# Which course should I take to be well-prepared for PHD in OR or Financial Math?

I'm currently a 2nd-year MS student in Mathematics at a mediocre state school. I'm planning to apply for the PHD programs in Operation Research/Financial Mathematics at schools like Columbia, Cornell, CMU, Georgia Tech, etc. I got straight As in Fourier Analysis (written by Elias Stein) and Linear Programming (written by I. Griva and A. Sofer) classes last year. For the incoming Fall semester, I currently consider taking 1 course out of the following, but not sure which one would benefit me the most for getting into one of the programs above:

1. Nonlinear Programming - Linear and Nonlinear Optimization by A. Sofer and I. Griva

2. Stochastic Processes - Introduction to Probability Models by Sheldon Cross

3. Complex Analysis - Banach spaces of Analytic Functions by Keneth Hoffman

4. Probability Theory - Probability by Alan Karr

I'm thinking of taking either $1$ or $3$, but I also saw that Stochastic Processes and Nonlinear Programming are core courses for the ORIE/ORFE programs at Columbia, Cornell, CMU, Georgia Tech, etc. Thus I am not entirely sure which one I should take to be well-prepared for such programs. Can anyone please give me some advice on which one of these $4$ courses should I absolutely need to take?

• Well given that most of the universities apparently tell you explicitly that Stochastic Processes is a very important course, I'd say choose that... Also, I do not think that Complex Analysis, while very interesting, has much use in financial applications (could be mistaken though) – user2520938 Aug 6 '15 at 8:29
• Thanks so much for your feedback. But how about Nonlinear Programming? It is also a core course required to take for those PhD programs in the 1st year (besides Linear Programming). And the universities don't "explicitly" say that, I just infer that information from the core courses listed by those universities. – user177196 Aug 6 '15 at 8:34
• You could also consider following 2 courses. Given that you got As for some other courses I would imagine that you could successfully complete a semester while following one extra courses? – user2520938 Aug 6 '15 at 11:09
• I can't, since I'm only allowed to take the maximum of 4 courses per semester. But I'm thinking between waiting to take the math class Stochastic DEs next spring vs taking an OR class Stochastic Processes this term. Any advice? – user177196 Aug 6 '15 at 19:52