework and produce different learning outcomes. Carefully consider which path works best for your own goals.

An industry-focused program provides you with a firm foundation of quantitative financial skills and trains you to apply theory to real-world business scenarios. Additional concentrations may also let you further tailor your focus. Academic-focused programs require more intensive study of research and theory but offer fewer opportunities to hone mathematical finance skills.

These programs also require dissertations, while industry-focused programs more commonly require a thesis. Finally, getting into an academic Ph.D. finance program may prove more difficult than a DBA program. While DBA programs often allow for cohorts of about 10 students, Ph.D. programs may only offer enrollment to one or two students per year.

The information below intends to provide a representative look at the potential curriculum content of a doctorate of finance. The specifics can vary, depending on the school and program you select. Different programs align with different career goals, in industry or academia, and offer courses according to these specific learning outcomes.

• Introduction to Empirical Methods:
  These introductory courses develop a foundational knowledge of academic and theoretical research methods by exploring a range of techniques and quantitative tools used for finance and economic analysis.
• Topics in Macroeconomics:
  Macroeconomics topics courses typically focus on two or three main areas of modern research, such as economic growth or wage inequality. Students read literature on the course topics and participate in discussions.
• Finance Theory:
  Expect to complete a few finance theory courses for your doctorate in finance online. From introductory levels to advanced courses, students develop an understanding of single period and dynamic models.

• Economic Analysis:
  Typically part of a sequence of multiple microeconomics theory courses, economic analysis courses focus on topics including consumer and producer choice and the nature of equilibrium in competitive markets.
• Applied Behavioral Finance:
  Through lectures, active discussion, and written assignments students learn to apply current behavioral finance theory and research to real-world scenarios like financial planning and business practice.

Earning an online doctorate in finance prepares an individual to work either inside or outside of the finance industry. Graduates’ analytical skills and advanced knowledge of financial principles allow them to hold high-level positions in major companies, in the government, or in academia.