Graduate Curriculum
The Finance elective curriculum is designed to develop individual competency in the financial tools and analysis that help managers make better decisions, whether they specialize in finance or not. It serves two types of students: those interested in supplementing the core finance material with selected topics of interest and those wishing to pursue careers in finance. We welcome those students interested in “just a little more finance” and have set up our curriculum to be almost entirely free of prerequisites for this reason. We encourage all students to read our course descriptions and choose a topic or two you would like to know more about.
Finance Concentrations (as of June 1, 2013)
To help students prepare for careers in finance, the Finance Division offers concentrations in finance. Students can put together a collection of four elective courses (past the core). Specifically:
The Finance concentrations require a minimum of 12 credits from courses offered by the Finance Department (i.e., those courses that have a FIN designation in front of the course number) beyond the completion of the MBA core Finance class (FIN7000, FIN7200, MBA8510 or completion of the Finance portion of the One-year/Two-year Modules).
Course options are summarized below.
Requirement- Students must select a total of 12 credits from the course listing below
Any exceptions to concentration requirements must be approved by the Finance Division Chair.
To help students prepare for careers in finance, the Finance Division offers suggested tracks of courses in either Investments or Corporate Finance. These tracks and course recommendations, while not required, are strongly suggested.
- The Investments concentration course track recommendation is designed for students to better understand how securities issued by companies are valued, traded, and combined into portfolios to achieve investment objectives. It helps prepare students for a variety of careers including securities analysis, portfolio management, sales and trading, wealth management, private equity and venture capital.
- The Corporate Finance concentration course track recommendation is designed to help students better understand how to create shareholder value by making effective investment and financing decisions within firms both large and small. This concentration helps prepare students for a variety of roles including strategic planning, financial analysis, treasury management, and investor relations.
In addition to the courses listed above, we recommend that finance concentrators supplement their Finance coursework with relevant courses from other disciplines. These classes will not count toward the concentration but will provide valuable perspective and/or complementary skills. Some great choices include the following:
- ACC7500 Financial Reporting and Statement Analysis
- ACC7540 Measuring and Managing Strategic Results
- ECN7520 Economic and Financial Forecasting
- QTM7575 Financial Modeling
Eligibility and concentration declaration
Students from all MBA populations—two-year, one-year, evening, and Fast Track*—may pursue a Finance concentration. Students are eligible to declare a finance concentration if they (1) have completed their core finance requirements, (2) are in good academic standing , and (3) have not been required to remediate any finance topic from their core finance material.
Students may declare a Finance concentration by emailing Mary Keane.
Declaration deadlines are as follows:
June 1st for September graduates
October 1st for December graduates
March 25th for May graduates
Transfer credit
Finance credits for graduate courses completed with a grade of "B" or better at other colleges and universities may be counted toward a finance concentration only if approved by the Finance Division Concentration Advisor or the Finance Division Chair. See pp. 13-14 of the Graduate Student Handbook for more information on transfer credit. Evaluations will be made on a case-by-case basis and all decisions are final.
Transcript and final audit
Successfully completed Corporate Finance and Investments concentrations will be noted on the transcript when student graduates. They will not be listed on the diploma. Students are responsible for planning their coursework carefully and adhering to the concentration rules. With the exception of possible transfer credit, exceptions to the concentration rules will not be granted. An audit will be performed by the registrar early in students’ final semester to ensure that all requirements have been met before the Corporate Finance or Investments concentration degree is awarded.
Contact
If you have any questions about the Finance Concentrations, please contact the finance concentration advisor Professor Kathleen Hevert.
* Fast Track students must be able to attend courses on campus, at least once a week, and should discuss their interest in the concentration with their program manager before declaring the concentration.