Program Overview

Naveen Jindal School of Management

Master of Science in Finance

The Master of Science in Finance (MS FIN) is a minimum 36 semester credit hours STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) degree program that provides students with the practical and theoretical knowledge needed by finance professionals. Students gain the quantitative and managerial skills to analyze financial information, make financial decisions and valuations, select and analyze portfolios and manage risk.

Faculty

The faculty members for the Master of Science in Finance program include:

• Professors: Ashiq Ali, Gary Bolton, William M. Cready, Theodore E. Day, Umit G. Gurun, Stanley Liebowitz, Vikram Nanda, Suresh Radhakrishnan, Michael J. Rebello, Harold Zhang
• Professor Emeritus: Dale Osborne
• Clinical Professors: John Barden, David Cordell, John Gamino, Randall S. Guttery, Peter Lewin, Jeffrey Manzi, Divakar Rajamani
• Associate Professors: Nina Baranchuk, Zhonglan Dai, Rebecca Files, Kyle Hyndman, Surya N. Janakiraman, Robert L. Kieschnick Jr., Jun Li, Ningzhong Li, Ramachandran (Ram) Natarajan, Naim Bugra Ozel, Gil Sadka, David J. Springate, Kelsey D. Wei, Han (Victor) Xia, Yexiao Xu, Alejandro Zentner, Jieying Zhang, Yuan Zhang, Feng Zhao, Yibin Zhou
• Clinical Associate Professor: Carolyn Reichert
• Assistant Professors: Jun Li, Meng Li, Alejandro Rivera Mesias, Alessio Saretto, Simon Siegenthaler, Xiaoxiao Tang, Christian Von-Drathen, Steven Xiao
• Clinical Assistant Professors: Moran Blueshtein, Ayfer Gurun, Revansiddha Khanapure, Liping Ma, Drew Peabody
• Senior Lecturers: Frank Anderson, Tiffany A. Bortz, Richard Bowen, George DeCourcy, Amal El-Ashmawi, Mary Beth Goodrich, Jennifer G. Johnson, Chris Linsteadt, Joseph Mauriello, Robert (Stephen) Molina, Matt Polze, Debra Richardson, Steven Solcher, Kathy Zolton

Degree Requirements

To apply for this degree program, an undergraduate degree is required (all majors are considered). Students must maintain a 3.0 grade-point average (GPA) in both core courses and in all graduate courses taken in the degree program, excluding program prerequisites to qualify for the MS degree.

Prerequisites

Students pursuing the Master of Science in Finance degree program are required to complete one semester credit hour of MAS 6102 Professional Development. In addition, knowledge of calculus and statistics are required and students who have not completed undergraduate calculus and statistics courses may satisfy the prerequisites by completing OPRE 6303 Quantitative Foundations of Business and OPRE 6301 Statistics and Data Analysis.

Course Requirements

• Core Courses: 18 semester credit hours
  • ACCT 6301 Financial Accounting or ACCT 6305 Accounting for Managers
  • FIN 6301 Financial Management
  • FIN 6307 Mathematical Methods for Finance
  • FIN 6318 Analytics of Finance
  • FIN 6352 Financial Modeling for Valuation or FIN 6353 Financial Modeling for Investment Analysis
  • FIN 6360 Derivatives Markets
• Specialized Concentrations: 18 semester credit hours
  • Students may choose from one of the following five specialized concentrations:
    • Financial Analyst (CFA) Concentration
    • Corporate Finance/Investment Banking Concentration
    • Real Estate Concentration
    • Financial Technology Concentration
    • Financial Management Concentration

Concentrations

Financial Analyst (CFA) Concentration

Students must complete 18 semester credit hours from the courses below:

• ACCT 6344 Financial Statement Analysis
• FIN 6308 Regulation of Business and Financial Markets
• FIN 6310 Investment Theory and Practice
• FIN 6314 Fixed Income Securities
• FIN 6325 Macroeconomics and Financial Markets
• FIN 6330 Behavioral Finance
• FIN 6353 Financial Modeling for Investment Analysis (if not used in core)
• FIN 6364 Portfolio Analysis and Management
• FIN 6368 Financial Information and Analysis
• FIN 6370 Advanced Theory of Finance and Its Applications
• FIN 6380 Global Fund Management
• FIN 6392 Financial Technology and Blockchain
• FIN 6V98 Finance Internship

Corporate Finance/Investment Banking Concentration

Students must complete a combination of 18 semester credit hours with a maximum of six semester credit hours from the General Corporate Finance Electives.

