Undergraduate Curriculum

Overview

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 beyond FIN2000 Principles of Finance for this reason. Students who are not interested in concentrating in finance are encouraged to take FIN2520 Personal Finance to help prepare for the financial decisions they will need to make upon graduation. We encourage all students to read our course descriptions and choose a topic or two that sounds interesting. For Undergraduate students interested in pursuing a Finance-intensive curriculum at Babson, we recommend the Finance Concentration.

For more detailed descriptions go to our Undergraduate Course Catalog.

Finance Undergraduate Course Listing

2000 Level

FIN2000 Principles of Finance
FIN2520 Personal Finance

3000 Level

FIN3502 FinTech*
FIN3511 Residential Real Estate*
FIN3512 Real Estate Transactions and Law*
FIN3515 Corporate Financial Management
FIN3520 Security Valuation
FIN3535 Financing and Valuing Sustainability
FIN3555 Real Estate Investment
FIN3560 Financial Markets & Instruments
FIN3565 Real Estate Development

4000 Level

FIN4504 Private Equity
FIN4505 Financial Trading Strategies and Risk Management
FIN4507 Risk Management
FIN4510 Corp. Financial Modeling
FIN4520/4521 Babson College Fund
FIN4530 Investments
FIN4535 Fixed Income and Structured Products
FIN4540 Corporate Financial Strategy
FIN4545 Alternative Investments
FIN4560 Options & Futures
FIN4570 Global Financial Management
FIN4571 Real Estate Finance and Advanced Modeling

* Note: Courses FIN2520, FIN3511, and FIN3512 do not count towards the Finance Concentration.

Course Planning and Sequencing

Though the concentration in finance requires four courses, many prospective employers expect students to take a broad array of finance courses that will exceed this number. Students who want to take finance to augment a concentration in another area should consider taking only one or two 3000-level finance courses. In the past, students who are most successful at getting finance-related job offers have also taken at least one course in Accounting I (most common is ACC3502 Intermediate Accounting for Finance). Students who may be unsure about a path involving finance are encouraged to try out a 3000 level Finance course that sounds interesting from the list above.

Finance Concentration

The Finance Concentration is designed to provide functional depth in the field of Finance. Students who are interested in learning about or pursuing careers in Investments, Corporate Finance, or Investment Banking/Financial Consulting can combine the Finance Concentration with other non-finance course offerings or external activities to supplement the learning experience.

Finance Concentration Requirements

FIN2000 Principles of Finance

Also:

A minimum of 4 Finance courses with a FIN designation at the 3000 level and above or a minimum of 16 credits.
No more than 4 credits can be used towards the Finance Concentration from:
- FIN3555 Real Estate Investment
- FIN3565 Real Estate Development
Courses that don't count toward the Finance Concentration:
- FIN2520 Personal Finance
- FIN3511 Residential Real Estate
- FIN3512 Real Estate Transactions and Law
- Management Consulting Field Experience (MCFE)
Independent Studies approved by Finance faculty may count toward the concentration with the approval of the Chair of the Finance Division.

Finance Learning Paths

Corporate Financial Management Path
Corporate Advisory Path
Investments Path

For more detailed information go to the Undergraduate Finance Learning Paths.

Real Estate Concentration

To complete this concentration, you must take a minimum of four courses from the following list:

FIN3511 Residential Real Estate
FIN3512 Real Estate Transactions and Law
FIN3555 Real Estate Investment
FIN3565 Real Estate Development
FIN4571 Real Estate Finance and Advanced Modeling

If you plan to study abroad: Only two (2) study abroad courses, including those designated FIN5550, can be counted towards the finance concentration. A maximum of eight (8) study abroad credits can be counted towards the finance concentration. A student may receive the finance concentration with 15 or 16 FIN credits.