• Corporate Finance Required Electives (12 to 18 semester credit hours)
  • FIN 6315 Entrepreneurial Finance
  • FIN 6316 Private Equity Finance
  • FIN 6350 Advanced Corporate Finance
  • FIN 6352 Financial Modeling for Valuation (if not used in core)
  • FIN 6355 Corporate Finance and Policy
  • FIN 6356 Mergers and Acquisitions
  • FIN 6357 Corporate Restructuring and Turnarounds
  • FIN 6366 International Financial Management
  • FIN 6370 Advanced Theory of Finance and Its Applications
  • FIN 6V98 Finance Internship
• General Corporate Finance Electives (up to 6 semester credit hours)
  • ACCT 6330 Intermediate Financial Accounting I
  • ACCT 6332 Intermediate Financial Accounting II
  • MECO 6352 Financial Negotiation and Dispute Resolution

Real Estate Concentration

Students must complete a combination of 18 semester credit hours with a maximum of six semester credit hours from the General Real Estate Finance Electives.

• Real Estate Finance Required Electives (12 to 15 semester credit hours)
  • FIN 6321 Introduction to Real Estate
  • FIN 6322 Real Estate Finance and Investment
  • FIN 6323 Real Estate Market Analysis and Investment
  • FIN 6326 Real Estate Law and Contract
  • FIN 6V98 Finance Internship
• General Real Estate Finance Electives (up to semester credit hours)
  • FIN 6308 Regulation of Business and Financial Markets
  • FIN 6314 Fixed Income Securities
  • FIN 6315 Entrepreneurial Finance
  • FIN 6325 Macroeconomics and Financial Markets

Financial Technology Concentration

Students must complete a combination of 18 semester credit hours with a maximum of six semester credit hours from the General Financial Technology Electives.

• Financial Technology Required Electives (12 to 18 semester credit hours)
  • FIN 6310 Investment Theory and Practice
  • FIN 6325 Macroeconomics and Financial Markets
  • FIN 6368 Financial Information and Analysis
  • FIN 6380 Global Fund Management
  • FIN 6392 Financial Technology and Blockchain
  • FIN 6V98 Finance Internship
• General Financial Technology Electives (up to 6 semester credit hours)
  • BUAN 6320 Database Foundations for Analytics or MIS 6320 Database Foundations
  • MIS 6309 Business Data Warehousing
  • MIS 6324 Business Analytics with SAS or MIS 6356 Business Analytics with R

Financial Management Concentration

Students must complete a combination of 18 semester credit hours with a maximum of six semester credit hours from the General Electives.

• Finance Elective Courses (at least 12 semester credit hours)
  • FIN 6308 Regulation of Business and Financial Markets
  • FIN 6310 Investment Theory and Practice
  • FIN 6314 Fixed Income Securities
  • FIN 6315 Entrepreneurial Finance
  • FIN 6316 Private Equity Finance
  • FIN 6321 Introduction to Real Estate
  • FIN 6322 Real Estate Finance and Investment
  • FIN 6323 Real Estate Market Analysis and Investment
  • FIN 6325 Macroeconomics and Financial Markets
  • FIN 6326 Real Estate Law and Contracts
  • FIN 6330 Behavioral Finance
  • FIN 6335 Energy Finance
  • FIN 6350 Advanced Corporate Finance
  • FIN 6352 Financial Modeling for Valuation (if not used in core)
  • FIN 6353 Financial Modeling for Investment Analysis (if not used in core)
  • FIN 6355 Corporate Finance and Policy
  • FIN 6356 Mergers and Acquisitions
  • FIN 6357 Corporate Restructuring and Turnarounds
  • FIN 6362 Quantitative Financial Management
  • FIN 6364 Portfolio Analysis and Management
  • FIN 6366 International Financial Management
  • FIN 6368 Financial Information and Analysis
  • FIN 6370 Advanced Theory of Finance and Its Applications
  • FIN 6380 Global Fund Management
  • FIN 6381 Introductory Mathematical Finance
  • FIN 6382 Numerical and Statistical Methods in Finance
  • FIN 6392 Financial Technology and Blockchain
  • FIN 6V98 Finance Internship
  • FIN 6V99 Special Topics in Finance
• General Elective Courses (up to 6 semester credit hours)
  • Students can take up to 6 semester credit hours from any master level courses in ACCT, BUAN, ENGY, FIN, MECO, MIS or OPRE except FIN 6300.